Now that the government claims it offed Osama bin Laden – never mind a complete lack of evidence – it is time to elevate the brutal and medieval techniques the government said it used to break the case.

Darth Vader, aka Mr. Darkside Dick Cheney, former Justice Department official John Yoo – who said it is legal and permissible to crush the testicles of little boys to extract information – and Congress critter anti-jihad crusader Peter King from New York all said this week that “enhanced interrogation,” otherwise known as torture, is a vital element in the war against manufactured enemies.

Even Judicial Watch piled on. On May 4, it said documents recently obtained from the CIA through a FOIA request demonstrate the information gained by so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” ultimately led to the purported – and now reported by the corporate media as truth – killing of Osama bin Laden. “These documents show that without ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ Osama bin Laden might still be hiding in his compound plotting to kill more innocents,” writes Judicial Watch. Or he might still be resting in his Afghan grave, where he was reportedly buried in late 2001, according to an Egyptian newspaper.

Part of the fantasy narrative is that Osama was smoked out of his Pakistan mansion thanks to torture. “Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome,” Obama said in his victory speech. “The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.”

Let us praise tireless CIA waterboarders, even as the small fish like the chump Lynndie England and her cohorts were prosecuted, never mind they were following orders.

Let us thank various medieval practices – including strappado hanging, the rape of teenage boys, sexual assaults with acid-dipped phosphorescent tubes, and other reprehensible acts employed at Abu Ghraib and other torture chambers, all done, we are told, in our names because they hate us for our freedom.

On Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said enhanced interrogation techniques by “unbelievably competent professionals” helped lead the government to Osama bin Laden. Carney said Obama and crew will not rule out using torture again in the future. In fact, we can bet on it.

Recall John Yoo telling us torturing children is permissible under the so-called unitary executive, a somewhat neutral term for dictatorship. Yoo’s boss at the time, George Bush the Lesser, invoked dictatorial powers no less than 103 times through so-called signing statements informing Congress he would disobey the Constitution, specifically Article I, Section 7. The now widely ignored passage states that the president has three choices – he can veto a law in its entirety, sign it, or do nothing. It is unconstitutional for the president to ignore or change legislation signed into law by Congress.

Bush also violated the Constitution and applicable federal law when he repeatedly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance without a warrant.

Bush’s unitary executive, inherited by Obama, is nothing more than the ancient practice of a king with advisers. It is a recipe for dictatorship and totalitarianism — and more torture and endless war.

Previously, under our constitutional system, authority came from the people and was passed down to an elected Congress and the Supreme Court, then down to the president, whose job it is to execute the laws made by Congress in the name of the people. Our president is an executive who is supposed to make sure the will of the people reigns supreme. He is not a king.

On April 18, Steven Thomma, writing for McClatchy, lamented Obama’s rule and how it has become a mirror reflection of Bush’s rule. An illustration below reveals how Obama has embraced Bush and expanded the unitary fascist dictatorship of the president. It is fascist in the true sense, as defined by the originator of modern fascism, Benito Mussolini. Fascism, Mussolini explained, is corporatism plain and simple.

This is not coincidental. The plutocracy – the global elite, bankers, and transnational corporatists – have long planned a move away from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It stands between them and total domination.

On December 1, 2005, John Yoo, an architect of U.S. legal policy on torture, publicly claimed that George Bush has the authority to order the torture of children.

Does President George W. Bush agree? Are Yoo's remarks an expression of what is now offical policy and practice?

During a debate in Chicago, John Yoo said that presidential powers include the right to order the torture of suspects, including their children. John Yoo, a key architect for post 9/11 legal policy of the Bush Adminstration, has continued to advocate White House policies on torture, wiretapping and unlimited presidential powers.

This is a text transcript excerpt of this exchange between International Human Rights expert Doug Cassel and John Yoo:

Doug Cassel: If the president deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?
John Yoo: No treaty.
Doug Cassel: Also no law by Congress -- that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo...
John Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.

