Showing posts with label war crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war crimes. Show all posts
11/12/10
Outrage Mounts over Bush’s Waterboarding ‘Confession’
punditman says...
So now we have Bush confessing to a war crime. Of course he doesn't believe it is a war crime because the lawyer told him so. Bush doesn't think he did anything "wrong" in his 8 years of incompetent rule. Just a few honest mistakes.
After a three-year investigation, President Barack Obama’s mantra – "look forward and not backwards" – appears to have trumped the rule of law as a special prosecutor declined to pursue criminal charges against the Central Intelligence Agency operatives involved in the destruction of video recordings of interrogations of "war on terror" suspects.
The human rights community and many legal scholars from both ends of the political spectrum are up in arms about the decision. And they were further angered by the remarks made by former president George W. Bush during recent television and radio interviews promoting his new memoir, Decision Points.
For example, Bush admitted to Matt Lauer of NBC’s "Today" program that he authorized the use of waterboarding on two CIA prisoners. He said further that the technique was legal and that he would make the same decision again.
Lauer then asked him, "Why is waterboarding legal, in your opinion?>
Bush responded: "Because the lawyer said it was legal. He said it did not fall within the anti-torture act. I’m not a lawyer. But you gotta trust the judgment of the people around you, and I do."
Keep Reading...
9/9/10
US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'
punditman says...Lovely. Another sure way to win hearts and minds. Now, what were those idiots saying about the great progress being made in Afghanistan?
Chris McGreal in Washington
The GuardianSoldiers face charges over secret 'kill team' which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.
Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.
In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
7/17/09
Orwellian Comments - Vice President Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
This article by Mish is interesting for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is the Vice President of the United States raising the spectre of the U.S. going bankrupt. That should really help consumer confidence.
But it was the history about William Calley that really got Peacenik's attention. Peacenik thinks war crimes should be prosecuted. It's called deterrence and justice. But look what happened to William Calley of My Lai infamy. Two days in jail. Three years of loose house arrest. And a lifetime of celebrity status on the right wing hate circuit. 30 years later the U.S. can barely be bothered investigating war crimes. And the right wing hate circuit dominates public discourse.
Orwellian Comments - Vice President Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
My Lai Massacre
Inquiring minds are flabbergasted over the latest comments from Vice President Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.
“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”
“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
Read on...
But it was the history about William Calley that really got Peacenik's attention. Peacenik thinks war crimes should be prosecuted. It's called deterrence and justice. But look what happened to William Calley of My Lai infamy. Two days in jail. Three years of loose house arrest. And a lifetime of celebrity status on the right wing hate circuit. 30 years later the U.S. can barely be bothered investigating war crimes. And the right wing hate circuit dominates public discourse.
Orwellian Comments - Vice President Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
My Lai Massacre
Inquiring minds are flabbergasted over the latest comments from Vice President Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.
“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”
“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
Read on...
7/16/09
It's Wasn't Only Cheney Who Had Assassination Programs: Clinton Did It, and Obama Does It, Too
This article makes a good point. The whole fucking U.S. government is evil top to bottom. If a spy satellite sees a tall Arab in Afghanistan, or Pakistan or who knows where else, they send in the drones. And no one cares about collateral damage. The U.S. has turned the Middle East into a turkey shoot. And unfortunately Canada is complicit. Peacenik says it is time to bring the troops home now.
By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports. Posted July 16, 2009.
Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the "secret" CIA assassination program that former Vice President Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress.
But this program -- and the media descriptions of it -- sounds a lot like the assassination policy implemented by President Bill Clinton, particularly during his second term in office.
Partisan politics often require selective amnesia. Over the past decade, we have seen this amnesia take hold when it comes to many of President George W. Bush's most vile policies. And we are now seeing a pretty severe case overtake several leading Democrats.
Read on...
By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports. Posted July 16, 2009.
Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the "secret" CIA assassination program that former Vice President Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress.
But this program -- and the media descriptions of it -- sounds a lot like the assassination policy implemented by President Bill Clinton, particularly during his second term in office.
Partisan politics often require selective amnesia. Over the past decade, we have seen this amnesia take hold when it comes to many of President George W. Bush's most vile policies. And we are now seeing a pretty severe case overtake several leading Democrats.
Read on...
7/4/09
Iraq a failed imperialist venture
punditman says...On this 4th of July, it seems appropriate to pierce through all the nonsense on TV about spreading freedom around the world and reflect on what the US has wrought in its criminal invasion of Iraq. Is anyone ever going to be held accountable?
