[News] Burge Boeing Connection - Torture

Fri Mar 14 11:08:08 EDT 2008

(Please be sure to read on to invitation)

The seamless web of state-sponsored torture is powerfully illustrated 
by this historical example:  a technique of torture is used to coerce 
or terrorize "foreign enemies," then migrates into the backroom 
torture areas of police stations in American towns and cities.  Our 
effort to hold Boeing to account for serving as "travel agent for 
torture" clearly has implications for the struggle to stop police 
abuse in Chicago!   -  Bob Clarke

Excerpts from Wikipedia article on waterboarding: 
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding):

After the Spanish-American War of 1898

After the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_American_War>Spanish 
American War of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898>1898 in the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines>Philippines, the US Army 
used waterboarding which was called the "water cure" or "Chinese 
water torture." at the time. Major Edwin Glenn was court martialed 
and sentenced to 10 years 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_labour>hard labour for 
waterboarding a suspected insurgent. 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-9>[28] President 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt>Theodore Roosevelt 
ordered the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court-martial>court-martial 
of the American General on the island of 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samar>Samar for allowing his troops to 
waterboard, when the court-martial found only that he had acted with 
excessive zeal Roosevelt disregarded the verdict and had the General 
dismissed from the 
Army.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-10>[29]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-11>[30

Use by law enforcement

The use of "third degree interrogation" techniques in order to compel 
confession, ranging from "psychological duress such as prolonged 
confinement to extreme violence and torture", was widespread in early 
American policing. Lassiter classified the water cure as 
"orchestrated physical abuse", and described the police technique as 
a "modern day variation of the method of water torture that was 
popular during the Middle Ages." The technique employed by the police 
involved either holding the head in water until almost drowning, or 
laying on the back and forcing water into the mouth or 
nostrils.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-16>[45]:47 
Such techniques were classified as "'covert' third degree torture" 
since they left no signs of physical abuse, and became popular after 
1910 when the direct application of physical violence in order to 
force a confession became a media issue and some courts began to deny 
obviously compelled 
confessions.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-leo>[46]:42 
The publication of this information in 1931 as part of the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickersham_Commission>Wickersham 
Commission's "Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement" led to a 
decline in the use of third degree police interrogation techniques in 
the 1930s and 
1940s.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-leo>[46]:38

In 1983 Texas sheriff James Parker and three of his deputies were 
convicted for conspiring to force confessions. The complaint said 
they "subject prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal in 
order to coerce confessions. This generally included the placement of 
a towel over the nose and mouth of the prisoner and the pouring of 
water in the towel until the prisoner began to move, jerk, or 
otherwise indicate that he was suffocating and/or 
drowning."<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-wp>[47] 
The sheriff was sentenced to ten years in prison, and the deputies to 
four 
years.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-wp>[47]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#_note-npr>[48]

  The Coalition to Ground Boeing Torture Flights is contacting you as 
someone who is interested in stopping torture.  We need your help in 
fighting a situation right here in our own backyard, where Boeing 
Company has its world headquarters.

The Coalition to Ground Boeing Torture Flights began in order to 
bring light to corporate complicity with the U.S. Government's use of 
extraordinary rendition to torture prisoners into confessions or 
revealing information.  The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Jeppesen 
Dataplan, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing Company.  The 
lawsuit alleges that Jeppeson knowingly provided direct flight 
services to the CIA that enabled the clandestine transportation of 
five persons of Arab or Persian descent to secret overseas locations 
where they were subjected to torture.  These services included flight 
plans, fueling arrangements, even hotel bookings for those delivering 
victims into the hands of torturers.  (See Stephen Grey's book, Ghost Plane.)

Although a federal judge in February dismissed the the lawsuit in 
deference to the CIA's claim of  "state secrets," ACLU is appealing; 
and we want to continue to challenge Boeing to state publicly that 
they will never be involved in such activities again, that never 
again will they profit from torture.  With the lawsuit dismissed, our 
action is the only one remaining to call Boeing to account publicly 
for its complicity in torture.

On Saturday, March 29, 2008 there will be a meeting to plan a 
yearlong campaign to end Boeing's involvement in extraordinary 
rendition. The meeting will be held at the Hull House Museum, 800 S. 
Halsted St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Lunch will be 
provided.   Parking available.

This will be a one-time only intensive planning session to:
-agree on the goals of the campaign
-determine the steps of our action plan
-set a time line
-ask participants to take on components of the action plan, depending 
on their expertise.

We plan to launch the yearlong campaign with a public action at 
Boeing's April 28 annual shareholders' meeting to be held at the 
Field Museum.

To be successful, we need to broaden our membership. Those involved 
so far have been Christina Abraham from CAIR (Council on 
American-Islamic Relations/Illinois), Sr. Dorothy Pagosa from 8th Day 
Center, Bob Clarke and Anna Perlberg from Chicago Committee to Defend 
the Bill of Rights, Brad Thomson from Kick Boeing to the Curb. We 
have been working with the advice and support of Dick Simpson of the 
University of Illinois.

If you have any questions, please contact Dorothy Pagosa at 
773-203-4746 or Bob Clarke at 312-939-0675.  Please RSVP to Shango1 at aol.com

For information on the Boeing involvement in these torture flights, 
see our blog:

groundtortureflights.wordpress.com

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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