Between The Lines - Gabor Rona: U.S. Debate on Torture Interrogation Methods After bin Laden’s Death (Week Ending May 20, 2011)

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United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Conference, Stamford, CT March 25, 2012 Selected audio from plenary sessions and panel discussions

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BTL Blog

"Updates on NDAA and Other Civil Liberty Erosions: Judge Orders Preliminary Injunction to Block NDAA Detention Provision," by Anna Manzo, May 17, 2012

"Angry and Fighting Back," by Reginald Johnson, May 17, 2012

"Lessons on Corporate Media's Role in Promoting U.S. War: Next Target Iran," by Scott Harris, April 30, 2012

"One Blue Sky Above Us": 40,000 Norwegians Respond to Breivik's Hate with Love for Children of the Rainbow," by Anna Manzo, April 27, 2012

UPDATED: "Part III: What the Trayvon Martin Case Reveals about Stand Your Ground and Concealed Weapons Laws," by Anna Manzo, April 13, 2012

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MP3: Nathan Schneider (www.wagingnonviolence.org) has been reporting on the OWS movement from its first days in August, 2011. In this April 3, 2012 interview, Richard Hill asks him to assess the on-going debate in the movement between those espousing a strict adherence to non-violence principles and practices and those advocating a 'diversity of tactics', Interview conducted by Richard Hill, WPKN