Still, all the evidence in the world that this war was a deception turned dissaster will not convince some. When you click through this link and read all the comments associated with the article, it is clear there are still a lot of wingnuts out there who remain incapable of putting aside their biases and seeing things from the point of view of the victims of US aggression. They flounder around looking for excuses, they criticize author Haroon Siddiqui, they rewrite history. They look for goodness in the American invasion because they are incapable of seeing its essential evil.
by Haroon Siddiqui
American troops were not welcomed with flowers in Iraq but their departure from cities and towns has been.
Still, all the evidence in the world that this war was a deception turned dissaster will not convince some. When you click through this link and read all the comments associated with the article, it is clear there are still a lot of wingnuts out there who remain incapable of putting aside their biases and seeing things from the point of view of the victims of US aggression. They flounder around looking for excuses, they criticize author Haroon Siddiqui, they rewrite history. They look for goodness in the American invasion because they are incapable of seeing its essential evil.
by Haroon Siddiqui
American troops were not welcomed with flowers in Iraq but their departure from cities and towns has been.
Iraqis celebrated National Sovereignty Day Tuesday as U.S. troops were yanked out of populated centres and put into remote bases.
In time, even that hidden presence will begin to grate on the Iraqis, just as a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia had spurred Osama bin Laden and others.
Yet this limited troop pullout is being hailed as a triumph. One is reminded of Richard Nixon's 1973 boast of "peace with honour" in Vietnam. The 1973 Paris treaty that led to the U.S. troop withdrawal was a face-saving formula.
In Iraq, too, the U.S. has little choice but to get out.
Not only did the Iraqi invasion and occupation prove the limits of military power, it also exposed how incapable America has become at nation-building. Its postwar incompetence was stunning.
America plunged Iraq into chaos, shattered the infrastructure and destroyed the society, reducing human beings to their basest instincts. They turned on each other and found safety only in family, tribe, clan and sect. Shiites and Sunnis, who had lived together for ages, ethnically cleansed each other's neighbourhoods, which to this day remain separated by barricades, walls and checkpoints.
5/29/09
Bush still pre-screening questions at speaking events.
Throughout George W. Bush’s presidency, his handlers always made a special effort to ensure his appearances with regular Americans were scripted in such a way that shined the best possible light on Bush and his polices. Whether he was meeting troops in Iraq, leading “Ask President Bush” re-election campaign events, or trying to sell his (failed) Social Security reform plan, Bush always had a friend in the audience ready to ask a softball question or heap praise on the president. It appears that old habits die hard, as those attending Bush’s upcoming speech in Michigan will be forced to submit their questions ahead of time:
Read on...
First of all the website www.protestbush.com is back online and it has been updated. The protest is today at 3 p.m. at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Peacenik already said this is a travesty, but it is also a farce. Peacenik watched the moderator for the event ,Frank McKenna, on The Hour the other night. They talked about what a "personable" guy George Bush is. Peacenik wanted to kick in Peacenik's tv screen. How will the media cover today's protest? How will the police police the protest? How many protestors will show up? 3 p.m. Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Update: The website is up but again is very slow to load.
Read on...
First of all the website www.protestbush.com is back online and it has been updated. The protest is today at 3 p.m. at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Peacenik already said this is a travesty, but it is also a farce. Peacenik watched the moderator for the event ,Frank McKenna, on The Hour the other night. They talked about what a "personable" guy George Bush is. Peacenik wanted to kick in Peacenik's tv screen. How will the media cover today's protest? How will the police police the protest? How many protestors will show up? 3 p.m. Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Update: The website is up but again is very slow to load.
War Crimes perpetrated under Democratic and Republican administrations: George Bush versus Bill Clinton
The Rule of International Criminal Law
by Prof. Anthony J. Hall
From Calgary to Toronto
Just as fresh revelations keep oozing out about the broad extent of the international criminality perpetrated by the regime of the former US president, Canada is becoming the main site of a corporate-driven effort to re-brand George W. Bush as a legitimate political pundit. On May 29 Mr. Bush joins Bill Clinton on the stage of the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre in an event hosted by the TD Financial Group and several other sponsors. The hosts include the Calgary-based Bennett Jones law firm, the global accounting giant Ernst and Young, the Toronto Board of Trade as well as the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper.
The Clinton-Bush gig in Canada's biggest metropolis is happening about a month after the former president "tested the waters" as a public speaker by addressing an audience of 1,400 executives of mostly Texas-based oil conglomerates in an event hosted by Calgary's Chamber of Commerce. Bush's luncheon address was accompanied by the protests of several hundred demonstrators who advanced the case that there is a huge body of evidence already in the public domain that should be sufficient to prohibit Bush from entering Canada or, failing that, to necessitate his arrest on Canadian soil. In a widely published article, which I introduced in early March at an invited lecture at the University of Winnipeg, I outlined the legal and political terrain underlying Bush's first major public foray outside the United States. That paper, which has proliferated widely on many Internet sites, is entitled "Bush League Justice: Should George W. Bush Be Arrested in Calgary Alberta and Tried for International Crimes."
