Please copy and past the web address below in to your browser in order to hear Lynndie's interview on BBC International Radio:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/outlook/2009/02/090205_lynndie_england.shtml
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Open Letter to Chris Matthews
OPEN LETTER TO CHRIS MATTTHEWS
Dear Chris,
I was encouraged to hear you bring up the torture question on your show (Friday, January 23, 2009) You raised the question of accountability and asked whether it would be fair to allow the Bush Administration a free pass, while the convictions of those implicated in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal (you mentioned Lynndie England specifically) are allowed to stand. Surprisingly, one of your guests repeated the old line that the abuses perpetrated at Abu Ghraib were just the work of “a few bad apples” and that “all subsequent reports” show this to be true. Which begs the question: Does the American media read what has been reported in the media? Does it acknowledge the broader international view, or are we so provincial that we only believe what simply sounds like the truth?
It is shocking when one takes into account all that has come to light since the incident at Abu Ghraib first broke in April of 2004, not the least of which is the recent Senate Armed Services Report, which condemns the Bush Administration for its blatant abrogation of the Geneva Conventions. For years we Americans have become familiar with our government’s justification of torture. We’ve been told over and over that guys like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were really bad and that their rough treatment was warranted. However, the sad fact is that more than “a few bad apples” were water-boarded, tortured and even killed in the interrogation process prescribed by our government.
The lurid photographs taken at the Abu Ghraib prison may be the only photographic evidence we have that such abuse took place in Iraq and Afghanistan; but the photos are merely representative of a far more pervasive program of abuse and humiliation that was carried out by the military as it (we) sought to avenge the events of 9/11. Indeed, as court documents, trial testimony and other evidence show, the Bush Administration’s torture policy and other improvised adaptations of the same was being implemented, not just at Guantanamo, but at Bagram air base in Afghanistan, as well as at other detention facilities throughout Iraq. Yes, water-boarding was used on more than just the few individuals admitted to by former Vice President Dick Cheney. And yes, like the photos taken at Abu Ghraib, these few examples are only representative of a pattern of abuse that was approved by the Bush White House and implemented by intelligence gatherers working in the field.
And yet to this day no one connected with our government and/or its torture policies has been accused of water-boarding, nor has anyone been charged with the deaths of those individuals who were murdered as a result the interrogation process. (Manadel al Jimadi, et al) Instead, a few young reservists (“bad apples”) connected with the 372nd Military Police Company were sacrificially offered up to satisfy our curiosity. Investigations were conducted, military trials convened and sentences handed down; but not one of the individuals implicated in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal were charged with the water-boarding or the death of a prisoner. For her crime (posing in photographs in a place where photography was prohibited) Lynndie England received three years in a military prison.
To address the larger question of torture; the problem is not just a thorny political topic to be tackled by our new president. Indeed, the whole world is watching and wants to know if president Obama is going to make good on his campaign promise to forge better relationships through honesty and transparency. The inconvenient truth is, of course, that we can’t expect the rest of the world to sit back and say, “let’s move on.” Water-boarding is a criminal act outlawed by the Geneva Conventions, a body of international law that we as a nation have upheld and defended since its inception. Throughout our most recent history we have vigorously advocated bringing to justice those individuals accused of crimes against humanity (the Nazis, Slobodan Milosevic, etc.) Indeed, time and time again, we have upheld the honor of all civilized nations, and not just when it was convenient for us to do so.
The closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is an important first step in the process of disclosure; but if we think that the rest of the world will be appeased by this gesture, were are mistaken. Indeed, if the stories that are only beginning to emerge from those detainees recently released from Guantanamo and elsewhere are any indication, the war crimes committed by the Bush Administration will have to be dealt with judiciously and to the satisfaction of others before the Obama administration can hope to have better relations with the rest of the world. In the meantime, Lynndie England and the others convicted in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal would like their voices to be heard as well. They too would like to see justice served. No, you can’t let the architects of torture elude prosecution and allow the underlings to hang for the crime. That is not justice we can believe in.
