Stephen Lendman

ICRC hasn't been doing all that much for the Palestinians either...

Progressive News Hour regular James Petras once said most NGOs skim 90% of donations for themselves. They're predators, not humanitarians. They serve political agendas for profit. They avoid denouncing governmental patrons providing financing. They don't link neoliberal exploitation and human rights violations to imperial agendas. They support wrong over right. They prey on the world's vulnerable. They commit flagrant abuses for self-enrichment and close ties to top government officials. ICRC is no exception. More on it below.

On July 18, Security Council members again vote on a Western resolution. Russia and China vetoed two earlier ones. They reject one-sided proposals. They advance the ball for war. This one includes UN Charter Chapter VII provisions. They range from economic sanctions to blockades or military intervention if other measures fail. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejects Chapter VII authorization. [He said]:

We will vote against the U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria if it is not based on the Geneva agreements.

Geneva language left much to be desired. It agreed on

"facilitat(ing) a Syrian led political process," but overstepped at the same time. Contrary to international law, it accepted "agreed guidelines and principles for a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

Syrians had their say earlier. They overwhelmingly adopted a new constitution by national referendum. First time ever parliamentary elections were held. Turnout was high. Voting went smoothly. Independent monitors judged the process open, free and fair. Why repeat what's already accomplished? Most important is that international law prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Doing so in Geneva or elsewhere lacks legitimacy.

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Joseph Mercola

When I first read that genetically modified humans have already been born, I could hardly believe it. However, further research into this story featured in the UK's Daily Mail proved it to be true. They've really done it... they've created humans that nature could never allow for, and it's anyone's guess as to what will happen next.

Even more shocking was the discovery that this is actually old news!

The Daily Mail article was not dated, and upon investigation, the experiments cited actually took place over a decade ago; the study announcing their successful birth was published in 2001[.pdf].

While I typically comment on recent findings and health related news, in this case I will make an exception, because I think many of you may be as surprised by this information as I was. I do not propose to have any answers here as this is out of my scope of expertise.

At best, I hope I can stir you to ponder the implications of this type of genetic engineering, and I invite you to share your perspective in the vital votes' comment section here.

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Stephen Lendman

This type militarism is unheard of in peacetime. It reflects readiness for war, not public security.

Olympism today differs vastly from its Athens roots. A previous article explained it's more about profiteering, exploitation, and cynicism than sport. Militarized London reflects something more.

A 2011 "Total Policing" brochure explained. In September 2011, Bernard Hogan-Howe became Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. Straightaway he announced a "total policing" policy. Effectively it means anything goes. He said it's "about total war on suspects and total victim care." Take the latter concern with a grain of salt.

An 11-page brochure said police intend to use Section 60 of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. It gives them "the right to search people in a defined area at a specific time." It also "provides powers to require the removal of disguises at public order events." Essentially it gives cops and other security forces carte blanche to enforce police state authority. Increasingly they're taking full advantage.

From July 27 - August 12, London will host the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The city is militarized and ready.

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Moon of Alabama

Tremseh "Massacre" Was A Legitimate Military Operation

The false reporting on the Tremseh "massacre" was supposed to put pressure on Russia and China to agree to a Chapter 7 UN Security Council resolution. Chapter 7 [of the UN Charter] allows the use of force and such a resolution could be used as an excuse for armed intervention. Kofi Annan took that position when, after Tremseh, he urged the UNSC to threaten Syria with "consequences" for not retreating from cities and villages. Annan and Ban Ki Moon were dispatched to Russia and China to further press the issue.

But the Tremseh information operation fell apart when the UN observers confirmed the Syrian government version of the story. Writes the Wall Street Journal:

New evidence on last week's killings in a village in central Syria suggests the bloodshed followed a raid by government forces to arrest male rebels, rather than a deliberate massacre of around 200 civilians as some Syrian opposition leaders and their Western allies first reported.

The findings could ease the pressure on Russia and China to back tougher measures against Bashar al-Assad's government, underscoring how competing narratives and interpretations of events in Syria continue to divide world powers over how to end a conflict now recognized by most as a civil war.

The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to meet with Kofi Annan tomorrow. He just held a press conference in which he laid out the Russian and Chinese position.