My academic intervention was one part of a larger collective effort aimed at advancing the case that the international crimes of George W. Bush and many of his ministers and advisers have been so obvious and gigantic that citizens must mobilize globally to insist that the rule of international criminal law should be made to prevail over the rule of force and political expediency. Many of the core legal principles awaiting enforcement are those that coalesced in the course of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. Its chief prosecutor, the renowned US jurist Robert Jackson, initiated the proceedings in 1945 by insisting that humanity's future depended on removing "immunity for practically everyone concerned in the really great crimes against peace and mankind." No longer could "so vast an area of legal irresponsibility" be "tolerated" because "because modern civilization puts unlimited weapons of destruction in the hands of men."
Keep Reading...
Punditman says...Punditman just bought the Globe and Mail. Punditman had a discussion recently with someone who works at the Globe and Mail. This took place late one night at a watering hole so there was truth serum involved—all the better to discover what this Globster really thinks. Glory be, low and behold, he and Punditman had an argument about the media! The Globster thought Noam Chomsky's analysis of mass media bias was wrong and saw no nefarious influence by media ownership over media content. Punditman was amazed at this dude's utter dismissal of someone who in 2005, was voted the world’s No 1. living intellectual.
Punditman wonders what the Globster would say about the above article, and in particular the following passage:
Punditman just bought the Globe and Mail. Was that wrong?
by Prof. Anthony J. Hall
From Calgary to Toronto
Just as fresh revelations keep oozing out about the broad extent of the international criminality perpetrated by the regime of the former US president, Canada is becoming the main site of a corporate-driven effort to re-brand George W. Bush as a legitimate political pundit. On May 29 Mr. Bush joins Bill Clinton on the stage of the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre in an event hosted by the TD Financial Group and several other sponsors. The hosts include the Calgary-based Bennett Jones law firm, the global accounting giant Ernst and Young, the Toronto Board of Trade as well as the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper.
The Clinton-Bush gig in Canada's biggest metropolis is happening about a month after the former president "tested the waters" as a public speaker by addressing an audience of 1,400 executives of mostly Texas-based oil conglomerates in an event hosted by Calgary's Chamber of Commerce. Bush's luncheon address was accompanied by the protests of several hundred demonstrators who advanced the case that there is a huge body of evidence already in the public domain that should be sufficient to prohibit Bush from entering Canada or, failing that, to necessitate his arrest on Canadian soil. In a widely published article, which I introduced in early March at an invited lecture at the University of Winnipeg, I outlined the legal and political terrain underlying Bush's first major public foray outside the United States. That paper, which has proliferated widely on many Internet sites, is entitled "Bush League Justice: Should George W. Bush Be Arrested in Calgary Alberta and Tried for International Crimes."
My academic intervention was one part of a larger collective effort aimed at advancing the case that the international crimes of George W. Bush and many of his ministers and advisers have been so obvious and gigantic that citizens must mobilize globally to insist that the rule of international criminal law should be made to prevail over the rule of force and political expediency. Many of the core legal principles awaiting enforcement are those that coalesced in the course of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. Its chief prosecutor, the renowned US jurist Robert Jackson, initiated the proceedings in 1945 by insisting that humanity's future depended on removing "immunity for practically everyone concerned in the really great crimes against peace and mankind." No longer could "so vast an area of legal irresponsibility" be "tolerated" because "because modern civilization puts unlimited weapons of destruction in the hands of men."
Keep Reading...
Punditman says...Punditman just bought the Globe and Mail. Punditman had a discussion recently with someone who works at the Globe and Mail. This took place late one night at a watering hole so there was truth serum involved—all the better to discover what this Globster really thinks. Glory be, low and behold, he and Punditman had an argument about the media! The Globster thought Noam Chomsky's analysis of mass media bias was wrong and saw no nefarious influence by media ownership over media content. Punditman was amazed at this dude's utter dismissal of someone who in 2005, was voted the world’s No 1. living intellectual.
Punditman wonders what the Globster would say about the above article, and in particular the following passage:
The role of corporate media as enablers and sugar coaters of the highest order of international crime could not be made clearer than in the sponsorship by the Globe and Mail of the Toronto encounter between Clinton and Bush. What credibility does the Globe and Mail retain after the Toronto event in its coverage of the fast breaking story of the global movement to enforce the rule of law on credibly accused war criminal George W. Bush? How likely is it that the journalists at the Globe and Mail will report fairly and objectively on the intervention of Lawyers Against War.Perhaps there will be more people showing up than Punditman anticipates at today's protest in Toronto? Punditman sure does hope so, and he has a request of anyone reading this who is going to the protest: throw some old shoes in the direction of the Metro Convention Centre, on behalf of Punditman.
