Daily Kos

Next Tuesday: FRONTLINE report on torture

by JTML

Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 12:12:46 AM PDT

This is an ALERT, so that you can schedule next Tuesday's Frontline program on PBS, either for viewing or taping.  The title of the program is "The Torture Question".  A Frontline crew witnessed the arrival of prisoners at Abu Ghraib several months ago, and that will be shown.  Here's a link to the page on the PBS site previewing the program:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/ .

Here's a link to the page where the press release about the program can be read:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/#press .

The decision by the Bush administration to invade and occupy Iraq was a terrible mistake, and the decision to torture people detained during the occupation has had tragic consequences for the detainees, for the U.S. military, and for the United States internationally.  The Frontline description of the program is below.

THE TORTURE QUESTION

In the uncertain weeks following September 11, 2001, an internal power struggle was underway deep inside the Bush administration. Waged between partisans at the highest levels of the government, that battle--captured in a series of blunt memos--exemplifies the struggle to create a legal framework to give the president authority to aggressively interrogate enemy fighters in the war on terror.

On October 18, FRONTLINE goes behind closed doors to investigate the struggle over how and when to use what was called "coercive interrogation." The film begins with a policy born out of fear and anger and tracks how increasingly tough measures were taken to gather information about Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and finally the rising insurgency in Iraq. In an examination that begins at the White House and ends in the public debate about alleged abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib, policy makers, government interrogators, and their subjects talk to FRONTLINE about their experiences as part of this internal battle.

Tags: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pentagon, Iraq War, Geneva Conventions, torture, torture memos, military, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, PBS, Frontline (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

Permalink | 11 comments

  •  I'll have to watch that, thanks for the heads up. (none / 0)


     Say, whatever happened to the new photos and video of US torture in Abu Grahiab?

     Not that I'm all keen to actually watch the horror of our National Disgrace, but didn't we get that released?

    Or would that bring us to our knees?

     Thanks again.

    by MoNuckah on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 12:25:37 AM PDT

    •  Any time (none / 1)

      Yeah, I figured that this was the way to bring it to the attention of people here, even though I haven't seen diaries used for this purpose.

      After all, not everyone would see a message posted to an open thread.

      I have to give you part of thr press release:
      In mid-August, a FRONTLINE documentary crew made the perilous journey to the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Entering the 280-acre compound in the middle of the night, escorted by helicopters and a convoy of armed Humvees, the crew was following 50 detainees fresh from the battlefield. As they were ordered to kneel in formation on the concrete floor, one detainee nervously asked the FRONTLINE cameraman, "Is this Abu Ghraib?" The answer brought a shudder.

      We're all in this together.

      by JTML on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 12:43:43 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Abu Ghraib photos (none / 0)

    On September 29, the judge gave the feds 20 days to appeal or release the Abu Ghraib photos.  The 20 days are up this Wednesday.

    by steveb on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 12:28:05 AM PDT

    •  Hmmm... (none / 0)

      Do you think the Feds will try to litigate it into the future again, or will they release them? Can BushCo take another body-blow like that? Now?

      The goal is not to bring your adversaries to their knees but to their senses. -- Mahatma Gandhi

      by kingubu on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 01:18:30 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  There will be no body-blow. (4.00 / 2)

        First, I doubt they're released during Bush's term.

        Second, even if they are released it will all be Lindie England's fault.

        Third, there's a large swath of unwashed masses who are OK with this. Muslims supposedly attacked us on September 11. You'd be surprised how hard it is for dumb people to differentiate between Brown People.

        We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution. - Bill Hicks

        by rjo on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 02:30:01 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

      •  Feds will appeal (none / 1)

        Though they haven't filed yet as far as I can find.  I suspect the pictures will be leaked before the ACLU can ever legally release them.

        by steveb on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 05:40:07 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  I suspect... (none / 0)

          ... they are waiting for the last day to file the appeal. That's the way they have played theses things up to this point-- its not about the substance of law (and certainly not about right and wrong), its about pushing the eventual release as far into the future as possible.

          The goal is not to bring your adversaries to their knees but to their senses. -- Mahatma Gandhi

          by kingubu on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 09:17:26 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

  •  The dam has broken... (none / 0)

    and here comes the flood!

    Looks like a BBC special almost. Now if only we can get them to air "The Power of Nightmares"!

    "Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix."

    -Christina Baldwin

    by Erevann on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 12:28:41 AM PDT

  •  Can the Power of NIghtmares (none / 0)

    be watched online?

    by DianeA on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 06:00:30 AM PDT

Permalink | 11 comments