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U.S. Politics

"Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban," by Michael Hastings, BuzzFeed, May 18, 2012
"Obama Can’t Knock the Hustle," by Robert Scheer, TruthDig, May 17, 2012
"Austerian Pride," by digby, Hullabaloo, May 17, 2012
"G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama," The New York Times, May 17, 2012
"Uncovering the Other ALECs," by Sarah Blaskey & Steve Horn, Truthout, May 16, 2012
"Needy States Use Housing Aid Cash to Plug Budgets," The New York Times, May 16, 2012
"DNC Shamed Into Helping Wisconsin Recall, Still Not Committing Funds," by David Dayen, Firedoglake, May 16, 2012
"RNC Goes All In to Defend Wisconsin's Walker, but Where's the DNC?," by John Nichols, The Nation, May 16, 2012
"So Much for Schneiderman Being Tough on Wall Street," by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, May 16, 2012
"The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Obama on JPMorgan," by Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog, May 16, 2012
"Bill Clinton, Boehner, and Some Other Rich White Guys Had a "Summit" and Agreed: It's Your Fault," by Richard (RJ) Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, May 15, 2012
"The National Security State Wins (Again): Why the Real Victor in Campaign 2012 Won’t Be Obama or Romney," by Tom Engelhardt & William J. Astore, TomDispatch, May 15, 2012
"How being 'the party of no' is working for the GOP," by Gary Younge, Guardian/UK, May 14, 2012
"John Roberts’ Gilded Age SCOTUS," by Joan Walsh, Salon, May 14, 2012
"JPMorgan Sought Loophole on Risky Trading," The New York Times, May 12, 2012
"Coal, Foreclosures and Bank of America’s ‘Extraordinary Event’," by Amy Goodman, TruthDig, May 10, 2012
"Hope and Hesitation in Obama’s Sudden Conversion," by Robert Scheer, TruthDig, May 10, 2012
"Mitt Romney, Bully," by Amy Davidson, The New Yorker, May 10, 2012
"Wall Street’s immunity," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, May 10, 2012
"Romney Apologizes After Reports of Bullying Emerge," The New York Times, May 10, 2012
"How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform," by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, May 10, 2012
"Activists Want DNC Convention to Move out of North Carolina After Amendment One Passage," by David Dayen, Firedoglake, May 9, 2012
"President Obama endorses gay marriage, cites Sasha and Malia," McClatchy Newspapers, May 9, 2012
"Angry opponents of N.C. amendment call for moving Democratic convention from Charlotte," McClatchy Newspapers, May 9, 2012
"DC Democrats Upset That Feingold Called Out Pelosi’s Game of Footsie with Bowles-Simpson," by David Dayen, Firedoglake, May 9, 2012
"Lugar Loses Primary Challenge in Indiana," The New York Times, May 8, 2012
"Plutonomy and the Precariat: On the History of the U.S. Economy in Decline," by Tom Engelhardt & Noam Chomsky, TomDispatch, May 8, 2012
"The American Character," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, May 7, 2012
"Liberals Steer Outside Money to Grass-Roots Organizing," The New York Times, May 7, 2012
"Progressive Election Strategy and the Norman Solomon Campaign," by Jeff Cohen, New Politics, May 4, 2012
"Occupy Doesn’t Need to Get With the Vote," by Kevin Gosztola, Firedoglake, May 3, 2012
"Plutocracy, Paralysis, Perplexity," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 3, 2012
"The Peace Prize War President," by David Bromwich, Huffington Post, May 3, 2012
"The People Behind the Lawmakers Out to Destroy Public Education: A Primer," by Diane Ravitch, Education Week, May 2, 2012
"The Constitutional Crimes of Barack Obama," by Dave Lindorff, Counterpunch, May 2, 2012
"Bread, Circuses, and the Edwards Prosecution," by Scott Horton, Harper's, May 1, 2012
"Romney spokesman quits after right-wingers freak out about his being gay," by Alex Pareene, Salon, May 1, 2012
"As His Austerity Agenda Melts Down, Scott Walker Blames Protests for Record Job Losses," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 30, 2012
"Celebrating our “Warrior President”," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, April 29, 2012
"A Resurgent American Left?," by Eli Zaretsky, Dissent, April 27, 2012
"Obama Justice and medical marijuana," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, April 26, 2012
"Revive Socialism!," by Michael Kazin, Dissent, April 25, 2012
"Two Blue Dogs Defeated in Pennsylvania Primaries," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 25, 2012
"Justices Seem Sympathetic to Central Part of Arizona Law," by Adam Liptak, The New York Times, April 25, 2012
"Iran War Politics: Elizabeth Warren Contradicts Defense Secretary In Hawkish Talk, Bob Kerrey Calls Attack 'Disaster'," by Nico Pitney, Huffington Post, April 24, 2012
"Reports show hard-to-track donors dominate outside giving," USA Today, April 22, 2012
"Shift on Executive Power Lets Obama Bypass Rivals," by Charlie Savage, The New York Times, April 22, 2012
"The Citizens United Gang," by Jim Hightower, Creators.com, April 18, 2012
"ALEC Retreats, Sort Of," Yes! Magazine, April 17, 2012
"ALEC Disbands Task Force Responsible for Voter ID, 'Stand Your Ground' Laws," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 17, 2012
"Raising Kids Is Work? Tell That to Women on Welfare," by Laura Flanders, The Nation, April 16, 2012
"In Senate, Republicans Block Debate on ‘Buffett Rule’," The New York Times, April 16, 2012
"The War on Public-Sector Workers," by Dean Baker, Truthout, April 16, 2012
"Obama and Romney Are Politicians, Not Visionaries," by Dean Baker, Common Dreams, April 10, 2012
"Santorum Quits Race, Clearing Path for Romney," The New York Times, April 10, 2012
"The "Suicidal State" and the War on Youth," by Henry S. Giroux, Truthout, April 10, 2012
"The Buffett Rule’s low bar," by Robert Reich, Salon, April 10, 2012
"It's Romney, the GOP Candidate Opposed by 59 Percent of Republicans," by John Nichols, The Nation, April 10, 2012
"How Rick Santorum Moved the GOP Primary to the Right," by Ben Adler, The Nation, April 10, 2012
"Deepening the progressive bench," by Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, April 10, 2012