Punditman just bought the Globe and Mail. Was that wrong?
5/28/09
Clinton and Bush to clash for cash in Canada
By Joseph Curl (Contact) | Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The well-worn cliche is "time heals all wounds," but in politics, the saying often ought to be "money heals all wounds."
On Friday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who spent years railing against each other, will appear together in Toronto for what is being billed a "conversation."
Read on...
Although this travesty is being hawked by Power Within, a company affiliated with Tony Robbins, Peacenik was disappointed to see that among others the Toronto Board of Trade, TD Canada Bank, and the Globe and Mail are also sponsors. Which made Peacenik surprised to see this story in the Globe: Bush-Clinton tickets not that hot.
Maybe the Globe is feeling a little guilty about sponsoring the appearance of a suspected war criminal in Toronto. Peacenik is conflicted. Peacenik wants to boycott the companies sponsoring this event. Which is easy as far as the Board of Trade and TD Canada Bank is concerned. But Peacenik reads the Globe. Peacenik likes the Globe. What will Peacenik do? What should Peacenik do?
Don't forget the protest at 3 p.m. Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre: www.protestbush.com Peacenik noticed that this website is down this morning. Peacenik hopes it is because it is being heavily used.
On Friday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who spent years railing against each other, will appear together in Toronto for what is being billed a "conversation."
Read on...
Although this travesty is being hawked by Power Within, a company affiliated with Tony Robbins, Peacenik was disappointed to see that among others the Toronto Board of Trade, TD Canada Bank, and the Globe and Mail are also sponsors. Which made Peacenik surprised to see this story in the Globe: Bush-Clinton tickets not that hot.
Maybe the Globe is feeling a little guilty about sponsoring the appearance of a suspected war criminal in Toronto. Peacenik is conflicted. Peacenik wants to boycott the companies sponsoring this event. Which is easy as far as the Board of Trade and TD Canada Bank is concerned. But Peacenik reads the Globe. Peacenik likes the Globe. What will Peacenik do? What should Peacenik do?
Don't forget the protest at 3 p.m. Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre: www.protestbush.com Peacenik noticed that this website is down this morning. Peacenik hopes it is because it is being heavily used.
5/25/09
Protest Bush on May 29, 2009.
Come and get waterboarded at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Rally outside Bush speaking engagement. Friday May 29, 3 PM to 6 PM. Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West, TO ONT.
Volunteers needed at Toronto Coalition to Stop the War.
Peacenik already noted last week that Peacenik wants to puke at the thought of Bush being welcomed to a speaking engagement in Toronto. Peacenik would be happy with an extraordinary rendition of Bush to Spain. But in the meantime Peacenik hopes that Toronto will make Bush and everyone associated with this speaking engagement regret having this event. Peacenik is also wondering if the Toronto Police are going to police this event with the same good sense they have shown when policing the Tamil protests of the past months. Not one Tamil protestor has been tasered. Will the Toronto Police be taser happy on Friday? Peacenik hopes not.
5/22/09
Obama's Civil Liberties Speech
by Glenn Greenwald
Obama's speech this morning, like most Obama speeches, made pretty points in rhetorically effective ways about the Constitution, our values, transparency, oversight, the state secrets privilege, and the rule of law. But his actions, in many critical cases, have repeatedly run afoul of those words. And while his well-crafted speech can have a positive impact on our debate and contained some welcome and rare arguments from a high-level political leader -- changes in the terms of the debate are prerequisites to changes in policy and the value of rhetoric shouldn't be understated -- they're still just words until his actions become consistent with them.
Worse, Obama repeatedly invoked the paradigm of The War on Terror to justify some extreme policies -- see my post of earlier today on this practice -- beginning with his rather startling declaration that he will work to create a system of "preventive detention" for accused Terrorists without a trial, in order to keep locked up indefinitely people who, in his words, "cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people." In other words, even as he paid repeated homage to "our values" and "our timeless ideals," he demanded the power (albeit with unspecified judicial and Congressional oversight) to keep people in prison with no charges or proof of any crime having been committed, all while emphasizing that this "war" will continue for at least ten years. Compare the power of indefinite, "preventive" detention he's seeking to this:
Read on...