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Tom Suarez

Democracy makes us responsible for what is done in our name.

It’s probably a good sign that Israel’s apologists are increasingly resorting to a sideways defense: What’s with you and Israel? I don’t hear you complaining about China or Syria or North Korea. Implicit in this mantra is an admission that any coherent defense of Israel is in short supply—the only “defense” left is to question why this particular bully is targeted from among the various nefarious bullies on the block. It’s a desperate line that is wielded effectively only because of its insinuation of some dark motive, innuendos that the other bullies cannot exploit. I’ve been doused with it by people as diverse as security agents at Ben Gurion airport to the music critic Norman Lebrecht.

Its absurdity is self-evident. If injustice can be shielded on the grounds that there is other injustice, everyone is silenced. We would disparage those fighting China’s savagery in Tibet on the grounds that they are not active against Sudan’s repression of its lgbt citizens. Those who struggled against Indonesian/US atrocities in East Timor would have been mocked because they were not active in the fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa. At best, only criticism of the single worst injustice (according to whatever chosen criteria) could be permitted: all others simply need point downward.

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Stephen Lendman

Insurgents are Washington proxies. Key NATO partners, rogue Arab League states, and Israel are very much involved. The same dirty game repeats. Independent states are targeted for regime change. All options are used. They include full-scale war, mass killing, and turning nations into charnel houses on the pretext of liberating them. American-style freedom is slavery. Mainstream discourse doesn't explain. It repeats long ago discredited notions about humanitarian intervention and responsibility to protect (R2P). Protracted violence and bloodshed hardly reflect it.

Washington-led Western generated violence ravages Syria. On Sunday, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) declared ongoing conflict a civil war. It's not civil when mostly imported proxies are used. Most Syrians deplore violence and oppose internal and external groups committing it. According to ICRC, Syria is involved in a

"non-international armed conflict." Previous statements said violence occurred only in certain hotspots. "Hostilities have spread to other areas of the country," [said ICRC.] "International humanitarian law applies to all areas where hostilities are taking place."

War rages in Syria. The laws of war apply. ICRC's statement changes nothing. In times of war, international law and international humanitarian law apply. Gertrude Stein's most famous quote is relevant. "A rose is a rose is a rose," she said. She meant "things are what they are." A war crime is a war crime is a war crime. So are crimes against humanity.

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Jack Hood

Conditions facing active military service members and veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan amount to nothing less than a social crisis. According to a report obtained from the Pentagon by the Associated Press, more American armed forces active service members have killed themselves in the first six months of 2012 than in the first six months of any of the previous 11 years.

The devastating report reveals that a total of 154 soldiers killed themselves in the first 155 days of 2012. The number of deaths by suicide is 50 percent higher than combat deaths in Afghanistan during the same period and represents an 18 percent increase over active service member suicides in the first six months of 2011.

Since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001, there has been an average of one suicide every 36 hours in the US armed forces. In 2011, 19.5 percent of all active duty deaths were suicides—the second highest cause of death. From 2005 to 2009 alone, over 1,100 soldiers killed themselves.

These disturbing statistics expose the inhumane hypocrisy of the American ruling class and their political representatives who have fanned the flames of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. To the ruling elite, soldiers are nothing more than disposable tools that deserve no attention when they return in shambles from the battlefield.

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John Pilger

Australia is the world's first murdochracy. US citizen Rupert Murdoch controls 70 per cent of the metropolitan press. He has monopolies in state capitals and provincial centres. The only national newspaper is his. He is a dominant force online and in pay-TV and publishing. Known fearfully as "Rupert", he is the Chief Mate.

But Murdoch's dominance is not as it is often presented. Although he is now one of the West's accredited demons, thanks to his phone-hackers, he is but part of a media system that will not change when his empire is broken up. The political extremism that is the concentration of the world's wealth in few hands and the accelerating impoverishment of the majority will ensure this. A Melbourne journalist, Paul Chadwick, one of the few to rebel against Murdoch, described this as "akin to a small group of generals who sit above the main institutions... a junta in all but name".

Consider the junta's rise. In the US, at the end of the second world war, 80 per cent of newspapers were independently owned. By 1987, most were controlled by 15 corporations, of which six dominate today.