Economy

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Quiet Drama in Philadelphia," by Ellen Brown, Common Dreams, May 20, 2012
"A Little Help for the Long-Term Unemployed?," by Greg Kaufmann, The Nation, May 18, 2012
"We Told You So," by James K. Galbraith, The Baffler, May 18, 2012
"Why a Strong Middle-Class Is Necessary For Growth," by Mike Konczal, Next New Deal, May 18, 2012
"Preying on the Poor: How Government and Corporations Use the Poor as Piggy Banks," by Andy Kroll & Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch, May 17, 2012
"Apocalypse Fairly Soon," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 17, 2012
"Why Markets Won’t Fix JPMorgan," by James Kwak, Baseline Scenario, May 17, 2012
"JPMorgan’s Trading Loss Is Said to Rise at Least 50%," The New York Times, May 16, 2012
"Jamie Dimon’s Hubris Unshakable as JPMorgan Reelects Him to Top Two Posts," by Nomi Prins, Daily Beast, May 16, 2012
"California, the ninth largest economy in the world, resorts to austerity," Independent/UK, May 16, 2012
"Accidentally Released - and Incredibly Embarrassing - Documents Show How Goldman et al Engaged in 'Naked Short Selling'," by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, May 15, 2012
"Wells Fargo Has Blood on Its Hands: Desperate Man Commits Suicide After Shocking Foreclosure Mistreatment," by Dave Johnson, AlterNet, May 15, 2012
"Lessons in Disloyalty: Eduardo Saverin and the Facebook IPO," by Ilyse Hogue, The Nation, May 14, 2012
"Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan Chase: Why It's the Scandal of Our Time," by Richard (RJ) Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, May 14, 2012
"Colonized by Corporations," by Chris Hedges, TruthDig, May 14, 2012
"Colleges as Merchants of Debt," by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, May 13, 2012
"Why We Regulate," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, May 13, 2012
"A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College," The New York Times, May 12, 2012
"More Than 200,000 Americans Will Lose Their Unemployment Benefits This Weekend," by Pat Garofalo, Think Progress, May 11, 2012
"CHARTS: Economic Mobility Is Stronger In Union States," by Travis Waldron, Think Progress, May 10, 2012
"Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte: How Bank of America Silenced a Whole Town," by Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future, May 10, 2012
"Waiting for Copernicus: On the Slow-Death of Neoliberalism," by John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus, May 8, 2012
"New York Times Reporters Need to Read Krugman’s Columns," by Bill Black, Naked Capitalism, May 8, 2012
"Health care increasingly out of reach for millions of Americans," McClatchy Newspapers, May 7, 2012
"How to End This Depression," by Paul Krugman, New York Review of Books, May 7, 2012
"Why America's Rich People Are Better Than Everyone Else's," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, May 7, 2012
"A Down Week, Worsened by a Weak Jobs Report," The New York Times, May 4, 2012
"Discrepancies on Medical Bills Can Leave a Credit Stain," The New York Times, May 4, 2012
"The Crushing Burden of Student Debt," by David Graeber, Mike Konczal, Brian Kalkbrenner and Sarah Jaffe, Truthout, May 4, 2012
"Social security is not going broke," by David Cay Johnston, Reuters, May 4, 2012
"Argentina and the magic soybean: the commodity export boom that wasn't," by Mark Weisbrot, Guardian/UK, May 4, 2012
"The Stall Has Arrived," by Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog, May 4, 2012
"Welcome to the 2012 Hunger Games: Sending Debt Peonage, Poverty, and Freaky Weather Into the Arena," by Tom Engelhardt & Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch, May 1, 2012
"The Tinder-Box Society," by Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog, May 1, 2012
"Five Tax Fallacies Invented by the 1%," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, April 30, 2012
"How to Destroy Education While Making a Trillion Dollars," by Robert Freeman, Common Dreams, April 29, 2012
"Depression Symptoms: What’s Behind Europe’s Spike in Suicides," by Michelle Chen, In These Times, April 26, 2012
"American Austerity," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, April 25, 2012
"Europe’s austerity recession," by Robert Reich, Salon, April 25, 2012
"Bank CEOs gain as millions lose dreams, retirement to foreclosure," by Scott Klinger & John Cavanagh, Newark Star-Ledger, April 25, 2012
"Wells Fargo, Terrified to Face Victims of Its Foreclosure Fraud and Predatory Lending, Locks Shareholders Out of Annual Meeting," by Joshua Holland, AlterNet, April 24, 2012
"Wall Street-Inflated Student Debt Bubble Hits $1 Trillion; Debtors Rally for Relief," by Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet, April 24, 2012
"The Middle Class Hasn't Disappeared. It's Just Sliding Toward the Bottom," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, April 23, 2012
"Shareholders Say No to Citigroup CEO Pay: A Model for Fighting Crony Capitalism," by Dean Baker, Truthout, April 23, 2012
"The Housing Market Doldrums," by Mike Whitney, Counterpunch, April 23, 2012
"Call for Growth Rises to Counter German Push for Austerity," The New York Times, April 23, 2012
"Schneiderman Propagandist Confirms Report of Lack of Staffing for Mortgage Fraud Task Force," by Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, April 19, 2012
"Rising Fears That Recovery May Once More Be Faltering," The New York Times, April 19, 2012
"Locking Down an American Workforce: Prison Labor as the Past -- and Future -- of American “Free-Market” Capitalism," by Tom Engelhardt, Steve Fraser & Joshua B. Freeman, TomDispatch, April 19, 2012
"Spain’s contagious collapse," by Paul Ames, Global Post, April 19, 2012
"How the Goldman Vampire Squid Just Captured Europe," by Ellen Brown, Truthout, April 18, 2012
"Five Reasons Why The Very Rich Have NOT Earned Their Money," by Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, April 16, 2012
"Six Rigged Rules Corporations Use to Dodge Taxes," by Sarah Anderson & Scott Klinger, The Nation, April 16, 2012
"For Two Economists, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start," The New York Times, April 16, 2012
"Europe’s Economic Suicide," by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, April 15, 2012
"Vampire Squid Update: SEC Fines Goldman For Huddles," by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch, April 13, 2012
"The Federal Reserve Turns Left," by William Greider, The Nation, April 11, 2012
"An Economic Quagmire," by Mike Whitney, Counterpunch, April 10, 2012