Gary Winkler
Lynndie England’s Biographer
Dear Chris,
I was encouraged to hear you bring up the torture question on your show (Friday, January 23, 2009) You raised the question of accountability and asked whether it would be fair to allow the Bush Administration a free pass, while the convictions of those implicated in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal (you mentioned Lynndie England specifically) are allowed to stand. Surprisingly, one of your guests repeated the old line that the abuses perpetrated at Abu Ghraib were just the work of “a few bad apples” and that “all subsequent reports” show this to be true. Which begs the question: Does the American media read what has been reported in the media? Does it acknowledge the broader international view, or are we so provincial that we only believe what simply sounds like the truth?
It is shocking when one takes into account all that has come to light since the incident at Abu Ghraib first broke in April of 2004, not the least of which is the recent Senate Armed Services Report, which condemns the Bush Administration for its blatant abrogation of the Geneva Conventions. For years we Americans have become familiar with our government’s justification of torture. We’ve been told over and over that guys like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were really bad and that their rough treatment was warranted. However, the sad fact is that more than “a few bad apples” were water-boarded, tortured and even killed in the interrogation process prescribed by our government.
The lurid photographs taken at the Abu Ghraib prison may be the only photographic evidence we have that such abuse took place in Iraq and Afghanistan; but the photos are merely representative of a far more pervasive program of abuse and humiliation that was carried out by the military as it (we) sought to avenge the events of 9/11. Indeed, as court documents, trial testimony and other evidence show, the Bush Administration’s torture policy and other improvised adaptations of the same was being implemented, not just at Guantanamo, but at Bagram air base in Afghanistan, as well as at other detention facilities throughout Iraq. Yes, water-boarding was used on more than just the few individuals admitted to by former Vice President Dick Cheney. And yes, like the photos taken at Abu Ghraib, these few examples are only representative of a pattern of abuse that was approved by the Bush White House and implemented by intelligence gatherers working in the field.
And yet to this day no one connected with our government and/or its torture policies has been accused of water-boarding, nor has anyone been charged with the deaths of those individuals who were murdered as a result the interrogation process. (Manadel al Jimadi, et al) Instead, a few young reservists (“bad apples”) connected with the 372nd Military Police Company were sacrificially offered up to satisfy our curiosity. Investigations were conducted, military trials convened and sentences handed down; but not one of the individuals implicated in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal were charged with the water-boarding or the death of a prisoner. For her crime (posing in photographs in a place where photography was prohibited) Lynndie England received three years in a military prison.
To address the larger question of torture; the problem is not just a thorny political topic to be tackled by our new president. Indeed, the whole world is watching and wants to know if president Obama is going to make good on his campaign promise to forge better relationships through honesty and transparency. The inconvenient truth is, of course, that we can’t expect the rest of the world to sit back and say, “let’s move on.” Water-boarding is a criminal act outlawed by the Geneva Conventions, a body of international law that we as a nation have upheld and defended since its inception. Throughout our most recent history we have vigorously advocated bringing to justice those individuals accused of crimes against humanity (the Nazis, Slobodan Milosevic, etc.) Indeed, time and time again, we have upheld the honor of all civilized nations, and not just when it was convenient for us to do so.
The closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is an important first step in the process of disclosure; but if we think that the rest of the world will be appeased by this gesture, were are mistaken. Indeed, if the stories that are only beginning to emerge from those detainees recently released from Guantanamo and elsewhere are any indication, the war crimes committed by the Bush Administration will have to be dealt with judiciously and to the satisfaction of others before the Obama administration can hope to have better relations with the rest of the world. In the meantime, Lynndie England and the others convicted in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal would like their voices to be heard as well. They too would like to see justice served. No, you can’t let the architects of torture elude prosecution and allow the underlings to hang for the crime. That is not justice we can believe in.
Gary Winkler
Lynndie England’s Biographer
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Torture Video - when will our government stop this?
