Religions > Atheism > Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Michelle Malkin" |
| Date: |
29 Aug 2007 03:10:07 PM |
| Object: |
Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial |
History Will Not Absolve Us
Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international war-crimes
trial
by Nat Hentoff
August 28th, 2007 6:30 PM
be social
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial
for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo,
Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of
evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights
organizations, including an arm of the European parliament-as well as such
deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the
CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-published
Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of
American Democracy (Little, Brown).
While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious investigation
into what many European legislators already know about American war crimes,
a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red
Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a
potential Nuremberg trial. The Red Cross itself is bound to public silence
concerning the results of its human-rights probes of prisons around the
world-or else governments wouldn't let them in.
But The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has sources who have seen accounts of
the Red Cross interviews with inmates formerly held in CIA secret prisons.
In "The Black Sites" (August 13, The New Yorker), Mayer also reveals the
effect on our torturers of what they do-on the orders of the president-to
"protect American values."
She quotes a former CIA officer: "When you cross over that line of
darkness, it's hard to come back. You lose your soul. You can do your best
to justify it, but . . . you can't go back to that dark a place without it
changing you."
Few average Americans have been changed, however, by what the CIA does
in our name. Blame that on the tight official secrecy that continues over
how the CIA extracts information. On July 20, the Bush administration issued
a new executive order authorizing the CIA to continue using these
techniques-without disclosing anything about them.
If we, the people, are ultimately condemned by a world court for our
complicity and silence in these war crimes, we can always try to echo those
Germans who claimed not to know what Hitler and his enforcers were doing.
But in Nazi Germany, people had no way of insisting on finding out what
happened to their disappeared neighbors.
We, however, have the right and the power to insist that Congress
discover and reveal the details of the torture and other brutalities that
the CIA has been inflicting in our name on terrorism suspects.
Only one congressman, Oregon's Democratic senator Ron Wyden, has
insisted on probing the legality of the CIA's techniques-so much so that
Wyden has blocked the appointment of Bush's nominee, John Rizzo, from
becoming the CIA's top lawyer. Rizzo, a CIA official since 2002, has said
publicly that he didn't object to the Justice Department's 2002 "torture"
memos, which allowed the infliction of pain unless it caused such injuries
as "organ failure . . . or even death." (Any infliction of pain up to that
point was deemed not un-American.) Mr. Rizzo would make a key witness in any
future Nuremberg trial.
As Jane Mayer told National Public Radio on August 6, what she found
in the leaked Red Cross report, and through her own extensive research on
our interrogators (who are cheered on by the commander in chief), is "a
top-down-controlled, mechanistic, regimented program of abuse that was
signed off on-at the White House, really-and then implemented at the CIA
from the top levels all the way down. . . . They would put people naked for
up to 40 days in cells where they were deprived of any kind of light. They
would cut them off from any sense of what time it was or . . . anything that
would give them a sense of where they were."
She also told of the CIA interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, who was not
only waterboarded (a technique in which he was made to feel that he was
about to be drowned) but also "kept in . . . a small cage, about one meter
[39.7 inches] by one meter, in which he couldn't stand up for a long period
of time. [The CIA] called it the dog box."
Whether or not there is another Nuremberg trial-and Congress continues
to stay asleep-future historians of the Bush administration will surely also
refer to Leave No Marks: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of
Criminality, the July report by Human Rights First and Physicians for Social
Responsibility.
The report emphasizes that the president's July executive order on CIA
interrogations-which, though it is classified, was widely hailed as banning
"torture and cruel and inhuman treatment"-"fails explicitly to rule out the
use of the 'enhanced' techniques that the CIA authorized in March, 2002,
"with the president's approval (emphasis added).
In 2002, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell denounced the "torture"
memos and other interrogation techniques in internal reports that reached
the White House. It's a pity he didn't also tell us. But Powell's objections
should keep him out of the defendants' dock in any future international
trial.
From the Leave No Marks report, here are some of the American statutes
that the CIA, the Defense Department, and the Justice Department have
utterly violated:
In the 1994 Torture Convention Implementation Act, we put into U.S.
law what we had signed in Article 5 of the UN Convention Against Torture,
which is defined as "an act 'committed by an [officially authorized] person'
.. . . specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or
suffering . . . upon another person within his custody or physical control."
The 1997 U.S. War Crimes Act "criminalizes . . . specifically
enumerated war crimes that the legislation refers to as 'grave breaches' of
Common Article 3 [of the Geneva Conventions], including the war crimes of
torture and 'cruel or inhuman treatment.'"
The Leave No Marks report very valuably brings the Supreme Court-
before Chief Justice John Roberts took over-into the war-crimes record of
this administration. I strongly suggest that Human Rights First and
Physicians for Social Responsibility send their report-with the following
section underlined-to every current member of the Supreme Court and
Congress:
"The Supreme Court has long considered prisoner treatment to violate
substantive due process if the treatment 'shocks the conscience,' is bound
to offend even hardened sensibilities, or offends 'a principle of justice so
rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked as
fundamental.'"
Among those fundamental rights cited by past Supreme Courts, the
report continues, are "the rights to bodily integrity [and] the right to
have [one's] basic needs met; and the right to basic human dignity"
(emphasis added).
If the conscience of a majority on the Roberts Court isn't shocked by
what we've done to our prisoners, then it will be up to the next president
and the next Congress-and, therefore, up to us-to alter, in some respects,
how history will judge us. But do you see any considerable signs, among
average Americans, of the conscience being shocked? How about the
presidential candidates of both parties?