Bush Accountability

"War Tribunal Finds Bush, Cheney Guilty of War Crimes," Common Dreams, May 13, 2012
"Yoo, Latif, and the Rise of Secret Justice," by Scott Horton, Harper's, May 9, 2012
"Torture: The Bush Administration on Trial," by Andy Worthington, Future of Freedom Foundation, May 7, 2012
"No Accountability for Torture," by David Cole, New York Review of Books, May 7, 2012
"More federal judge abdication," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, May 4, 2012
"UC Berkeley's John Yoo torture suit tossed out," San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 2012
"'Torture memos' author can't be sued for harsh interrogations, court rules," Christian Science Monitor, May 2, 2012
"Jose Rodriguez, Poster Boy," by Scott Horton, Harper's, May 1, 2012
"U.S. Torturers are Still Awaiting Arrest," by William A. Collins, Other Words, April 30, 2012
"Bush aide blasts torture," by Jordan Michael Smith, Salon, April 10, 2012

Claims that U.S. Torture Played Key Role in Locating Osama bin Laden are Unsupportable

RealAudio MP3

Posted May 11, 2011

Interview with Gabor Rona, international legal director with Human Rights First, conducted by Scott Harris

It wasn’t long after President Obama’s May 1 announcement that a U.S. Navy Seal commando team had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, that former members of the Bush administration and their allies began celebrating the role they claimed U.S. torture of terrorist suspects had played in locating the al Qaeda leader. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said that waterboarding -- which was banned by President Obama in January 2009 -- was “a good program. It was a legal program. It was not torture, I would strongly recommend we continue it." Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated “it was a mistake to rule out waterboarding. It's clear that those techniques that the CIA used worked."

The motivation of former members of the Bush administration for defending torture is transparent, as their actions are considered war crimes under international law and as individuals, certain Bush officials could be subject to prosecution when they travel abroad. But apart from the legal issues, most interrogation experts agree that the only effective method of extracting reliable information from detainees is to use non-coercive methods and to build trust with suspects. Gen. David Petraeus, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan and has been selected by President Obama to head the CIA, has asserted many times that U.S. torture serves as a major terrorist recruiting tool.

Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Gabor Rona, international legal director with Human Rights First, who explains why he rejects claims that torture is an effective interrogation method and believes that the abuse of terrorist suspects hindered efforts in locating Osama bin Laden.

Find more information on human rights group’s views on torture at www.humanrightsfirst.org/.