Their ideological message is a mantra. They promote global and domestic economic piracy and the cult of "perpetual war". This is currently served by a "liberal" president who pursues whistleblowers, dispatches drones and selects from his personal "kill list" every Tuesday.

In Britain, where the propaganda of big capital also dominates, the historic convergence of the two main political parties is rarely news. Tony Blair, a conspirator in the greatest crime of this century, is promoted as "a wasted talent". In all these agendas, notably the promotion of war, the Murdoch press often plays a supporting role to the reputable BBC. The Leveson inquiry has shown not the slightest interest in this.

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Patrick Martin

The display of militarism in London serves the political purposes of Washington.

According to the International Olympic Committee, “The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

This high-sounding boilerplate has long been at odds with the actual function of the Olympic Games, which have increasingly become a quadrennial celebration of nationalism, celebrity and corporate money-making. And never more so than the 2012 Olympics in London, which seem to have been deliberately staged by the host government to trample on notions of peace, human dignity and democratic rights.

The British government announced Thursday that it would mobilize an additional 3,500 troops for security duty at the Olympics, bringing the total number of soldiers, airmen and military police deployed for the event to a staggering 17,000, far more than are currently deployed in the imperialist war in Afghanistan.

The combined total of 49,000 uniformed personnel—17,000 troops, 12,000 police and 20,000 or more security guards—exceeds the size of the expeditionary force Britain contributed to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is the largest single mobilization of British security forces since the Suez Crisis of 1956.

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Stephen Lendman

Photo: HAMA, (SANA) – Four members of the terrorist groups that were active in the town of al-Treimseh said that the terrorists – who included non-Syrians of Arab nationalities – spread across the town before the army entered it, and that this was based on orders they received to attack law-enforcement forces and prevent civilians from going to work.

Insurgents are enlisted, armed, funded, trained, and directed by Western and regional special forces. They decide strategy, targets, and timing. Armies need leadership to operate effectively. So do killer gangs. Special forces have tactical expertise. They're directing Washington's war on Syria. They plan and lead attacks and bombings. Treimseh's massacre was strategically timed. Questions about it remained unanswered. More on that below.

The Treimseh massacre came when the Security Council considered harsher anti-Assad measures. This raises obvious red flags. Why then is clear. At issue is pressuring Russia and China to bend. So far both countries hold firm. They oppose further sanctions and outside intervention. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was clear, saying,

"In case (Western countries) decided to submit the draft resolution for voting on Thursday although they already know that it is rejected, Russia will veto the draft resolution."

Washington won't quit trying. Hillary Clinton is an unabashed war criminal. She had direct involvement in America's war on Libya. She's at it again targeting Iran and Syria. She's pushing for Security Council authorization for war without saying so.

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Niall Green

Reports of scores of deaths in the Syrian village of Tremseh Thursday, in the course of violent clashes between government forces and opposition militia, have been seized upon by the United States and its allies to ramp up their campaign to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Tremseh is located near the central Syrian city of Hama, an area that has been a focal point of fighting between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and government forces for over a year.

In a press statement issued Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted that the Syrian regime had carried out “yet another massacre,” claiming there was “indisputable evidence that the regime deliberately murdered innocent civilians.”

However, no sooner had the US-sanctioned account of events been released than it fell apart. Syrian opposition spokesmen had initially claimed that pro-Assad militiamen had entered the village and killed unarmed civilians. They then claimed that the Syrian army had carried out a rampage aimed at civilians. But it quickly became clear that almost all of the deaths were the result of fighting between government troops and foreign-armed anti-Assad militia.

Though there are still conflicting accounts of the events in Tremseh, it appears that “rebel” fighters attacked an army convoy passing through the village on Thursday. Government troops then launched a sustained counterattack, resulting in opposition forces being routed and suffering heavy casualties.

Major General Robert Mood, the Norwegian commander of the United Nations mission in Syria, told a press conference in Damascus that observers under his command had witnessed prolonged fighting in the area, including the use of army mechanized units and helicopters.

The UK-based pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that “several dozen rebel fighters were among those killed” in the battle in and around Tremseh. Reuters reported that the fighting was part of a campaign by the Syrian air force over recent days directed against opposition activities near Hama.