.
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial |
30 Aug 2007 02:03:55 AM |
|
|
In article <KoSdneoImI0IT0jbnZ2dnUVZ_oSnnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:
History Will Not Absolve Us
Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international war-crimes
trial
by Nat Hentoff
August 28th, 2007 6:30 PM
be social
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial
for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo,
Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of
evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights
organizations, including an arm of the European parliament-as well as such
deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the
CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-published
Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of
American Democracy (Little, Brown).
While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious investigation
into what many European legislators already know about American war crimes,
a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red
Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a
potential Nuremberg trial. The Red Cross itself is bound to public silence
concerning the results of its human-rights probes of prisons around the
world-or else governments wouldn't let them in.
But The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has sources who have seen accounts of
the Red Cross interviews with inmates formerly held in CIA secret prisons.
In "The Black Sites" (August 13, The New Yorker), Mayer also reveals the
effect on our torturers of what they do-on the orders of the president-to
"protect American values."
Some values. Add this to the list crimes for which Bush and his henchmen
should be prosecuted.
--
John #1782
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.
.
|
|
|
| User: "Nosterill" |
|
| Title: Re: Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial |
30 Aug 2007 03:53:18 AM |
|
|
On Aug 30, 8:03 am, johac <jhachm...@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
In article <KoSdneoImI0IT0jbnZ2dnUVZ_oSnn...@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypati...@comcast.net> wrote:
History Will Not Absolve Us
Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international war-c=
rimes
trial
by Nat Hentoff
August 28th, 2007 6:30 PM
be social
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg =
trial
for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guant=E1nam=
o,
Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of
evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights
organizations, including an arm of the European parliament-as well as s=
uch
deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of=
the
CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-publ=
ished
Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of
American Democracy (Little, Brown).
While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious investig=
ation
into what many European legislators already know about American war cri=
mes,
a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red
Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a
potential Nuremberg trial. The Red Cross itself is bound to public sile=
nce
concerning the results of its human-rights probes of prisons around the
world-or else governments wouldn't let them in.
But The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has sources who have seen account=
s of
the Red Cross interviews with inmates formerly held in CIA secret priso=
ns.
In "The Black Sites" (August 13, The New Yorker), Mayer also reveals the
effect on our torturers of what they do-on the orders of the president-=
to
"protect American values."
Some values. Add this to the list crimes for which Bush and his henchmen
should be prosecuted.
--
Won't happen - unfortunately. Only the defeated ever stand trial. Even
if the Dems find some balls they would never hand over an American
Citizen - still less an ex president - to an international court. The
worst he'll get is censure from some toothless committee then he'll
live out his time in security and comfort.
I wish I could hang around for another century or so to see what
future history books make of this era.
.
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial |
30 Aug 2007 06:40:14 PM |
|
|
In article <1188463998.625059.243840@r34g2000hsd.googlegroups.com>,
Nosterill <fladgate@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Aug 30, 8:03 am, johac <jhachm...@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
In article <KoSdneoImI0IT0jbnZ2dnUVZ_oSnn...@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypati...@comcast.net> wrote:
History Will Not Absolve Us
Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international
war-crimes
trial
by Nat Hentoff
August 28th, 2007 6:30 PM
be social
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg
trial
for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo,
Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of
evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights
organizations, including an arm of the European parliament-as well as
such
deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of
the
CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's
just-published
Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of
American Democracy (Little, Brown).
While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious
investigation
into what many European legislators already know about American war
crimes,
a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red
Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a
potential Nuremberg trial. The Red Cross itself is bound to public
silence
concerning the results of its human-rights probes of prisons around the
world-or else governments wouldn't let them in.
But The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has sources who have seen accounts
of
the Red Cross interviews with inmates formerly held in CIA secret
prisons.
In "The Black Sites" (August 13, The New Yorker), Mayer also reveals the
effect on our torturers of what they do-on the orders of the president-to
"protect American values."
Some values. Add this to the list crimes for which Bush and his henchmen
should be prosecuted.
--
Won't happen - unfortunately. Only the defeated ever stand trial. Even
if the Dems find some balls they would never hand over an American
Citizen - still less an ex president - to an international court. The
worst he'll get is censure from some toothless committee then he'll
live out his time in security and comfort.
I wish I could hang around for another century or so to see what
future history books make of this era.
I think you may be right, but that doesn't absolve the criminals of
their crimes.
--
John #1782
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.
.
|
|
|
| User: "Al Klein" |
|
| Title: Re: Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial |
30 Aug 2007 09:49:55 PM |
|
|
On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:40:14 -0700, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I wish I could hang around for another century or so to see what
future history books make of this era.
I think you may be right, but that doesn't absolve the criminals of
their crimes.
It just puts them out of reach of justice.
.
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Leaked Red Cross Repoprt Sets Up Bush for International War-Crimes Trial |
31 Aug 2007 12:12:23 AM |
|
|
In article <vd0fd3hp437msfmss7u2e76l0k9b5iushj@4ax.com>,
Al Klein <rukbat@pern.invalid> wrote:
On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:40:14 -0700, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I wish I could hang around for another century or so to see what
future history books make of this era.
I think you may be right, but that doesn't absolve the criminals of
their crimes.
It just puts them out of reach of justice.
Unfortunately.
--
John #1782
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
