A dozen retired generals and admirals were to meet with US president-elect Barack Obama’s transition team yesterday to plead for a clean, unequivocal break with the Bush administration’s interrogation, detention and rendition policies.
They are going into the meeting armed with a list of “things that need to be done and undone,” retired Marine General Joseph Hoar, chief of the US Central Command from 1991 to 1994, said on Tuesday.
“It is fairly extensive,” he said.
Top on the list is the CIA’s authority, granted by the White House, to use harsh interrogation methods that go beyond those approved for use by the military. They are said to include prolonged sleep deprivation, painful stress positions and waterboarding, though the agency says the last method has not been used since 2003.
Exactly what the CIA is allowed to do in interrogations remains secret. However, the White House maintains the CIA program adheres to the US ban on cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners.
US President George W. Bush vetoed legislation championed by the retired officers that would have held the CIA to the military’s interrogation methods in March.
They argue that having two US detainee treatment standards endangers US military personnel who may one day be captured, because it denies the US government the moral authority to demand they are treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
The group, which represents more than 36 retired officers with nearly 80 stars between them, is also pushing for an end to extraordinary renditions — the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments that have a history of torture — and the closing of the US jail at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, something Obama has already announced he plans to do.
They believe Obama’s election, and a stark contrast between his policies and Bush’s, can reverse the decline in world opinion about the US. They tie much of that decline to Guantanamo and detainee abuse, they said.
“Gradualism won’t do. It’s time for an abrupt change,” said Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, a former Navy inspector general. “That abrupt change will send a signal to the world that America is back.”
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS