REPORT: CIA MISLED ON INTERROGATIONS | UTSanDiego.com

When I first heard about the CIA use of torture and rendition, I thought it had to be illegal.  It is clearly against international law, Geneva Convention, US Law (why else go to other countries to do it?), and normal laws of humanity.  I've also questioned the benefits gained through the torture programs.  Yes, I understand situations such as those depicted on the TV series 24 where information had to be extracted to prevent an IMMEDIATE nuclear explosion in the center of a city.  However doing it months or years after capture would seem to be doing nothing but attempting to extract revenge, or act as a form of "terrorism" ourselves.  It would, for example, be saying:   "If you participate in an attack on the US you will be tortured."

During the Vietnam war era, the Vietnamese treated US soldiers terribly and did perform acts of torture on POWs.  The US at that time claimed that it was against the Geneva Convention etc.  What worried me about this recent torture by the US was that now we have legitimized torture, so now other countries can torture American POWs without fear of violating international law.  I was also very skeptical that the US would be able to obtain any actionable intelligence from these acts of torture.

This latest article below describes the report that is possibly going to be released by the Government concerning the torture. REPORT: CIA MISLED ON INTERROGATIONS | UTSanDiego.com:  It bothers me that the US did this.  It confirms my suspicion that the CIA didn't obtain much useful from years of a very active and expensive torture program. Not only was the program expensive, it also ruined the US record of fairness, justice and compliance with international law.   It also really bothers me that the CIA would lie to their Congressional and Senatorial oversight committees.

I've always thought that torture was against the Geneva Convention for warfare.  Most agree that terrorism is a form of war, and that the terrorist "foot soldiers" are,  in fact soldiers.  Those individuals are risking, or giving up their lives for a cause. There is a very fine line between a suicide bomber blowing himself on a bus, and a US drone firing a missile that blows up a bus.   Through my whole military career, I was taught and I believed that the act of torturing a prisoner would be an illegal act.  If ordered to do so by my superior, I would have to refuse to carry out that order, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) would support me.  A soldier is supposed to refuse to carry out an order believed to be illegal.  If any of the people involved in the torturing were active military, they could be court-martialed for their participation.  If any of the participants were veterans or retirees, they could lose their benefits if convicted.  I believe that is why the "dirty deeds" were done by civilians or civilian contractors in other countries.

The Senate is supposed to vote on a proposal to declassify a 400 page summary of the 6200 page report. (See this link)  I hate to see our 'dirty laundry" get hung out on an international stage.  However, since the fact of the torture is no longer a secret, so the cat is out of the bag.  I think it would be advisable to declassify at least the recommendations from this report, and initiate a meaningful dialogue about what the United States should do now and in the future concerning these activities.

The CIA made a serious error when they blocked the Senate oversight committee from seeing the documents, and then made the situation even worse by tapping into the computers used by the committee members.  David Ignatius, from the Washington Post wrote a good editorial on April 3rd that describes how the "war" between CIA and Senate happened.  The CIA and NSA have recently been thumbing their nose at congressional oversight.  The whole process of supervision requires complete openness to reviews.  It is clear that NSA knew what facts about their wiretap surveillance program they were hiding from congress.  It was also clear that CIA did not want their report concerning torture released to the committee.  Had both agencies been completely open with the Senate and House select intelligence committees, there wouldn't have been any problems.  

Beware the surveillance reform Trojan horse: what's not in the new NSA laws? | Trevor Timm | Comment is free | theguardian.com

US Citizens and foreign countries have lost so much faith and trust due to the NSA spying, that we need a bold new set of laws to protect our privacy.  It appears that the NSA is twiddling with the law to keep business as usual, but even legitimize what they have been doing all along!



Beware the surveillance reform Trojan horse: what's not in the new NSA laws? | Trevor Timm | Comment is free | theguardian.com:

Biotech crops face uncertain future

It is sometimes difficult to separate individual's health issues from national or global political goals.  It appears to me that the various organizations work hard to keep it that way.



I remember when our sons both declared they were vegetarians.  They said they wanted to "save the planet" by not eating meat, or meat products. So then all of the sudden they would no longer eat foods that might have a little meat broth in it?  Wouldn't eat any products containing gelatin?  This wasn't a "health" issue, where they might suddenly go into anaphylactic shock if they accidentally ate a very small amount of the a meat product.  I can understand how if the world reduced its consumption of meat, there would be much less pressure on the environment, partially mitigate the effects of global warming (less methane from cattle, for example) and maybe improve the health of humans.  However, worrying about small amounts of meat or meat products starts bordering on religion.



I often wonder if the movement against "genetically modified" crops is somewhat the same way.  There are some serious concerns about growing the GM foods.  By moving towards a GM "monoculture" the world is at risk if a serious disease attacked it.  For example the potato famines, or what is currently happening to bananas.  There are also legitimate concerns about the spread of GM genes getting spread into the wild where they could increase the resistance of weeds to herbicides, make insects resistant to insecticides, or contribute to the extinction of species of other wildlife that we want to protect.  However there is no convincing evidence that eating GM foods, particularly plant crops, can affect our health.  However the groups that are fighting against the GM crops have nuanced their advertising to make many individuals believe that eating those crops will make them sick.  Once seeds of those doubts are planted in the minds of particularly "non-technical" people, it is difficult to change their mind.