Some people at the debate compared Yoo's policies to Nazi Germany. He quckly denied this. Yet Yoo then immediately went on to argue that Bush can do anything he chooses to U.S. captives -- even crush the testicles not just of suspects... but their children. What more evidence is needed that Yoo and the policies he has helped write for the US government are like the Nazis and Hitler?

I was there, heard the whole debate and recorded it all on tape. http://revcom.us/johnyoo/index.html

Harsh interrogation debate returns with bin Laden takedown

Washington (CNN) - Within hours of President Barack Obama's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, politics entered the fray.

A small but vocal group of Republicans including former Bush administration officials began claiming that information obtained from waterboarding and other now-prohibited enhanced interrogation techniques led to the successful assault on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

Interviews and commentaries by conservatives, including former Vice President Dick Cheney repeated the contention, citing media reports rather than direct information.

A closer look shows no obvious evidence of a direct connection, at least to waterboarding, the simulated drowning technique considered to be torture under international law.

While administration officials, former interrogators and others concede that thousands of pieces of information collected over the past nine years eventually brought U.S. Navy SEALs to bin Laden, no one has cited specific information that came from the harsh interrogations labeled torture.

Terrorist Detainee Documents Demonstrate Value of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" That Led to Osama bin Laden Capture

Judicial Watch: 2004 Bush Administration Briefing Presentation Details Specifically References Role of "Couriers" in bin Laden "Support Network"

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that documents recently obtained by JW from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) demonstrate the valuable information gained by so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," that ultimately led to the recent capture and killing of Osama bin Laden. Judicial Watch obtained the documents pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.

In March 2011, Judicial Watch released documents obtained from the DOD detailing the policies of the Bush administration related to the detention of "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay, as well as the significant risks posed to the general population if the detainees were released. The documents include a February 4, 2004, draft presentation entitled "Guantanamo Detainees" previously marked "Not for Public Dissemination." It specifically references the role of "couriers" in the bin Laden network, noting that enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay include "members of al Qaida's international terrorism support network, including financiers, couriers, recruiters and operatives."

The DOD documents obtained by Judicial Watch further state that "Detainees have revealed al-Qaida leadership structures, operatives, funding mechanisms, communications methods, training and selection programs, travel patterns, support infrastructures, and plans for attacking the United States and other countries" and "information on UBL's (sic) personal security procedures."

This is consistent with documents previously obtained in a separate Judicial Watch lawsuit that detail the overall effectiveness of "enhanced interrogation techniques" against captured terrorists. According to a June 1, 2005, CIA report entitled, Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War Against Al-Qa'ida, "Detainee reporting accounts for more than half of all HUMINT reporting on al-Qa'ida since the program began..." Interestingly, this fact was omitted in later versions of the report obtained by Judicial Watch. All versions, however, conclude: "One of the gains to detaining the additional terrorists has been the thwarting of a number of al-Qa'ida operations in the United States and overseas."

Following the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, multiple news outlets stated intelligence from detainees identified the courier who ultimately led Navy Seals to the front door of the million-dollar compound that housed bin Laden. According to The Washington Times: "The debate over the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the Bush administration is being rekindled by the successful operation against Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, which was based on information about the courier extracted from detained terror suspects."

Despite the effectiveness of "enhanced interrogation techniques," the federal government suspended their use in 2005 by passing the Detainee Treatment Act. President Obama officially banned the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" during his first week in office in January 2009. Two months later, in March 2009, President Obama overruled objections from national security officials and released documents detailing the government's enhanced interrogation program (the so-called "torture" memos). However, President Obama initially withheld information detailing the results of this program, including alleged terrorist plots that the program prevented. Now this same program is credited with the capture of the world's most notorious terrorist. Meanwhile, Attorney Holder's Justice Department continues its criminal investigation of the very same CIA employees who may have helped obtain information that President Obama used to kill bin Laden.