“At this stage, though we do not yet have the final count, the number of civilians killed by shelling is not more than seven,” said a spokesman from the pro-opposition Sham News Network. “The rest were members of the [US-backed] Free Syrian Army,” he added.

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Gilad Atzmon

A Book Review

William A. Cook’s ‘Decade of Deceit’ is a collection of spectacular articles written by a man who has gradually awakened to the disastrous meaning of the Zionification of our universe. Being an authentic and unique poetic voice, Cook manages, layer by layer, of to unravel the hypocrisy that has contaminated every aspect of our life – morally, culturally, spiritually and politically.

But Cook is not only a superb poet, he is also an English Professor and it is this synthesis between the aesthetic and the academic that makes this book such a staggering and fascinating spiritual text. It is this unique shift between scientific precision and creative beauty that makes ‘Decade of Deceit’ a must-read.

Collections of articles can be tedious, but sometimes they can also provide us with a glimpse into the workings of a sharp and astute prophetic mind. ‘Decade of Deceit’ introduces us to an ethical thinker and the ways in which he has formed his thoughts about Israel, Palestine, the USA, contemporary politics, and ourselves – the witnesses of our own emerging tragedy.

Cook is a natural wordsmith with the rare capacity to deliver, by way of beauty, a very poignant message. This American English scholar clearly knows how to turn his pen into a sword, yet he aims only at peace, harmony and reconciliation. In December 2002 he writes to Osama Bin Laden “vengeance is a disease that multiplies, divides, and becomes the scourge of humankind; it is anathema to creation because it destroys what exists.” But then, just a few pages later, as hell is about to break loose, we are captivated by Cook’s search for harmony. In March 2003 as America went to war he wrote “I went to the lake to find peace, this being the week the president gave one of his rare prime time press conferences, the only opportunity we, the public, get to see him perform. It’s also the week America goes to war.”

It takes courage to look evil in the eye but it takes even more courage to pose the following questions in free America. “What fuels slavery, ethnic cleansing, land theft, and genocide? What enables a mind to justify imprisoning another without cause, without trial, without rights of due process and assumption of innocence until proven guilty? What enables a soul to accept dominance over another, to degrade and humiliate other humans, to participate in or acquiesce to genocide?” And Cook doesn’t shy away from answering his question: “Genocides and holocausts arise out of unchecked zeal, unquestioned duty, and silent acquiescence. They are fueled by blind belief, personal fear, and a sense of superiority that gives license to slaughter.” This is clearly an astute reading of both Israeli and American exceptionalism – the combination of fear, superiority and dogmatism are indeed lethal.

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Stephen Lendman

A man passing by a reflection of "Big Ben", the clock tower to the Houses of Parliament. This famous landmark is a part of the well-known buildings in Westminster, London, where the "Mother of Parliaments" is located. (Photo: presstv.ir)

Like America, UK democracy long ago passed the point of no return. Arguably it never existed.

Britain's "Democratic Audit" (DA) says it's in terminal decline. DA is a University of Liverpool-based independent research organization. It studies the quality and effectiveness of UK democracy. It published three previous audits in 1996, 1999 and 2002. Its new one is damning.

It evaluated UK democracy based on 75 criteria. They're "derived from established international standards...."

"While we note dozens of examples of specific democratic improvements," it said, "our overall assessment suggests that genuine democratic renewal can only arise from a new constitutional settlement for the UK."

It calls a democratic audit "a comprehensive and systematic assessment of a country’s political life against some key democratic principles." What is democracy, it asked?

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Peter Symonds

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton holding her umbrella
receives a bouquet of flowers upon arrival in Manila Tuesday.

An Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial summit that begins today in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh will be dominated by tensions deliberately stirred up by the Obama administration as part of its concerted drive to undermine China’s political and strategic influence throughout the region.

On the eve of the meeting, the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers held emergency talks in Phnom Penh yesterday after a dispute over a group of islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, erupted again this week. Tokyo summoned the Chinese ambassador to lodge a formal protest yesterday after three Chinese fishery patrol vessels cruised near the Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea.

