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Feith Shocked, Simply Shocked By Possible Torture Charges. Should He Be?
Here's what Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy during the Bush Administration, told the New York Times in response to the prospect of torture-related charges being brought against him in Spain:
I didn't even argue for the thing I understand they're objecting to.
Feith was, in the newspaper's words, "baffled by the allegations."
The case at issue has been sent to prosecutors for review by Baltasar Garzon, the activist Spanish judge who ordered the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in the late 1990s. The gist of the lengthy complaint is this: that six former Bush officials -- including Feith, Alberto Gonzales, and John Yoo -- created a legal framework that allowed for the torture of detainees at Guantanamo.
So is Feith right to be "baffled" by his name popping up among those facing potential charges? Let's go to the record:
In an infamous November 2002 "action memo" written by General Counsel William Haynes (who is also named in the complaint), Feith is one of three officials mentioned as having been party to discussions about acceptable techniques to use on Guantanamo detainees. Among the techniques approved by Donald Rumsfeld, who signed the memo: "stress positions" and "inducing stress by use of detainee's fears (e.g. dogs)."
"I have discussed this with the Deputy, Doug Feith, and General Myers," Haynes wrote: "I believe that all join in my recommendation" to authorize several categories of techniques.
At the bottom of the memo, Feith is cc'ed by the acronym of his job title, USD(P), or undersecretary of defense for policy.
There's a wealth of information about Feith's role in British lawyer Philippe Sands' book, Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values. In fact, the memo in the title is the November 2002 document described above.
On the topic of a February 2002 memo, signed by President Bush, that concluded none of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions applied to "our conflict with al Qaeda," Sands, whom Feith has clashed with over the book, quotes Feith as saying "with pride":
This was something I played a major role in.
Sands also reports that Feith saw Bush's decision as "actually a strike for the Geneva Conventions and for international law."
It may take the Spanish prosecutors a while to chew through all this material.
Josh
Zachary
¿Se habla español, Doug?
March 31, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doug doesn't understand -- which could be seen as confirming evidence of Tommy Franks's judgment that he's not very bright, although as I remember he put it a bit more colorfully.
March 31, 2009 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, General Franks according to Plan of Attack, says of Feith: "I have to deal with the f***ing stupidest guy on the planet almost every day." (p.281).[ No wonder Feith doesn't get it. But then again the Bushies lead by Yoo claimed that the international law as enbodied in the Geneva Conventions were "quaint."
Now if the Republican can stop blocking Dawn Johnsen appointment to Office of Legal Counsel so we can prosecute these traitors ourselves. We should not need to have another country do our dirty work for us.
March 31, 2009 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lets get Ashcroft on the stand and see what he can tell us about all this. Obviously, his hospital bedside event represented at least some sort of personal challenge to Gonzalees, Feith, Yoo and Addington, so maybe he's recovered enough to speak some of that truth he claims to be so full of.
Still trying to put the Ashcroft bedside event into perspective here. Can't say why it is pestering my brain so much, but there's an important, if not vital link to be uncovered.
It may well be something of a smoking gun, relative to Spanish charges, and many future domestic prosecutions.
March 31, 2009 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is Feith a tenor, baritone or bass?
Give him a stool to sit on, turn the lights down low and turn the volume way, way up.
This just might be a melodious hit (no pun intended).
March 31, 2009 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
He played a "role" in it - except when he forgot. Oh, well.... que sera sera...
March 31, 2009 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Feith had the big dogs covering his lame, chicken hawk ass, he was just as brave as the rest of them. His cover has disappeared and now he is scared shitless. Rightfully so. When he was figuring out cover so the administration could torture, he was just getting even for all the ass kickings and lunch money stolen when he was a little sissy kid.
March 31, 2009 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen. Shithead.
April 6, 2009 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why would it be surprising that this idiot doesn't understand the possible charges? When has this waste product EVER understood anything, ever?
March 31, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The dumbest fucking guy on the planet" is "baffled" by something.
Why am I not surprised?
March 31, 2009 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Here's hoping they get him in the cushy chair.
March 31, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
is Yoo still teaching at Berkley?
March 31, 2009 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's a visiting lecturer at some small college further south. In effect he fled Berkley... though he's still tenured there. I'm looking to see how long a university will wait after an indictment to end his tenure. Also looking to the bar...
March 31, 2009 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Academia, the the torturer's hideout. Why doesn't that sound right?
March 31, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is way, way past time that the American Bar Association stepped in and disbarred some of its elite law breaking members.
March 31, 2009 9:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The ABA does not license lawyers; states do.
April 1, 2009 8:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hope we never stop investigating these insects, such as Feith, that were running our country in the previous regime.
Our country will struggle mightily to repair the damage done by the gang that
emptied the treasury,
manipulated the public by fear and phony stories,
started a war for no good reason,
ignored our constitution,
prevented regulation of anything ...
Good God, these bastards go their merry ways, free as the air, unaccountable for their mistakes and crimes ?
March 31, 2009 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
add to that poetic sequence...
and were never fucking elected in the first place.
THAT's what's never to be forgotten and remains for me one of the most infuriating things about the entire disgrace.
April 6, 2009 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they should just detain him without charges and then torture him a little to find out what the charges should be.
March 31, 2009 9:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is he related to Barney?
March 31, 2009 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
In Tulia Texas, a narc busted many people, mostly black, for cocaine sales. No cocaine was found, and the narc was eventually sent to jail for falsifying the evidence. However, $150 of cocaine could get you 60 YEARS. SIXTY YEARS!!! If you're black.
Feith, who helped start an illegal war that killed over 4,000 soldiers, 25,000 wounded, and billions and billions of dollars spent, gets a tenured professorship?
Sixty years for $150, and nothing for billions?! OMFG, SIXTY YEARS!!!!one1!111!
March 31, 2009 11:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's likely baffled because he was thoroughly convinced of the principle that "If the Vice-President says it's OK, then it's not against the law". Next time any American soldier or civilian is tortured by a hostile force, these chuckleheads should face charges as an accessory. Their approval of torture as a legitamite technique means it's more likely our enemies will have fewer qualms about doing it to Americans.
April 1, 2009 12:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm nostalgic for the 1990's, when people imagined the worst thing that could happen to America's honor was that the President had an affair with an intern. How can we have impeachment hearings for that, but ignore torture and other violations of the Geneva conventions?
April 1, 2009 12:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
We ignored, and continue to ignore, the torture because Nancy Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller, and other leading Democrats were complicit in approving that torture.
Why does anyone think Pelosi took impeachment off the table so quickly while under so little pressure.
.
April 1, 2009 8:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
One look at Feith's simpleton face tells me he's easy baffled by most anything. It's amazing how a Village Idiots Conglomerate managed to take over the country.
April 1, 2009 8:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Beware the Village Idiot Conglomerate that claims a "mandate"...
April 6, 2009 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like thinking about the long-term prosecutorial strategy here. If we can make their lives uncomfortable enough (starting in Spain, sure, but moving toward condemnation, investigations, and charges here in the U.S.) we might just get one of these little monsters to ROLL OVER on the big monsters.
Let us remember how long it took the government to build their case against the politically powerful heads of Enron a few years ago. They finally got one of the underlings to turn state's evidence. I wait (without holding my breath) for just such a happy occurrence. Imagine what Feith or Addington or Yoo might have to say after negotiating a sweetheart deal with the new improved DOJ!
Look over your shoulders, boys. We's a'comin...
April 6, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink