CURRENT AFFAIRS Author Marie monique ROBIN Director Marie monique ROBIN Coproducers ARTE FRANCE, GALAXIE PRESSE Format 1 x 87 ', 1 x 60 ', <strong>2010</strong> Available rights Non-theatrical rights - Internet - VOD - DVD - TV - Mobile Versions English - German - French Territory(ies) Worldwide. TORTURE MADE IN USA Could the representatives of the Bush administration be prosecuted for "war crimes"? This investigative documentary dismantles the machine that led "the world's greatest democracy" to use systematic torture on a massive scale in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq. Thefilmissupportedbyexclusiveinterviewswithmajorwitnesses-GeneralRicardoSanchez,former commanderofthecoalitionforcesinIraq(whospeaksforthefirsttimeoncamera),LarryWilkerson, ColinPowell'sformerChiefofStaff,MatthewWaxman,formeradvisortoCondoleezaRiceatthe WhiteHouse,AlbertoMora,formerUSNavyGeneralCounsel,andMichaelScheuer,chiefarchitect of the CIA's "Extraordinary Renditions" programme. It is also backed up with previously unaired filmedarchivesoftheparliamentaryhearingscarriedoutbetween2004and2008,inparticularby theUSSenateArmedServicesCommittee.Wediscoverthat,immediatelyafterthe11September attacks,VicePresidentDickCheneypilotedasecretprogramme,aimedat"legalising"torture,which notonlytotallyviolatedtheGenevaConventions(the60thanniversaryofwhichwascelebratedin 2009),butalsoviolatedtheConventionagainstTorture(signedbytheUnitedStates)andU.Slaws suchastheWarCrimesActof1996,inwhichthedeathpenaltyorlifeimprisonmentisimposed onthosewhousetorture.Fromthebeginning,theBushadministrationwasperfectlyawarethat not respecting international and U.S. laws could lead them to court. To protect themselves from anypossibleproceedings,ithasdrawnonlawyers,closetoDickCheneyandDonaldRumsfeld, inorderto"justify"theuseoftortureusinglegalargumentation.Includedinthistortureistheuse of"waterboarding"(simulatingdrowning).Tocoveritstroops,thePentagondecidedtomodifya "trainingprogramme"thatwashighlysecretatthetime,called"SurvivalEvasionResistanceand Escape"(SERE),runbypsychologistsmainlyatFortBragg,themilitaryschoolofthe"specialforces". Aimedatthecreamofofficers,theprogrammewasdesignedtotraintheminresistingtorture,inthe eventthattheyfellintoenemyhandsthatdidn'trespect...TheGenevaConventions.Thetorture programmegeneratedalotofresistancetothedepartmentofState,butalsoamongmilitaryleaders, whowereveryattachedtotheGenevaConventions,andopposedtothis"criminalconspiracy"using wordsofMichaelRatner,PresidentoftheCenterforConstitutionalRights. 12 CURRENT AFFAIRS
CURRENT AFFAIRS 13