“It is clear that the Senkaku islands are inherently Japanese territory from a historical point of view and in terms of international law,” Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura told the media. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin responded in kind, declaring that Japan had no grounds for complaint. The Chinese vessels, he said, were “performing patrolling operations in waters administered by China.”

A major diplomatic row between the two countries blew up in 2010 when the Japanese coast guard detained the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel after an alleged collision. At the time, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fuelled tensions by declaring that the US would be obliged to come to the aid of its ally, Japan, in the event of any conflict. The five small uninhabited rocky outcrops are strategically located between the Japanese island of Okinawa and Taiwan, and the surrounding waters are thought to contain significant energy reserves.

The latest dispute did not emerge accidentally. On Saturday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda provocatively suggested that his government was considering purchasing the Senkaku islands from their private Japanese owner. Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, a right-wing nationalist, launched a fund in April to buy the islands. Not surprisingly, Beijing reacted angrily to Noda’s remarks, with the foreign ministry issuing a statement declaring that China would not allow the islands to be purchased by anyone.

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Philip Giraldi

A RQ-4 Global Hawk drone aircraft (Photo: Reuters)

The principal function of government since 9/11, even if unintentional, has been to develop strategies to reduce individual liberties and transfer power to the government while not appearing to do so. Of course, neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama actually explains it in those terms. They say instead that they are making Americans safer, but their actions belie their words, as today’s United States is if anything less safe, more authoritarian, and far poorer. Every expansion of the imperial mission overseas, which of course is being sold as a war against terrorists, has been accompanied by new legislation in the United States that has made all Americans less free. The most recent anti-terror legislation, the National Defense Authorization Act, enables the government to detain indefinitely any American citizen suspected of involvement in terrorism, without any due process and without any right to trial.

Drones are the new tool of American hegemony. They are described by administration spokesmen, when they are mentioned at all, as having a constabulary function. That means that the American lawman in the form of a mechanical drone is delivering justice in a part of the world where the local government is either too weak or unwilling to do its own policing. It is easy to see the flaw in the argument. Sending a U.S. marshal to arrest someone after due process has been observed and a warrant has been issued is quite different from sending a machine into some other nation’s airspace and killing from several thousand feet up a suspect who might well be an American citizen traveling with family members (who will also die). So drone policing is essentially both immoral and illegal, a conclusion that has finally been reached by the United Nations, among others.

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Stephen Lendman

War criminal B. Netanyahu appears to be celebrating the report.
Partner-in-crime S. Peres would appear to be pretty happy too...

International law is explicit, fundamental, inviolable, and sacrosanct.

In January 2012, Netanyahu appointed a three-member committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy. Included were former Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker and former Tel Aviv District Court president Tchia Shapira. They examined three issues:

(1) Legal aspects of Israel's occupation.
(2) The 2005 Sasson Report's conclusion that dozens of outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land were illegal.
(3) Whether Israel's presence in the West Bank is, or is not, an occupation.

Levy's report rewrote international law. It claimed that occupation

"as set out in the relevant international conventions cannot be considered applicable to the unique and sui generis historic and legal circumstances of Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria spanning over decades."

"Israelis have the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria and the establishment of settlements cannot, in and of itself, be considered illegal."

It recommended legalizing illegal outposts. It said zoning officials should authorize them without further political approval. It urged no restraints on settlement construction. Netanyahu praised the report.

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Stephen Lendman

In their book titled "Demonstration Elections," Edward Herman and Frank Broadhead described US-staged elections. They're manipulated to consolidate American power and influence public opinion to believe sham processes are legitimate. Herman and Broadhead defined what goes on as:

"A circus held in a client state to assure the population of the home country that their intrusion is well received. The results are guaranteed by an adequate supply of bullets provided in advance."

They're freely used to achieve desired outcomes. The authors' main theme was that "elections held under conditions of military occupation and extensive pre-election 'pacification' " aren't free. They're conducted to install client regimes. Those in charge are pro-Western puppets, not legitimate leaders. US-style democracy is engineered. It's illusory, not real. Force backs it to assert control. Elections are instruments of US dominance. Selling deception is crucial. Media scoundrels regurgitate the Big Lie. Herman says "the media leopard never changes its spots." Managed news substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Readers and viewers are deceived and betrayed. It happens repeatedly at home and abroad.