Peacenik is getting tired of Obama saying one thing and doing another. This analysis by Glenn Greenwald is good. But the networks' coverage of Cheney's response to Obama illustrates how hopeless the state of civil liberties are in the U.S.A. And btw, why is Clinton even debating George Bush in Toronto next week? Who is sponsoring that atrocity? Why is George Bush even being allowed into Canada? Peacenik hopes he gets arrested and charged with war crimes.
Worse, Obama repeatedly invoked the paradigm of The War on Terror to justify some extreme policies -- see my post of earlier today on this practice -- beginning with his rather startling declaration that he will work to create a system of "preventive detention" for accused Terrorists without a trial, in order to keep locked up indefinitely people who, in his words, "cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people." In other words, even as he paid repeated homage to "our values" and "our timeless ideals," he demanded the power (albeit with unspecified judicial and Congressional oversight) to keep people in prison with no charges or proof of any crime having been committed, all while emphasizing that this "war" will continue for at least ten years. Compare the power of indefinite, "preventive" detention he's seeking to this:
Read on...
Peacenik is getting tired of Obama saying one thing and doing another. This analysis by Glenn Greenwald is good. But the networks' coverage of Cheney's response to Obama illustrates how hopeless the state of civil liberties are in the U.S.A. And btw, why is Clinton even debating George Bush in Toronto next week? Who is sponsoring that atrocity? Why is George Bush even being allowed into Canada? Peacenik hopes he gets arrested and charged with war crimes.
5/20/09
The Torture Memos and Historical Amnesia
By Noam Chomsky
May 19, 2009
May 19, 2009
The torture memos released by the White House elicited shock, indignation and surprise. The shock and indignation are understandable. The surprise, less so.
For one thing, even without inquiry, it was reasonable to suppose that Guantánamo was a torture chamber. Why else send prisoners where they would be beyond the reach of the law--a place, incidentally, that Washington is using in violation of a treaty forced on Cuba at the point of a gun? Security reasons were, of course, alleged, but they remain hard to take seriously. The same expectations held for the Bush administration's "black sites," or secret prisons, and for extraordinary rendition, and they were fulfilled.
More importantly, torture has been routinely practiced from the early days of the conquest of the national territory, and continued to be used as the imperial ventures of the "infant empire"--as George Washington called the new republic--extended to the Philippines, Haiti and elsewhere. Keep in mind as well that torture was the least of the many crimes of aggression, terror, subversion and economic strangulation that have darkened US history, much as in the case of other great powers.
Read on...
This article by Chomsky is sort of a depressing summary and backgrounder for just some of the crimes committed by the U.S.A. Peacenik has said it before. The U.S.A economy, society, and imperial outreach has already imploded. The media hasn't noticed yet. The public is starting to notice. The death rattle of the U.S. empire will not be pretty....but it has started.
For one thing, even without inquiry, it was reasonable to suppose that Guantánamo was a torture chamber. Why else send prisoners where they would be beyond the reach of the law--a place, incidentally, that Washington is using in violation of a treaty forced on Cuba at the point of a gun? Security reasons were, of course, alleged, but they remain hard to take seriously. The same expectations held for the Bush administration's "black sites," or secret prisons, and for extraordinary rendition, and they were fulfilled.
More importantly, torture has been routinely practiced from the early days of the conquest of the national territory, and continued to be used as the imperial ventures of the "infant empire"--as George Washington called the new republic--extended to the Philippines, Haiti and elsewhere. Keep in mind as well that torture was the least of the many crimes of aggression, terror, subversion and economic strangulation that have darkened US history, much as in the case of other great powers.
Read on...
This article by Chomsky is sort of a depressing summary and backgrounder for just some of the crimes committed by the U.S.A. Peacenik has said it before. The U.S.A economy, society, and imperial outreach has already imploded. The media hasn't noticed yet. The public is starting to notice. The death rattle of the U.S. empire will not be pretty....but it has started.
4/24/09
They Added a Tracheotomy Kit to the Torture Chamber
by drational
They Added a Tracheotomy Kit to the Torture Chamber
Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 04:07:07 AM PDT
They Added a Tracheotomy Kit to the Torture Chamber
Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 04:07:07 AM PDT
Reading the OLC memos justifying "enhanced interrogation techniques" has revealed a frightening picture of our Government practicing torture. Below I focus on three of the OLC memos from the perspective of a physician. The first two were written in 2002, when the the OLC defined torture and the CIA outlined the protocols they would be using. The second is the 46 page memo of 5/10/2005, written after these techniques had been applied and after there had been serious dissent over their use within the government.
Close reading of these memos shows that:
1. The CIA misled the OLC about the harmlessness of waterboarding.
2. The waterboarding actually used on detainees fit the 2002 OLC definition of torture.
3. When the 2002 memos were rescinded, the OLC simply redefined torture to allow the waterboarding that fit the previous definition of torture.