If you are interested in listening to a first hand account of what it like to be abducted by the U.S> government and sent to "third world prisons" then GITMO - then click below. My question, how can our government talk so cavalierly about torture? You men be particularly interested....
1. Copy and paste the following site to your browser:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/23/boing-boing-video-ou.html
2. The name of the video (about 15 minutes is "OUTLAWED" excerpts, pt. 1 -- Guantánamo Detainee Who Survived Torture.)
3. Watch it, think, and ask would you want this to happen to anyone in your life?
1. Copy and paste the following site to your browser:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/23/boing-boing-video-ou.html
2. The name of the video (about 15 minutes is "OUTLAWED" excerpts, pt. 1 -- Guantánamo Detainee Who Survived Torture.)
3. Watch it, think, and ask would you want this to happen to anyone in your life?
Monday, January 19, 2009
Abu Ghraib Revisited - Janis Karpinski and Lynndie England Meet for the First Time Since the Scandal Broke
On Wednesday January 14, 2009, five years to the day after the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs were turned over to military investigators, the highest and lowest ranking reservists tainted by the scandal met in Cumberland, Maryland for the first time since the prisoner abuse images were made public.
Brigadier General Janis Karpinski (Ret.) was commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade in Iraq and oversaw the prisoner detainee system at the time of the incident. PFC Lynndie England, a resident of Fort Ashby, West Virginia, was an Admin connected with the 372nd Military Police Company stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison. But even though their lives were separated by rank and the fog of war, Karpinski and England had a chance meeting at Abu Ghraib in the fall of 2003.
“I remember seeing this youthful looking soldier at the prison,” says the general. “She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. I just couldn’t imagine her being in a place like that.”
“Another soldier and I were waiting at a checkpoint in the prison when General Karpinski showed up for a tour of the facility,” recalls England. “She spoke with us and was very friendly.”
Much has transpired since their first encounter. Following the public debut of the prisoner abuse photos in April of 2004, General Karpinski was demoted and relieved of her command. For her part, PFC England was court martialed and sentenced to three years in a military prison. But Janis Karpinski never forgot Lynndie England; nor could she forget the other reservists whose lives were ruined by the scandal.
“This happened on my watch, these were my soldiers,” says Karpinski, a tall, elegant woman on a mission. “These young people were scapegoats and we have to make this right.”
The meeting between Karpinski and England, which took place at a Best Western Motel not far from England’s home, comes on the heels of the release of the Senate Armed Services Committee report, in which the bi-partisan members concluded that “the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own”. Citing the fact that water-boarding, forced nudity, sexual humiliation and other harsh interrogation techniques had been approved in writing by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and that a deliberate attempt was made by the Bush Administration to circumvent the Geneva Conventions, the committee report further stated that what happened at Abu Ghraib was not initiated by the soldiers connected with the 372nd MP Company or BG Janis Karpinski, but originated much higher up the Chain of Command.
“Given this new information, we hope that people will have a better understanding of what took place at Abu Ghraib,” says Roy T. Hardy, Lynndie England’s attorney and personal spokesman. “Ms. England just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in love with the wrong guy (Charles Graner). Stupidity is not a crime. Simply posing in a picture is not a crime, especially since what was depicted in those photographs was condoned by the Bush Administration.”
The controversy over what happened at Abu Ghraib is not over. Indeed, according to many in both Washington and elsewhere around the globe, the incoming Obama administration will have to face the torture question as it seeks to bolster America’s standing with the rest of the world. “You have 155 countries, of which the United States is one, that are party to the convention against torture,” says John Dean, former White House Counsel in the Nixon Administration. “There is a moral obligation on all those countries to investigate torture when it occurs. And so, if the United States passes on their moral obligation to investigate this, other countries are likely to step in, and this is going to be a huge embarrassment for the Obama administration.”
Lynndie England doesn’t have an opinion when it comes to such weighty political matters; but her attorney, who has seen the devastating impact the scandal has had on her life, is aware that the Senate Armed Services Committee report proves what his client has been saying all along.
