La historia de la CIA y la tortura

Técnica del waterboarding

Tortura: "Acto por el cual se inflija intencionadamente a una persona
dolores o sufrimientos graves, ya sean físicos o mentales,
con el fin de obtener de ella o de un tercero información o una confesión (...)
cuando sean infligidos por un funcionario público
u otra persona en el ejercicio de funciones públicas".

Convenio contra la tortura, ratificado por EE UU

A partir de la reciente publicación de los memos de la administración de George W. Bush sobre las técnicas "reforzadas" de interrogación aprobadas por el gobierno demócrata para que la CIA se encargue de implementarlas, ha quedado demostrado que Estados Unidos practicó de manera sistemática métodos de tortura a prisioneros por terrorismo. El deslinde de la administración Obama ha sido tajante, pero sus iniciativas de investigación y accountability no son tan firmes así que aun no queda claro si es que el Estado norteamericano va a abrir procesos por violaciones de los DDHH a miembros del antiguo gobierno.

Para estar bien enterados sobre este tema, he preparado un pequeño dossier periodístico y bibliográfico con lo mejor que he leido sobre el asunto. Nótese las contantes menciones a la historia de la tortura relacionada a la CIA, como en el caso de la guerra de Vietnam.

Cualquier contibución es bienvenida.

Bush Administration Terrorism Memos (html, pdf)

The CIA's Dumb Intelligence (Time Magazine)

"The harsh tactics--isolation, sleep deprivation, humiliation, waterboarding--not only had been widely reported, but much of it was also acknowledged to have originated in "Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War," a 1957 article written for the Air Force about abusive Chinese interrogations of U.S. troops during the Korean War."

After the dark side (The Economist)

"Mr Obama has repeatedly signalled that he will fulfil his campaign promise to turn the page on a dark chapter in American history. On his first day in office he said that he was suspending the military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay. Two days later he signed executive orders banning the CIA’s secret prisons and “enhanced interrogation” techniques, bringing America’s policies on detainees in line with international treaties; he also ordered Guantánamo closed within a year. Many of his supporters regarded his decision to release the torture memos as another example of his determination to break with the past."

Yes, National Review, We Did Execute Japanese for Waterboarding (Paul Begala)

"The folks at Politifact interviewed R. John Pritchard, the author of The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Complete Transcripts of the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. They also interviewed Yuma Totani, history professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and consulted the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, which published a law review article entitled, "Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts." Bottom line: Sen. McCain was right in 2007 and National Review Online is wrong today. America did execute Japanese war criminals for waterboarding."

‘We Could Have Done This the Right Way’ (Newsweek)

Los informes del Senado responsabilizan a altos cargos de Bush en el entramado de torturas (El Pais)

Declassified Report: Bush Admin Solicited Torture 'Wish List,' Ordered 'Communist' Tactics (Alternet)

"President George W. Bush made a written determination that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment, did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees. This act, the committee found, cleared the way for a new interrogation program to be developed in-part based on "Chinese communist" tactics used against Americans during the Korean War, mainly to elicit false confessions for propaganda purposes."

Thomas, Gordon. Las torturas mentales de la CIA. (Google Books)

Libros en inglés sobre el tema (Barnes & Noble)

Christopher Hitchens, periodista, se somete al waterboarding y nos muestra el video:

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