Libya's July 7 sham elections are the latest example. Democracy was absent from the ballot. Puppet National Transitional Council (NTC) leaders manipulated the process. On Tuesday, votes were still being counted.

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Justin Raimondo

Howard Berman threatens fourth-smallest nation on earth

No country is safe from the power of the Israel lobby — no, not even tiny Tuvalu, a nation consisting of nine minuscule islets in the middle of the Pacific Ocean totaling ten square miles. Rep. Howard Berman, former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee and longtime Democratic party power broker, is threatening the Tuvaluans with economic sanctions because they are allowing Iranian ships to register under the Tuvaluan flag. “This has the effect of assisting the Iranian regime in evading US and EU sanctions and generating additional revenues for its nuclear weapons program,” said the bullying Berman in a letter to Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Willy Telavi. The reflagging is “sanctionable activity,” Berman continued, and “given the close and co-operative relationship that our two governments now enjoy, it would be unfortunate if this action were permitted to stand.” A very thinly-veiled threat — but to do what? What will be the consequences if Tuvalu gives Berman the answer he so richly deserves?

As our Jason Ditz points out, Tuvalu has no significant relations with the US: there is no US military base, and the amount of US aid — a desalinization plant, a few other minor contributions — is negligible.

There is one way, however, that Berman could try to bully the Tuvaluans into compliance with his diktat: the US Tuna Treaty, as its called, is a typical mercantilist arrangement whereby the governments involved give US ships permission to fish for tuna in the South Pacific in return for a hefty payment. The private companies involved are subsidized by the US government to the tune of $6 million per year to pay for their licenses. The treaty is up for renegotiation next year: it would be an easy task for the powerful Berman to insist on the US taking a hard line and depriving Tuvalu of some $10 million in revenue per year.

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Stephen Lendman

Following Haiti's catastrophic January 12, 2010 earthquake, billions of dollars in relief aid were raised. Suffering Haitians got virtually none of it. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless. A cholera emergency still exists.

On June 19, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent said:

"There is a significant probability of a major cholera emergency in Haiti in the coming months but resources have been severely diminished."

Increased numbers of cases were reported in the Artibonite, Nord-Ouest, Nord-Est, Ouest, Gonave island, and homeless camps in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) estimates another 170,000 new cases by end of 2012. Haiti's problems are severe. Deep poverty, deprivation, and unemployment torment millions. Earthquake devastation compounded them. Little relief came. It was stolen for commercial development. It's common practice to divert relief aid to private developers.

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The Salvador Option

Police Interrogation and American Justice, by Richard A. Leo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 41-77.

Police Interrogation and American Justice is a detailed analysis of modern police interrogation methodology in the United States. Although the book primarily addresses the constitutional implications of domestic law enforcement interrogation practices, the chapter on the origin and development of police torture in the US, entitled “The Third Degree,” provides important information about the evolution of American attitudes toward torture and sheds light on some of the salient characteristics of the interrogation system that would later be exported around the world by US military and police advisors during the first three decades of the Cold War.

Professor Leo defines the third degree as:

…not simply the infliction of pain or suffering to extract incriminating information but the creation of an environment in which police could inflict punishment and terror virtually without restraint. Its characteristic features are that it occurs during custodial detention, involves use of physical force or psychological duress, and is primarily intended to extort admissions and confessions.

For the first half century of law enforcement in the United States, police officers regularly employed the third degree in custodial interrogations, and criminal suspects were routinely convicted on the basis of confessions that had been extracted through physical or psychological coercion. Individual police departments across America developed their own third degree techniques and traditions, and they did so in the absence of any meaningful oversight from prosecutors or judges, who themselves were often willing participants in various aspects of their local third degree systems.

By the first decades of the 20th century, coercive interrogation techniques appeared to be an inherent part of American law enforcement and many police officials argued that it would be impossible to solve crimes without full resort to such practices. By this time, however, the public had begun question the morality and efficacy of police torture in the United States. Juries began to reject confessions they believed had been obtained through torture, and they increasingly questioned the veracity of testimony by law enforcement officers who denied that they had employed the third degree in the questioning of the defendant.

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