Rev Anthony Robinson interviews Ray McGovern, writes on the truth of torture

Article by the Rev. Anthony Robinson in Crosscut

"Telling the Truth about Torture:
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, now an advocate for release of U.S. interrogation records, says he didn't change sides. The truth did."
By Anthony B. Robinson
http://crosscut.com/2009/11/17/law-justice/19375/

Rev. Robinson is a retired pastor from Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle, and formerly wrote a column on religion for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He interviewed Ray McGovern in Seattle during McGovern's speaking tour, organized by Washington State Religious Coalition Against Torture.

photos from Ray McGovern Talk 11/12/09

Ray McGovern spoke to a standing-room only crowd on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls" at University of Washington, Seattle on November 12, 2009.

Ellen Finkelstein staffs the Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture Table, where attendees learned of WSRCAT projects and signed up for information.

Ray McGovern Seattle visit on the web & upcoming events

Ray McGovern has had 3 live radio interviews plus a presentation at the University of Washington during his visit to Seattle. He has an OpEd in the Tacoma News Tribune 11/15/09. Below are links to his interviews and talks. Also, reminders of the 11/15/09 Tacoma event and 11/16/09 Olympia event.

Interview KUOW 94.9 FM Radio Seattle 11/12/09 "Weekday" with Steve Scher 9-10 am
Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern on Torture
http://kuow.org/program.php?id=18761

Video of Ray McGovern talk, Thurs 11/12/09, 7 pm, Kane Hall, UW Seattle
"Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWBRyzPzKbY
Thanks to independent videographer, Mike McCormick

Interview KIRO 97.3 FM Radio Seattle 11/13/09 Dave Ross show 10- 11 am
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=112&cmsid=90&t=search&k=mcgovern

Interview KEXP 90.3 FM Radio Seattle Sat. 11/14/09 "Mind Over Matters" with Mike McCormick
http://kexp.org/streamarchive/streamarchive.asp
enter date and time, 11/14/09, 7:30 am
All Mind Over Matters programming is archived on KEXPs website for two weeks following broadcast.

OpEd in Tacoma News Tribune, 11/15/09
Torture is a result of accumulated evil – but few seem to care
by Ray McGovern
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/othervoices/story/955379.html


STILL TO COME:

TACOMA EVENT
Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture,
UW Tacoma's Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Concentration,
and United for Peace of Pierce County present
Ray McGovern on Does Torture Work? 'Let's Have Both Sides of the Story'
Sunday November 15, 2009, 7:00 p.m.,
at UW-Tacoma, Carwein Auditoriumin in Keystone Building, 1900 Commerce St,
Tacoma http://www.tacoma.washington.edu/campus_map/
Free, public welcome. Free parking in C-St. lot next to UWT.

OLYMPIA EVENT
Monday, Nov 16 Ray McGovern: "Why Accountability for Torture is Crucial for
Human Right, Our Security and Our Souls"
The Evergreen State College(Olympia), Lecture Hall, room 2, 12 noon

Torture Opponent Ray McGovern speaks Nov 16, Olympia

Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture presentsRay McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls"
Monday November 16, 2009, noon, The Evergreen State College (TESC), Lecture Hall, room 2 (in the round building on left central campus at Evergreen), 2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW,Olympia


Free, All Are Welcome
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years. He is active in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and has been an outspoken critic of the flawed intelligence used to justify the Iraq war and of the use of torture.

An Amazing Anti-Torture Week in the Puget Sound Area

An Amazing Anti-Torture Week in the Puget Sound Area
See posts below for these events:

• Mon Nov 9, Seattle, Nan Aron on Bringing Justice to Torturers event canceled, to be rescheduled
• Weds Nov 11, Seattle, Mark Danner on "Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War"
• Thurs Nov 12, Seattle; Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls."
• Sat Nov 14, in Seattle, Jeff Robinson on his experience representing detainees in Guantanamo Bay (at ACLU dinner)
• Sun Nov 15, in Tacoma; Ray McGovern on Does Torture Work? 'Let's Have Both Sides of the Story'
• Mon Nov 16, in Olympia; Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls."

Torture Opponent Ray McGovern, Sun. Nov. 15 in Tacoma

Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture,
UW Tacoma's Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Concentration, and United for Peace of Pierce County present

Ray McGovern on
Does Torture Work? 'Let's Have Both Sides of the Story'

Sunday November 15, 2009, 7:00 p.m., at UW-T, Carwein Auditorium, 1900 Commerce St, TacomaFree, public welcome. Free parking in C-St. lot next to UWT.

Ray McGovern is active in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and has been an outspoken critic of the flawed intelligence used to justify the Iraq war and of the use of torture.

Ray McGovern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_McGovern won the Intelligence Commendation Medal, and prepared the president's daily intel briefing in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. A Roman Catholic, McGovern recently published a stinging commentary on a 2009 poll result according to which most regular churchgoers (54 percent) believe torture can be "justified."

Co-sponsors include ACLU-Washington; American Friends Service Committee - Pacific NW; Amnesty International Puget Sound; Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW); Washington Association of Churches; Veterans For Peace Chapter 134 Tacoma; and Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Information http://www.wsrcat.org or http://www.ufppc.org/local-news-mainmenu-34/9071/

Torture Opponent Ray McGovern speaks Nov 12 Seattle

Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture presents
Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls"

Thursday November 12, 2009, 7:00 p.m., at Kane Hall, Room 220, University of Washington Campus, Seattle

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years. He is active in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and has been an outspoken critic of the flawed intelligence used to justify the Iraq war and of the use of torture. He has written:

On April 16, President Barack Obama released ... documents [which] reveal that top CIA officials solicited and obtained from handpicked Department of Justice lawyers legal opinions based on an extraordinary premise; namely, that so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" did not amount to torture unless they caused "pain equivalent to organ failure or death." With that very high threshold, the CIA was given free rein to use harsh techniques like waterboarding and sleep deprivation, to name just two of the torture techniques that find antecedents in the Spanish Inquisition. Several detainees died in CIA custody; the murders appear to qualify as capital offenses under 18 U.S.C. 2441, the War Crimes Act passed into law in 1996 by a Republican-controlled Congress.

Co-sponsors include ACLU-Washington; American Friends Service Committee - Pacific NW; Amnesty International Group 4, Seattle; Amnesty International Puget Sound; Backbone Campaign; Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW); UW Amnesty International; UW Center for Global Studies; UW Center for Human Rights; UW Jackson School of International Studies; UW Latin American Studies Program; UW Law, Societies & Justice program; UW Southeast Asia Center; United Nations Association Greater Seattle Chapter; Washington Association of Churches; and Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Information http://www.wsrcat.org