"These documents show that without 'enhanced interrogation techniques' Osama bin Laden might still be hiding in his compound plotting to kill more innocents. The capture and killing of Osama bin Laden will prompt President Obama to rethink his ideological and political positions on enhanced interrogation techniques. President Obama can no longer attack the very intelligence techniques that led to his brightest day thus far as president," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Judicial Watch is, of course, grateful to the intelligence community and U.S. military, specifically the nameless Navy Seals, who brought Osama bin Laden to justice." (5.04.2011) Visit www.judicialwatch.org to read the terrorist detainee documents obtained by Judicial Watch.

Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency

On July 14, 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to force the agency's compliance with a FOIA request filed on May 18, 2009 seeking to obtain records from the Office of former Vice President Cheney related to CIA interrogation techniques.

Judicial Watch was successful in getting the government to release several documents and the case will be dismissed following the government's payment of litigation fees.

Litigation Documents

Documents Uncovered

Press Releases

Republicans note harsh interrogation helped bin Laden operation

The debate over the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the Bush administration is being rekindled by the successful operation against Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, which was based on information about the courier extracted from detained terror suspects.

“Khalid Shaikh Mohammed basically gave up nothing until after he had been waterboarded,” Mr. King, New York Republican, said in an interview Tuesday. “It was after that that he first mentioned the courier, he identified him by his nom de guerre, and after that … al Libbi also gave us additional information on the courier.”

White House counterterrorism coordinator John Brennan said Tuesday that he is not aware that waterboarding produced intelligence that led to the identity of bin Laden’s compound.

“Not to my knowledge. The information that was acquired over the course of nine years or so came from many different sources — human sources, technical sources, as well as information that detainees provided,” Mr. Brennan said on MSNBC.

Mr. King said the Bush administration’s overall handling of terrorist detainees was vindicated by Sunday’s successful raid.

“Absolutely. This is a vindication,” he said. “Without that, we may not have gotten bin Laden.”

Administration officials said tracking one particular bin Laden courier ultimately produced key intelligence that ended the worldwide manhunt with Sunday’s commando raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that left the al Qaeda leader dead.

Work by analysts who “pieced it all together” led to the Abbottabad compound last year and the Sunday raid, Mr. Brennan said, noting that no single piece of information resulted in finding the compound and that data from detained terrorists were mixed.

A senior Obama administration official who briefed reporters Sunday night said intelligence agencies had focused on finding couriers for bin Laden since 2001, with one trusted messenger having “our constant attention.”

Interrogated detainees provided the courier’s nom de guerre, identified him as a protege of Mohammed and al-Libbi, and revealed he was “one of the few al Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden,” the official said.

The courier also was living with and protecting bin Laden, but intelligence agencies were unable for years to learn his name or location.

Then, four years ago, the courier was identified by name, and then two years later he and his brother were spotted as operating in a specific area of Pakistan, the official said.

“Still, we were unable to pinpoint exactly where they lived due to extensive operational security on their part,” the official said.

In August the couriers’ residence was located as the Abbottabad compound, triggering the covert operation that began in September and ended on Sunday. Both the courier and his brother were killed in the raid.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters on Tuesday that “nothing has been found to indicate that this came out of Guantanamo.”

“And people were questioned, but there were no positive answers as to the identity of this No. 1 courier,” Mrs. Feinstein, California Democrat, said.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he believes harsh interrogations likely contributed to finding bin Laden.

“I would assume that the enhanced interrogation program that we put in place produced some of the results that led to bin Laden’s ultimate capture,” Mr. Cheney said Monday on Fox News Channel.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in an interview with Newsmax that “normal interrogation techniques” helped lead searchers to bin Laden, but not waterboarding.

“It certainly points up the fact that the structures that President Bush put into place — military commissions, Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, indefinite detention and humane treatment, but intensive interrogation to be sure — all contributed to the success we’ve had in the global war on terror,” Mr. Rumsfeld said.

White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said the debate over whether harsh interrogation produced intellgience on bin Laden is a distraction because the successful raid was based on multiple types of information sources.