Torture Queen: Supposedly Worked on KSM & Abu Zubaydah

The two links below set the scene for this post: The Outing of a CIA Operative Possibly, or Just Old News???

1.  The CIA operative, agent, analyst, or whomever appears to be in this link (possibly):

 2.  Extensive background leading up what follows below is from here:

Why this post and why now? It has been  triggered by the recently redacted 525 pages of Senate 6,700 page CIA torture report that reveals possible war crimes and violations of the Nuremberg ban on human experimentation by the CIA and their agents and some military contractors.

PREVIOUS BACKGROUND:  On December 19, 2014, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Peter Maass revealed the name of one key CIA senior officer at the center of the torture scandal. Her name is Alfreda Frances Bikowsky, who still lives in a well-appointed ranch house in Mclean, VA that is nestled in a wooded lot at 1437 Brookhaven Drive, a short 19-minute, 12-mile commute to CIA HQ in Reston, VA. She bought the property for $825,000 in April of 2012. [Click here to see image of the home].

My Q: Is this kind of release of information on this woman at this time kosher and proper? My first reaction is to say "no" it is not proper or right. However, regardless of my view, it is out there now for the world to see.

Here is a partial reading list of some of the reporting on torture in Iraq and Afghanistan:

1.  Senate Report on Abuses of Military Detainees (2008):

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/pdf/12112008_detaineeabuse.pdf

2.  Haditha Killings by Tim McGirk: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174649,00.html

3.  Taguba Report on Abuses at Abu Ghraib: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/torturefoia/released/TR3.pdf

4.  “Abu Ghraib Abuses” by Seymour Hersh: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/05/10/torture-at-abu-ghraib

5.  Special Forces in Afghanistan by Matt Aikens:

http://www.rollingstone.com/feature/a-team-killings-afghanistan-special-forces

6.  Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment (especially chapter 3): http://detaineetaskforce.org/report/

7.  “The Killing of Dilawar” by Carlotta Gall: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/04/international/asia/04AFGH.html  

Finally, a lot more can also be found below at this very site - my detainee library page – some links therein may overlap others, and if so, I’m sorry for that – but the research is extensive and there is over a dozen years of stuff that had to be screened, but I think the most pertinent and enlightening is therein.

Those Who Said No to Torture Are Heroes: Why Ignore Them

Documents Prepared on Detainee Ready for Interrogation 

Ali Soufan, former FBI Interrogator

(Involved Shortly After 9-11)

Excellent introduction below- it is about 2-minutes. Call it the introduction to this post:

More in depth about former FBI interrogator, Ali Soufan, the man who broke Abu Zubaydah, and the man who also provided KSM's name and connection to 9-11, and BTW: without any torture. 

That can be seen and read here >>>

Abu Zubaydah

A lot more is here, too - Called "The Interrogator" posted at PBS' FRONTLINE.

Thanks for stopping by ... We should salute those who said no to torture - not ignore them. I won't.

GOP Massive and Effective PR Machine: The Big Lie and Fear

This post is based on this Headlines from the NY Times following the recent release of the SSCI CIA Torture report and fallout since:

Americans Largely Back CIA on Interrogations, Three Polls Find

I begin with these two reminders: LIES work, and FEAR sells.

This is especially true when lies and exaggerations are coupled to and linked to peddling FEAR. That is constantly selling the myth that: “Torture works. We have to continue it because it keeps us safe.”

Recall Hitler’s definition of the Big Lie (which appeared in his infamous Mein Kampf (in 1925) book. He referred to a lie which is “…so colossal that no-one would believe anyone could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously and which would therefore, paradoxically, be accepted as true.” Ergo: a big lie sticks as truth.

Then Joseph Goebbels put forth a slightly different theory which has come to be more commonly associated with the expression “Big Lie.” He wrote the following paragraph in an article dated January 12, 1941, some 16 years after Hitler first used that phrase. The article, titled Aus Churchills Lügenfabrik (English: “From Churchill's Lie Factory”) was published in Die Zeit ohne Beispiel.

“The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”

Back to the headlines story:  Americans, on balance, think the CIA was justified in its aggressive interrogation of terrorism suspects after the September 11 attacks, according to three national polls conducted in the wake of the release last week of a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The polls, conducted by CBS News; the Pew Research Center; and ABC News/Washington Post. They all found agreement among most Americans that the interrogation and detention techniques were successful in gaining information from terrorism suspects. The Senate report reached the opposite conclusion.

Deep partisan divides were seen in all three polls on the issue of whether torture was justified, with strong majorities of Republicans and fewer than half of Democrats saying it was.  The wording of the questions varied slightly between the polls, producing somewhat different results. The CBS News question, which referred to water boarding, found fewer Americans saying the methods were justified.  CBS News also asked about several of the specific interrogation methods that were detailed in the Senate report, including water boarding, sleep deprivation and threats against family members.

Majorities of Americans across party lines agree that each is a form of torture. A logical reason for this, in my view: the massive and yes, effective GOP/FOX/Rightwing Talk Radio daily 24/7 verbal attacks with limp wrist weak justification for torture … it sold and once proves to me that type of PR blitz is effective as intended. That takes us back to the top: LIES WORK and FEAR sells.

Dark Dick (Cheney): The SSCI Torture Report is Crock of Crap

Cartoons robbed from from Cagle Cartoons.com

A look back can't hurt, can't it ... oops. I will note that the truth does have a tendency to hurt at times vis-á-vis in our system of government and democracy, so, sorry about that, Mr. Cheney. Continue please:

On September 16, 2001, then Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press (apparently his favorite network next to FOX that is) where he talked about what it will take to deal with the terrorism threat, saying in part:

“…we have to work the dark side, if you will. Spend time in the shadows of the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion.”

At this site (PBS’s FRONTLINE) intelligence officials and others offer their thoughts on Mr. Cheney's use of that phrase “Dark Side” as well as the impact of 9/11 on the vice president and everything since.

Enjoy it. Stop back by later.