Read on...
Peacenik doesn't particularly like analogies to Nazi Germany or to Nazis. But that is what Peacenik thought when Peacenik read this story this morning. A lot of people were astounded by the detailed record keeping that the Nazis kept of the holocaust. Peacenik is astounded by the documentary evidence there is about U.S. war crimes, even after many videos were destroyed in direct defiance of a court order. The new Nazis. One of them is being welcomed to Toronto next week to debate Bill Clinton. Who is the genius who dreamed up that promotion?
Close reading of these memos shows that:
1. The CIA misled the OLC about the harmlessness of waterboarding.
2. The waterboarding actually used on detainees fit the 2002 OLC definition of torture.
3. When the 2002 memos were rescinded, the OLC simply redefined torture to allow the waterboarding that fit the previous definition of torture.
Read on...
Peacenik doesn't particularly like analogies to Nazi Germany or to Nazis. But that is what Peacenik thought when Peacenik read this story this morning. A lot of people were astounded by the detailed record keeping that the Nazis kept of the holocaust. Peacenik is astounded by the documentary evidence there is about U.S. war crimes, even after many videos were destroyed in direct defiance of a court order. The new Nazis. One of them is being welcomed to Toronto next week to debate Bill Clinton. Who is the genius who dreamed up that promotion?
4/14/09
"Bush Six" Are Being Indicted Today
by Jesselyn Radack
Tue Apr 14, 2009 at 06:53:56 AM PDT
Tue Apr 14, 2009 at 06:53:56 AM PDT
Finally. Spanish prosecutors have decided to go ahead with a criminal investigation of former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Federal Appeals Court Judge and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, University of California law professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, former Defense Department general counsel and current Chevron lawyer William J. Haynes II, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff David Addington, and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith.
Thank you to the latest foreign justice system courageous enough to stand up for the rule of law, while the U.S. wrings its hands over whether to investigate, much less prosecute, war crimes.
Read on...
Peacenik thinks this could get interesting and entertaining. Of course North American media won't bother to cover it.....much.
Thank you to the latest foreign justice system courageous enough to stand up for the rule of law, while the U.S. wrings its hands over whether to investigate, much less prosecute, war crimes.
Read on...
Peacenik thinks this could get interesting and entertaining. Of course North American media won't bother to cover it.....much.
1/29/09
Obama the imperialist
Change? In foreign policy, hardly. The new president is in the classic liberal interventionist mould
The first Democratic president in the modern era to be elected on an anti-war ticket is also, to the relief of neocons and the liberal belligerati, a hawk. Committed to escalation in Afghanistan, his foreign policy selections also indicate bellicosity towards Sudan and Iran. During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children. And his stance on Gaza is remarkably close to that of the outgoing administration. The question now is how Obama will convince his supporters to back that stance. Bush could rely on a core constituency whose commitment to peace and human rights is, at the very least, questionable. Obama has no such luxury. In making his case, he will need the support of those "liberal hawks" who gave Bush such vocal support.
It is tempting to dismiss the "pro-war left" as a congeries of discredited left-wing apostates and Nato liberals. Their artless euphemisms for bloody conquest seem especially redundant in light of over a million Iraqi deaths. Yet their arguments, ranging from a paternalistic defence of "humanitarian intervention" to the championing of "western values", have their origins in a tradition of liberal imperialism whose durability advises against hasty dismissal. In every country whose rulers have opted for empire, there has developed among the intellectual classes a powerful pro-imperial consensus, with liberals and leftwingers its most vociferous defenders.
Liberal imperialists have resisted explicitly racist arguments for domination, instead justifying empire as a humane venture delivering progress. Even so, implicit in such a stance was the belief that other peoples were inferior. Just as John Stuart Mill contended that despotism was a "legitimate mode of government in dealing with the barbarians" provided "the end be their improvement", so the Fabians contended that self-government for "native races" was "as useless to them as a dynamo to a Caribbean". Intellectuals of the Second International such as Eduard Bernstein regarded the colonised as incapable of self-government. For many liberals and socialists of this era, the only disagreement was over whether the natives could attain the disciplined state necessary to run their own affairs. Indigenous resistance, moreover, was interpreted as "native fanaticism", to be overcome with European tuition.
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punditman says...
It is true that Bush was profoundly unpopular, but thanks to the propaganda system, even at the height of US aggression most people didn't pay much attention to all his "collateral damage" in Iraq and Afghanistan. To no surprise, early indications are that they are paying even less attention to the deaths of innocents abroad under the overly popular Obama regime. This will change only if people stop seeing Obama as the peace president.
