"E CONTINUERETE CON LA TORTURA? LA TORTURA COME LA INTENDIAMO NOI, NON COME LA INTERPRETATE VOI?"
(vedi sotto: domande nel corso della conferenza stampa alla Casa Bianca, dopo l'approvazione della "Military Commissions bill")
18/10/2006 - "LA REPUBBLICA", Pag. 23
GLI USA, LA TORTURA E LO STATO DI DIRITTO
di: ANTONIO CASSESE
www.difesa.it/files/rassegnastampa/061018/CB87V.pdf
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18/10/2006 - "L' UNITA'", Pag. 13
"STRAPPO PER LA DEMOCRAZIA USA"
Intervista a: STEFANO RODOTA'
di: UMBERTO DE GIOVANNANGELI
www.difesa.it/files/rassegnastampa/061018/CB8DB.pdf
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www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061017-3.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 17, 2006
Press Briefing by Tony Snow
White House Conference Center Briefing Room
1:05 P.M. EDT
STRALCI (LE DOMANDE DEI GIORNALISTI SI FANNO INSISTENTI E L'ADDETTO STAMPA SEMBRA FRANCAMENTE IMBARAZZATO):
Q Now that the President has signed the Military Commissions bill, how many --
what happens next? How quickly before the suspects at Guantanamo are brought to
trial?
MR. SNOW: It's still -- as I was explaining yesterday, it's going to take some
time...
Q And the interpretations that were required by the law, that are to be
published in an executive order --
...
MR. SNOW: Let me just -- let me read to you, because -- I'll just read you the
language. It sort of speaks for itself, but it's worth going through, with your
forbearance. It says: "As provided by the Constitution in this section, the
President has the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and
application of the Geneva Conventions and to promulgate higher standards and
administrative regulations for violations of treaty obligations which are not
grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
"The President shall issue interpretations described by Sub-paragraph A" --
which I just read to you -- "by executive order published in the Federal
Register. Any executive order published in this paragraph shall be
authoritative except as to grave breaches under Common Article III," and so on.
So that's the language.
Q So he does have to, then, publish an executive order, isn't that right?
MR. SNOW: Well, again -- well, we'll see. This says he's authorized to do
so...
Q On the signing, there have been a flurry of press releases from prominent
Democrats who voted against this, including Senator Feingold who said, "We'll
look back on this day as a stain on our nation's history." Would you like to
respond to any of those?
...
Q Senator Feingold, in his release, said, "This law allows the government to
seize individuals on American soil, detain them indefinitely, with no
opportunity to challenge their detention in court, and permits an individual to
be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony -- convicted under these rules
to be put to --
MR. SNOW: Again, Senator Feingold has been saying this for some time. As you
know, the CIA program that the President alluded to deals with people who have
been seized elsewhere. This is where you're basically trying to -- if I had to
parse each and every bit of that statement, it would keep me quite busy. Let me
just give you the basics here.
What we have is a Military Commissions Act that, in response to the United
States Supreme Court's decision in the Hamdan case, involves congressional
authorization for military commissions, which have been a factor of American
justice in times of war since the founding era. What we have done is put
together with -- again, in consultation with Congress, ways in which we can, in
keeping with our treaty obligations and laws, question enemy combatants, bring
them to justice, or in many cases, what we've been trying to do at Guantanamo,
try to repatriate them either to home nations or nations under which they have
been charged with criminal offenses, and who, upon receiving them, will observe
and honor their human rights.
Q Tony, can you tell us how quickly the CIA interrogators will begin resuming
their questioning?
MR. SNOW: No. Let me explain -- go ahead.
Q -- references to the CIA program.
MR. SNOW: Yes.
Q That mean you're going to continue secret prisons and torture?
MR. SNOW: Number one -- first --
Q Torture as we know it, not as you interpret it --
MR. SNOW: No, I don't think --
Q -- which is water-boarding, deprivation of sleep and so forth.
MR. SNOW: First, as you know, torture is illegal. Furthermore --
Q I didn't say that. But we've seen photographs, we've seen the horror of it
all.
MR. SNOW: What photograph have you seen of --
Q Abu Ghraib and so forth.
MR. SNOW: Abu Ghraib is something that was a criminal -- was, in fact, a
criminal infraction for which people were charged.
Q How do we know it doesn't go on above --
MR. SNOW: Are you saying that the people -- the U.S. servicemen --
Q I'm saying to you that there have been allegations all the way through that
we don't treat -- that we coerce testimony.
MR. SNOW: On the other hand, the International Committee of the Red Cross
regularly visits Guantanamo and talks to everyone there, and has, in fact, seen
the high-value detainees. The United States has made it possible --
interestingly, many of the people making these particular allegations have
refused to go to Guantanamo and assess for themselves what's going on; instead,
they've based it on hearsay testimony.
The United States has set up a system -- and General Hayden talked about this
-- that goes through extraordinary lengths to make sure that the questioning is
done in a way that is effective and also humane.
Q Well, how do we know that? What kind of checks do the American people have?
MR. SNOW: Well, Helen, I'm not sure that you're going to trust anything that
people tell you in good faith. It's the law. And the people who engage in this
are very proud of their professionalism and the steps they take. For instance
-- I'll go back through it again, because it's probably worth reminding people.
You have folks who have to have demonstrated maturity before they're even
allowed to get into the questioning program. There are 250 hours of original
training, plus you have to have 40 hours working with somebody who has already
been authorized to do training before you can engage in an interrogation. Also,
in any interrogation, there is an outside observer who, at any point, for any
reason, can interrupt the questioning, saying that they think that it's
inappropriate and it can --
Q Can we know what the guidelines are in terms of how they're enforced or
interrogated --
MR. SNOW: No, the government will not tell you the precise questioning
techniques, for the reasons that have been outlined many times before, which is
that you do not want to give those who are apprehended, or terrorists, the
ability to plan in advance for techniques that might be used. However, there
are pretty extensive guidelines not only in this particular legislation, but
also in U.S. law and international treaty obligations, that not only -- torture
is completely out of the question, but also so-called grave offenses that have
been outlined in the Geneva Conventions, and in fact, are mentioned in this
law, as well.
For instance, cruel or inhumane treatment; performing biological experiments;
murder and mutilation and intentionally causing serious bodily injury; rape,
sexual assault or abuse; taking hostages. Those are obviously the gravest
infractions, but there are also -- within the law, in Section 6 of the law,
that govern ways in which people may conduct these things.
Q But you're not suggesting this is an easy question-and-answer session?
MR. SNOW: No, I'm not suggesting anything. You may have seen one of the
stories where one of the most effective interrogators was described as a
grandmotherly person who made people friends. Keep in mind that ultimately you
want to have the condition where they are going to be cooperative. And beyond
that, I'm simply not going to --
Q You would need special legislation for that?
MR. SNOW: Don't know.
Q You said that it's classified on whether we believe in water-boarding.
MR. SNOW: No, I said I'm not going to talk about water-boarding, nor am I
going to talk about any other technique, real or imagined. That's been our
position from the start.
Q So how will the President convince Americans that the kind of interrogation
and the kind of pursuit of terrorists is something they can be proud of?