“I would just like to see that Lynndie is given the chance to get on with her life,” says Roy Hardy. “She and the others don’t deserve to have their lives ruined, especially if those who put the torture plans in motion are allowed to avoid prosecution.”
Janis Karpinski will continue to reconnect with those Reservists tainted by the Abu Ghraib incident and insists that recent developments such as the SASC report warrant a reexamination of the cases against the soldiers implicated in the scandal.
“It’s the right thing to do,” says Karpinski.
Brigadier General Janis Karpinski (Ret.) was commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade in Iraq and oversaw the prisoner detainee system at the time of the incident. PFC Lynndie England, a resident of Fort Ashby, West Virginia, was an Admin connected with the 372nd Military Police Company stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison. But even though their lives were separated by rank and the fog of war, Karpinski and England had a chance meeting at Abu Ghraib in the fall of 2003.
“I remember seeing this youthful looking soldier at the prison,” says the general. “She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. I just couldn’t imagine her being in a place like that.”
“Another soldier and I were waiting at a checkpoint in the prison when General Karpinski showed up for a tour of the facility,” recalls England. “She spoke with us and was very friendly.”
Much has transpired since their first encounter. Following the public debut of the prisoner abuse photos in April of 2004, General Karpinski was demoted and relieved of her command. For her part, PFC England was court martialed and sentenced to three years in a military prison. But Janis Karpinski never forgot Lynndie England; nor could she forget the other reservists whose lives were ruined by the scandal.
“This happened on my watch, these were my soldiers,” says Karpinski, a tall, elegant woman on a mission. “These young people were scapegoats and we have to make this right.”
The meeting between Karpinski and England, which took place at a Best Western Motel not far from England’s home, comes on the heels of the release of the Senate Armed Services Committee report, in which the bi-partisan members concluded that “the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own”. Citing the fact that water-boarding, forced nudity, sexual humiliation and other harsh interrogation techniques had been approved in writing by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and that a deliberate attempt was made by the Bush Administration to circumvent the Geneva Conventions, the committee report further stated that what happened at Abu Ghraib was not initiated by the soldiers connected with the 372nd MP Company or BG Janis Karpinski, but originated much higher up the Chain of Command.
“Given this new information, we hope that people will have a better understanding of what took place at Abu Ghraib,” says Roy T. Hardy, Lynndie England’s attorney and personal spokesman. “Ms. England just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in love with the wrong guy (Charles Graner). Stupidity is not a crime. Simply posing in a picture is not a crime, especially since what was depicted in those photographs was condoned by the Bush Administration.”
The controversy over what happened at Abu Ghraib is not over. Indeed, according to many in both Washington and elsewhere around the globe, the incoming Obama administration will have to face the torture question as it seeks to bolster America’s standing with the rest of the world. “You have 155 countries, of which the United States is one, that are party to the convention against torture,” says John Dean, former White House Counsel in the Nixon Administration. “There is a moral obligation on all those countries to investigate torture when it occurs. And so, if the United States passes on their moral obligation to investigate this, other countries are likely to step in, and this is going to be a huge embarrassment for the Obama administration.”
Lynndie England doesn’t have an opinion when it comes to such weighty political matters; but her attorney, who has seen the devastating impact the scandal has had on her life, is aware that the Senate Armed Services Committee report proves what his client has been saying all along.
“I would just like to see that Lynndie is given the chance to get on with her life,” says Roy Hardy. “She and the others don’t deserve to have their lives ruined, especially if those who put the torture plans in motion are allowed to avoid prosecution.”
Janis Karpinski will continue to reconnect with those Reservists tainted by the Abu Ghraib incident and insists that recent developments such as the SASC report warrant a reexamination of the cases against the soldiers implicated in the scandal.
“It’s the right thing to do,” says Karpinski.
In order to read the full Senate Armed Services Report, click on the link below or cut and paste into your browser:
http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2008/Detainees.121108.pdf
http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2008/Detainees.121108.pdf
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