Punditman thinks you can kiss goodbye to any hope of the Obama administration taking Bush to task for breaking international law by willfully leading the US into war in Iraq under false premises (lies). By continuing such a policy "responsibly," is he not complicit? And this says nothing of his fetish for attacking Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The first Democratic president in the modern era to be elected on an anti-war ticket is also, to the relief of neocons and the liberal belligerati, a hawk. Committed to escalation in Afghanistan, his foreign policy selections also indicate bellicosity towards Sudan and Iran. During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children. And his stance on Gaza is remarkably close to that of the outgoing administration. The question now is how Obama will convince his supporters to back that stance. Bush could rely on a core constituency whose commitment to peace and human rights is, at the very least, questionable. Obama has no such luxury. In making his case, he will need the support of those "liberal hawks" who gave Bush such vocal support.
It is tempting to dismiss the "pro-war left" as a congeries of discredited left-wing apostates and Nato liberals. Their artless euphemisms for bloody conquest seem especially redundant in light of over a million Iraqi deaths. Yet their arguments, ranging from a paternalistic defence of "humanitarian intervention" to the championing of "western values", have their origins in a tradition of liberal imperialism whose durability advises against hasty dismissal. In every country whose rulers have opted for empire, there has developed among the intellectual classes a powerful pro-imperial consensus, with liberals and leftwingers its most vociferous defenders.
Liberal imperialists have resisted explicitly racist arguments for domination, instead justifying empire as a humane venture delivering progress. Even so, implicit in such a stance was the belief that other peoples were inferior. Just as John Stuart Mill contended that despotism was a "legitimate mode of government in dealing with the barbarians" provided "the end be their improvement", so the Fabians contended that self-government for "native races" was "as useless to them as a dynamo to a Caribbean". Intellectuals of the Second International such as Eduard Bernstein regarded the colonised as incapable of self-government. For many liberals and socialists of this era, the only disagreement was over whether the natives could attain the disciplined state necessary to run their own affairs. Indigenous resistance, moreover, was interpreted as "native fanaticism", to be overcome with European tuition.
Keep Reading...
punditman says...
It is true that Bush was profoundly unpopular, but thanks to the propaganda system, even at the height of US aggression most people didn't pay much attention to all his "collateral damage" in Iraq and Afghanistan. To no surprise, early indications are that they are paying even less attention to the deaths of innocents abroad under the overly popular Obama regime. This will change only if people stop seeing Obama as the peace president.
Punditman thinks you can kiss goodbye to any hope of the Obama administration taking Bush to task for breaking international law by willfully leading the US into war in Iraq under false premises (lies). By continuing such a policy "responsibly," is he not complicit? And this says nothing of his fetish for attacking Afghanistan and Pakistan.
1/12/09
Obama on Torture: Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
posted by Ari Melber on 01/12/2009 @ 11:22am
The Obama administration will not focus on prosecuting government officials who practiced illegal torture or war crimes, the president-elect said on Sunday, though he added that prosecutions and independent commission have not been completely ruled out. This was Obama's first major statement on the issue since April; over the past few weeks, Obama's aides have repeatedly ducked questions about what, if anything, the administration will do to enforce laws violated by officials under President Bush. The question topped the list of citizen concerns on Change.gov last week, out of over 70,000 submissions, but Obama aide Robert Gibbs refused to respond, leading ABC's George Stephanopoulos to press the question during an interview on his Sunday show.
"My orientation's going to be to move forward," Obama said. The attorney general has to stay above politics and "uphold the Constitution," Obama added, but his administration will focus on "getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past."
Read on...
The Obama administration will not focus on prosecuting government officials who practiced illegal torture or war crimes, the president-elect said on Sunday, though he added that prosecutions and independent commission have not been completely ruled out. This was Obama's first major statement on the issue since April; over the past few weeks, Obama's aides have repeatedly ducked questions about what, if anything, the administration will do to enforce laws violated by officials under President Bush. The question topped the list of citizen concerns on Change.gov last week, out of over 70,000 submissions, but Obama aide Robert Gibbs refused to respond, leading ABC's George Stephanopoulos to press the question during an interview on his Sunday show.
"My orientation's going to be to move forward," Obama said. The attorney general has to stay above politics and "uphold the Constitution," Obama added, but his administration will focus on "getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past."
Read on...
Peacenik doesn't think ignoring war crimes is focusing on the future. Nor is it staying above politics. Of course the media hardly questioned Bush about torture for eight years. And the media accepted Bush's lame use of semantics to deny that the U.S. used torture. Looks like widespread criminal behavior is just going to get ignored. On Wall St. and in the Whitehouse.
