CHERTOFF OKs TORTURE

Bizarre Choice for Homeland Czar Deep in Scandal

By James P. Tucker

Controversy continues to swirl around Michael Chertoff, President George W. Bush�s pick to replace Tom Ridge as chief of the Homeland Security Department. As the Senate began considering Chertoff�s nomination on Feb. 2, news broke that Chertoff had been implicated in advising the CIA on the legality of various means of torturing detainees held in U.S. prison camps in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

But as per its usual stand in the face of criticism, the White House officially denied that Chertoff did anything wrong or that he even had any part in issuing legal advice on torture techniques.

However, according to The New York Times, one current federal official and two former senior officials say Chertoff told the CIA that certain forms of torture were entirely permissible under the currently existing U.S. anti-torture statute.

Chertoff allegedly issued his advice in his capacity as head of the Justice Department�s criminal division following inquiries from CIA employees who wanted legal counsel as to how far they could go in physically manhandling terror suspects who were being interrogated.

Evidently the conflict in the stories between Chertoff and his accusers arises because the Justice Department does not want to be seen as having issued any standards that could be construed as unconditional approval for the use of torture.

It is alleged that Chertoff left open the possibility of other forms of mistreatment, depending on the condition of the suspect.

OK WITH ME IF OK WITH BYBEE

Chertoff told the CIA that it could use forms of mistreatment if they were in accordance with an August 2002 memorandum from Jay S. Bybee of the Office of Legal Counsel to Presidential Counsel Alberto Gonzales.

Bybee�s memo said that harsh interrogation techniques qualified as torture only if they were enough to cause organ failure or imminent death. This is the same memo that has plagued Gonzales, Bush�s pick to replace Attorney General John Ashcroft.

It has been argued that this memo set the legal justification for the CIA and the Department of Defense to use brutal, inhuman methods on terror suspects as documented in reports by the FBI, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department.

Legal experts say that the memo, along with Chertoff�s recommendations, violates specific international conventions and the anti-torture statute passed by Congress in 1994, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 113(c), Sec. 2340(a) and 2340(b) which provides for 20 years in prison or even death for torture.

Chertoff has denied that he made any specific recommendations on torture to the CIA or the Pentagon.__________________2/02/2005 AFP

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I was thinking it was more along the lines of a plenary indulgence…

Ridge: I Was Pressured to Raise Terror Alert Level Before ‘04 Election
Thursday 20 August 2009

by: Olivier Knox | Visit article original @ Agence France-Presse

Former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge says he was pressured often to use the terror alert levals for political purposes.

Washington – Former US homeland security chief Tom Ridge charges in a new book that top aides to then-president George W. Bush pressured him to raise the “terror alert” level to sway the November 2004 US election.

Then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and attorney general John Ashcroft pushed him to elevate the color-coded threat level, but Ridge refused, according to a summary from his publisher, Thomas Dunne Books.

“After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government for the private sector,” Ridge is quoting as writing in “The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege … And How We Can Be Safe Again.”

Agence France-presse

(Tom) Ridge to FEMA critics: ’Stop whining’

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTer…..D=2…

Ridge to FEMA critics: ’Stop whining’

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7,2005 (UPI) — Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says critics of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hurricane Katrina response should ”quit whining.” Ridge’s outspoken comments are the first time he has responded in public to criticisms of the way FEMA was incorporated into his new department in 2003.

”They ought to quit whining about what happened in the past — that had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in Katrina,” he told United Press International.

He was Inspector General for the DHS for 18 months under Ridge.

Spinning the terror alert color wheel was not the only spinning going on,according to Ervin,who left DHS under less than friendly terms:

Inspector: Ridge fought report

WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department’s former independent watchdog says he was twice summoned to Tom Ridge’s office last year and asked why his reports criticizing the agency were being sent to Congress and whether they could be presented more favorably to the department.

The former Homeland Security secretary “was trying to get me not to give things to Congress and also to try to spin reports in a way most favorable to the department, and I resisted both of those,” former Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said.
In a statement, Mr. Ridge said: “I did not always agree with the tactics, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations of the inspector general. At no time, however, did I ever ask him to suppress or withhold a specific report.

Mr. Ervin’s statements are “untrue and deserve no further comment,” said Mr. Ridge, who left as secretary last month. (2005)

more….
http://www.dallasnews.com/shar…..hin…