GMO opposition Creates Uncertainty for Farmers





Biotech crops face uncertain future | Truth About Trade & Technology:



It is clear that the GM food battle is similar to the global warming battle.  Both sides are spreading fear and uncertainty.  However, as in real war, it is very inexpensive to perform a terrorist-style attack, but very expensive to defend against it.  The GM food "terrorists" find it very easy to plant a few seeds of uncertainty about the use of GM foods, and it forces the industry to fight back by using immense amounts of research and publicity.  And, even then, because the defense arguments become complex and scientific, most of the readers don't understand, or don't want to understand what they say.

The global warming argument is similar.  Only a few scientists have posed generally weak or incomplete arguments against the global warming theories.  However those few scientists have been given "equal time" by the press, and have sowed enough doubt to prevent the world from making much progress against a serious global problem.

US tech giants knew of NSA data collection, agency's top lawyer insists | World news | theguardian.com

It appears that the US Government forced companies to lie to their customers, and Government officials from all countries.  This Government policy seems to be different from that which the military has used for decades.  .



US tech giants knew of NSA data collection, agency's top lawyer insists | World news | theguardian.com:



The guidelines we always heard was not to "lie" but to say "no comment" and dis-engage with the conversation.  This is a big difference!



I believe that now that the cat is out of the bag, Congress needs to clarify the use and constraints of this type of wiretapping. The databases are valuable and useful, and it would be crazy to not use a tool such as this to protect our country.

1. Top-level set of unclassified and public guidelines established that define when, who and how the wiretap & database search is to be conducted, and how long each database is to be kept.  Another, subordinate set of guidelines created but kept classified will provide details of the process but must comply with the top-level unclassified general principals. The subordinate set of guidelines must be approved by the Administration and the Intelligence Committees of the House and Senate.

2. An independent watchdog organization totally separate from the intelligence agencies with power and privileges to be able to really see what is going on.  The watchdog will verify that the spy agencies comply with the set of classified guidelines. The watchdog organization should have budget and staff adequate to do the job, including  installing tamper-proof watchdog software on the wiretaps and databases. The watchdog should be required to report annually to President and Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate

3. Rotate and release the names of the "secret court judges" every 4 or 5 years as they leave the position and new judges. If those individuals think they can hide forever, they may be tempted to do something illegal.

4. Release of information about the wiretap targets and amount of collection to the individuals targeted (or made public) after some reasonable amount of time (5 years?)  But allow for one time extension (3 more years) for valid on-going investigations if applied for and approved by the "secret court judges."  As long as that information can be kept secret forever, misdeeds can take place which can be buried.

5. Allow for targeted searches through the database, with court approval, by prosecutors and defense attorneys for criminal cases (not civil cases) that involve national security, defense of charges involving national security, or murder & kidnapping.  It should not be used, for example, for prosecution or defense in charges of patent or copyright infringement, lawsuits, income tax evasion etc.   All approved searches should be performed by certified NSA employees and should be paid for by the person or agency requesting it.

San Diego missing fast-Internet future | UTSanDiego.com

The US is clearly falling further behind the rest of the world in internet connectivity.  Yes, we could blame it on the large corporations such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast & Time Warner.  However they are simply playing the "business game" by following the rules laid down by the Government.  It is a partnership between Government and industry that must share the responsibility.



San Diego missing fast-Internet future | UTSanDiego.com Mobile:



In the 1950s and 1960s the AT&T telephone monopoly received a lot of blame for bad telephone service, and abusive practices.  However it was a "regulated" monopoly and the various state regulators shared the responsibility.  They continually taxed the phone service as a revenue source.  They insisted that the phone company use very long depreciation periods (to keep their reported cost down) even though their equipment was becoming obsolete in 2 or 3 years as electronics advanced.  This forced those companies to delay upgrades in equipment. When AT&T was broken up, it inspired competition, but much more importantly, it released the stranglehold that the state regulatory agencies had over the company and allowed the new companies to be able to rapidly upgrade their equipment and align their financial management (depreciation) with the realities of the new technology available (Moore's law).



Now, our Government has not declared internet or cable connections as a "utility" even though it is replacing the telephone service and the industry is highly concentrated.  The Government has also allowed these companies to continue to consolidate and become a larger monopoly with no regulation.  We need a balance!  We're now going back to the situation where technology stagnates, service becomes abusive and executives in those monopolies pay themselves obscene amounts of  money for taking very little risk. .

The CIA likes to write its own rules, but spying on Congress crosses a new line | Ted Gup | Comment is free | theguardian.com

My understanding about how a Senate and Congressional "oversight" committee is suppose to work is that the committee members are to have access to everything that the agency does.  Otherwise they wouldn't be able to do their job.  Apparently, the CIA and NSA now believe they can withhold information from those committees as well as spy on the committees activities and communication.



The CIA likes to write its own rules, but spying on Congress crosses a new line | Ted Gup | Comment is free | theguardian.com:



Something is wrong in our Government!

The NSA won’t shut up about Snowden, but what about the spy who stole more? | Mike German | Comment is free | theguardian.com

I found this article to be interesting in that it describes the acts of some recent spies whom I had never heard of.  It also points out the significant difference between spies and whistleblowers.

The NSA won’t shut up about Snowden, but what about the spy who stole more? | Mike German | Comment is free | theguardian.com:



I don't think there was very much press coverage over any of the "spies" --but an unbelievable amount over the whistleblowers -- of course Snowden.