We will never know the names of so many of the CIA officers who spoke out against torture. They were among the brave men and women throughout the government who challenged the brutality approved at the highest levels of government, and they are responsible for bringing to light what so many wanted to keep in the shadows.

So far, though, our official history has honored only those who approved torture, not those who rejected it.

By refusing to acknowledge the courage of those who said „no“ to torture, we betray the public servants who risked so much to reverse what they knew was a disastrous and shameful course. Honoring these people would encourage the best in our public servants, now and in the future.

Take action to honor those who said no to torture:
https://www.aclu.org/honor

The recently released Senate report details the horrific abuses of the CIA’s brutal torture program. But throughout the government there were heroes who objected to the torture policies and tried to end them.

The CIA’s gruesome practices would never have come to light were it not for those who stood apart and refused to consent to torture and other abuses.

In Guantánamo, while other prosecutors resigned rather than present cases founded on coerced evidence, the Navy’s general counsel Alberto J. Mora took charge. Mora led an effort inside the Department of Defense to oppose coercive interrogation techniques which he argued were ineffective and unlawful.

Others, like Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, were ridiculed and bullied by their bosses for questioning abusive policies. Vandeveld was effectively placed under house arrest.

We can’t avert our eyes from this shameful torture program in order to move forward as a nation. We must pay tribute to the courage and patriotism of those who recognized that torture would harm lives, violate the law, undermine national security, and corrupt important national institutions — including the military.

These heroes belong in our history books. Urge President Obama to honor them as a way of encouraging the best in our public servants, and in all of us.

SIGN THIS PETITION

Der Bundestag kann dem von der Bundesregierung beabsichtigten Mandat für einen Einsatz der Bundeswehr im Irak nicht zustimmen, ohne einen Verfassungsbruch zu begehen. Die Rechtsprechung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts ist eindeutig. Die Bundeswehr darf gemäß Artikel 24 GG nur im Rahmen eines ‚Systems gegenseitiger kollektiver Sicherheit‘ in einen Auslandseinsatz geschickt werden. Genau dies aber ist die so genannte Koalition der Willigen nicht.

…

The report uses pseudonyms for the two psychologists: Grayson Swigert and Hammond Dunbar. However, their names were actually revealed back in 2007: James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. To say they were unqualified for the work of designing the torture program would be an understatement. While they were psychologists with the US Air Force‘s „Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape“ (SERE) program (which is supposed to help train US military personnel in case they‘re captured), you‘d think they‘d actually have some relevant background with terrorism and/or interrogation. But, nope:

„Neither psychologist had experience as an interrogator, nor did either have specialized knowledge of al- Qa‘ida, a background in terrorism, or any relevant regional, cultural, or linguistic expertise.“

Three weeks after Israel’s latest assault on the Gaza Strip concluded, Israeli military and political leaders attended a conference next to Ben Gurion Airport to sell the successes of what Israel dubbed Operation Protective Edge, which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians including 521 children. The annual conference, named “Israel Unmanned Systems 2014,” took place in business-as-usual atmosphere — even with a complimentary beer keg. But the fare was anything but humdrum. Among the offerings were suicide drones, “loitering munitions” that need to explode; a 16-year-old showing off high-tech robots designed by fellow high schoolers and future drone makers; and “premature” weapons, armaments that have not been fully tested before they are used on a live Palestinian population. Such is Israel the military power.

Imagine if in the U.S. it were illegal to teach about the genocide of the Native Americans or the violent and gruesome system of slavery in North America. Imagine if you could be punished for simply mentioning the suffering of the indigenous people on Thanksgiving, or for questioning the nobility of Columbus of Columbus Day.

In Israel, this reality is not far fetched. Any Israeli institution with public funding that mentions, teaches, or mourns the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) can be fined, and individuals can be sentenced to prison for their involvement.

There were several protests in Jordan over the last few weeks calling on the government not to sign the deal with Israel.

In September, Hamed said Jordan‘s National Electric Power Company will sign an agreement in November with Noble Energy to buy gas from Israeli fields.

Here are two pro-Israel events in New York this week. These folks must not trust the American public; they just want to preach to the choir. Notice the barriers to entry to each event. $100 minimum to go to Camera’s BDS bash tomorrow night. And you have to apply to get into the speech tonight by a rightwing activist who is trying to push Palestinians out of Jerusalem to make way for Jews. Maybe they don’t want any challenges from the audience.

(21. November) I know extremely well the daily brain-washing that claims that Abbas is no partner. I have known Abbas for longer and far better than many of the politician who spread these slogans.

I can honestly say that he has quite a few flaws (as opposed to our leaders, who are flawless…) but he is still the only Arab leader I know who dared to publicly oppose terror at the height of the second Intifada, even when the Palestinian public supported terror, and after the kidnapping of the three boys and the beginning of the escalation that led to Operation Protective Edge.

It is hard to grasp why the United States continues to placate Netanyahu, the prime minister who has done everything he could to sabotage relations with it.