12/30/08
Obama's Duty To Prosecute Bush For War Crimes
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
Obama promised that he would investigate and prosecute Bush team for "genuine crimes" because no one is above the law, but he would not prosecute "really dumb policies." Obama plans to have his AG review the available information to determine if investigations are needed. Well, AG nominee Eric Holder knows that many crimes have been committed:
Our government authorized the use of torture, approved of secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants and authorized the use of procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution.... We owe the American people a reckoning.
Read on...
Peacenik has been busy enjoying Christmas and the lead up to the New Year. Peacenik suspended reality for a few days to do this. This article about war crimes and the Bush administration is a good avenue back to reality. Lots of reality coming. CNBC, the corporate media arm of General Electric, which itself has been in line for a bailout, has been busy during the holidays touting the danger of excessive financial regulation. The mid-east is in flames again. GMAC just got a $5 billion bailout. The holidays have been the lull before the storm. Peacenik's google alerts about empty grocery shelves are becoming more alarming. Peacenik says its time to enjoy New Year's Eve celebrations, and its time to wake up and get ready. 2009 will be a year of a new reality.
Obama promised that he would investigate and prosecute Bush team for "genuine crimes" because no one is above the law, but he would not prosecute "really dumb policies." Obama plans to have his AG review the available information to determine if investigations are needed. Well, AG nominee Eric Holder knows that many crimes have been committed:
Our government authorized the use of torture, approved of secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants and authorized the use of procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution.... We owe the American people a reckoning.
Read on...
Peacenik has been busy enjoying Christmas and the lead up to the New Year. Peacenik suspended reality for a few days to do this. This article about war crimes and the Bush administration is a good avenue back to reality. Lots of reality coming. CNBC, the corporate media arm of General Electric, which itself has been in line for a bailout, has been busy during the holidays touting the danger of excessive financial regulation. The mid-east is in flames again. GMAC just got a $5 billion bailout. The holidays have been the lull before the storm. Peacenik's google alerts about empty grocery shelves are becoming more alarming. Peacenik says its time to enjoy New Year's Eve celebrations, and its time to wake up and get ready. 2009 will be a year of a new reality.
10/15/08
US Journalists & War-Crime Guilt
By Peter Dyer October 15, 2008
Editor’s Note: This year, the U.S. news media cheered the opening of the $450 million Newseum in Washington, a self-congratulatory celebration of American journalism.
However, rather than giving themselves that expensive pat on the back, the major U.S. media organizations might have done something to show remorse for their complicity in the Bush administration’s propaganda that justified the invasion of Iraq.
As freelance journalist Peter Dyer notes, prosecutors at the Nuremberg Tribunals deemed such journalistic support for war crimes to be a capital offense:
October 16 is an anniversary that should hold considerable interest for American journalists who have written in support of ”Operation Iraqi Freedom” – the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Sixty-two years ago, on Oct. 16, 1946, Julius Streicher was hanged.
Streicher was one of a group of 10 Germans executed that day following the judgment of the first Nuremberg Trial – a 40-week trial of 22 of the most prominent Nazis.
Each was tried for two or more of the four crimes defined in the Nuremberg Charter: crimes against peace (aggression), war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy.
Read on...
Peacenik thinks this article should give wingnut media cheerleaders reason to pause. Thanks to George Bush, the concept of war crimes seems to have been irradicated thanks to the "war on terror." Unless of course you're an enemy combatant. Peacenik is trying to get his head around the idea of O'Reilly or Krauthammer in the Hague.
Editor’s Note: This year, the U.S. news media cheered the opening of the $450 million Newseum in Washington, a self-congratulatory celebration of American journalism.
However, rather than giving themselves that expensive pat on the back, the major U.S. media organizations might have done something to show remorse for their complicity in the Bush administration’s propaganda that justified the invasion of Iraq.
As freelance journalist Peter Dyer notes, prosecutors at the Nuremberg Tribunals deemed such journalistic support for war crimes to be a capital offense:
October 16 is an anniversary that should hold considerable interest for American journalists who have written in support of ”Operation Iraqi Freedom” – the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Sixty-two years ago, on Oct. 16, 1946, Julius Streicher was hanged.
Streicher was one of a group of 10 Germans executed that day following the judgment of the first Nuremberg Trial – a 40-week trial of 22 of the most prominent Nazis.
Each was tried for two or more of the four crimes defined in the Nuremberg Charter: crimes against peace (aggression), war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy.
Read on...
Peacenik thinks this article should give wingnut media cheerleaders reason to pause. Thanks to George Bush, the concept of war crimes seems to have been irradicated thanks to the "war on terror." Unless of course you're an enemy combatant. Peacenik is trying to get his head around the idea of O'Reilly or Krauthammer in the Hague.
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