There is an important diary up at GOS by Valtin, one of the leading longtime writers about interrogation and torture since the start of the Iraq War. He rarely writes anything there anymore, no surprise, but he has offered an important piece about the recent UN report and the Obama Administration. He suggests that both Clinton and Sanders should speak to the issue and I tend to agree with him. Here is the link to the diary: UN: Obama Administration Policies on Interrogation "raise concerns of torture & ill-treatment"

Here are a couple of segments to peruse here if you can't stomach the Orange. For those who can, please read the whole thing.

As someone who has clinically worked with torture patients, I feel I am morally and ethically bound to say the truth about the ongoing use of torture, no matter how politicians, or their supporters, want to spin it. In this case, both Sanders and Clinton are equally at fault, as I could find that neither has ever spoken out or shown the slightest inclination to expose the use of abusive techniques in the government’s interrogation manual. Since Sec. Clinton was a member of the Obama administration, she bears perhaps a bit more responsibility for the implementation of the policy. But no executive branch government official or Senator has acquitted themselves well in this matter.

Clinton and Renditions

Where Sec. Clinton deserves far greater scrutiny is in the matter of renditions to interrogation in foreign countries. Most people do not realize that such renditions were not banned but protected by President Obama’s Jan. 2009 Executive Order on “lawful interrogations.” We just do not know to what extent such renditions were used, though in the cases that did come to my attention regarding renditions following the 2010 World Cup bombings in Kampala, Uganda, there were extensive complaints of use of torture by FBI investigators, which led to a special report by George Soros’ Open Society Justice Initiative. I have also released some transcripts of complaints against the FBI in the matter.

Valtin also speaks to the upcoming Squelch on the Ides and Inconvenient truth

A Real Inconvenient Truth

It appears that this site is about to transition into a form of campaign advocacy that might disallow publication of criticism of candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton. Sec. Clinton, whose friendship with and alibiing of the mass murderer Henry Kissinger, already puts her beyond the pale of acceptance, must not be allowed to skip on the issue of torture conducted under the administration to which she belonged. Indeed, neither should the Obama administration, any more than that of his predecessor.

Nor should Sen. Sanders get a pass on this as well. He has been notably quiet on the issue of accountability for the crimes of torture in the Bush administration. The findings of the UN Committee on Torture in regards to the use of ill-treatment and concerns about torture in the Army Field Manual have never been referenced by him, so far as I know.

If your mind is shattered, it doesn’t matter if it happened through waterboarding or through the use of profound isolation (itself a form of sensory deprivation) and sleep deprivation. A crime is a crime. The CIA and military has used what powers they have, and leaned on their assets and influence in the media to keep this issue from getting bigger. You have now read this. I ask that you read it through twice and let it sink in. Follow my links and research for yourself. If you remain silent going forward, it is now on you.

It is indeed on us.

Let's not let it slide. Let's not let Clinton or Sanders let it slide.

Muchas gracias, CD