Amnesty demands US 'war crimes' inquiry

Last Update: Saturday, May 8, 2004. 12:24pm (AEST)
Amnesty demands US 'war crimes' inquiry
Amnesty International has called upon the United States to fully investigate the abuse of Iraqi prisoners "to establish whether war crimes have been committed".

In a strongly-worded letter to US President George W Bush, the London-based human rights group expressed its outrage at the abuse of Iraqi detainees by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.

"Amnesty International urges the US government to investigate the allegations at Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq, and other detention facilities to establish whether war crimes have been committed and ensure accountability at the highest level," it said.

The group also urged Washington "to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and other violations," whether they were directly involved in abusing prisoners or whether they were higher up the chain of command.

The six-page letter was signed by Amnesty's secretary general Irene Khan, with copies sent to US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.


more
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1104163.htm

They should all be indicted and impeached for war crimes!

Lock them all up and throw away the frickin' key!

:grr:

are they in the US??

Red Cross report Some coalition units routinely engaged in brutality, humiliation and excessive use of force, says damning ICRC study
The main violations

The main violations, which are described in the ICRC report and presented confidentially to the CF, include:

· Brutality against protected persons upon capture and initial custody, sometimes causing death or serious injury;

· Absence of notification of arrest of persons to their families;

· Physical or psychological coercion during interrogation to secure information;

· Prolonged solitary confinement in cells devoid of daylight;

· Excessive and disproportionate use of force, resulting in death or injury.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1212154,00.html

by the administration of George W. Bush aka The War President.

me too.

to do it, it will happen after the next election.

Sorry to be so cynical, it's been a rough day.

I am glad they are demanding this.

No one should expect the Bush junta to investigate this impartially. Bush himself is the prinicipal suspect. He signed the executive orders cicumventing the Geneva Conventions.

WAR CRIMES

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/World/Iraq_abuse_death_040507-1.html

Death in Detention
Marine Reservists Face Charges in Iraqi Prisoner Death

By Brian Ross


May 7, 2004 — As Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faces questioning on Capitol Hill over the abuse and humiliation of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, ABCNEWS has obtained new photographs in a case in which an Iraqi prisoner died at a makeshift prison camp run by U.S. Marines in southern Iraq

Reincarnation? :crazy:

Explosive new Sibel Edmonds interview

Edited on Fri May-07-04 11:31 PM by Minstrel Boy
Very important, lengthy interview with the former FBI translator published today. Get a load of this - she's pointing her finger at the BCCI/BFEE Octopus, not "al Qaeda."


JH: I understand why you can't say anything about this, but there are several books out about the Bush ties to the Saudis and the bin Ladens in particular. And in David Griffin's book, The New Pearl Harbor, there is a very good synopsis of the ISI, which is the Pakistani intelligence service. He shows the direct connections between the CIA, the ISI, and Mohamed Atta. He makes a very convincing case that the Pakistani ISI had been helping to plan 9/11 for a long time.

I don't imagine that you are allowed to say much about that.

SE: You are correct. But I can tell you that the issue, on one side, boils down to money--a lot of money. And it boils down to people and their connections with this money, and that's the portion that, even with this book, has not been mentioned to this day. Because then it starts touching some people in high places.

JH: Can you explain more about what money you are talking about?

SE: The most significant information that we were receiving did not come from counter-terrorism investigations, and I want to emphasize this. It came from counter-intelligence, and certain criminal investigations, and issues that have to do with money laundering operations.

You get to a point where it gets very complex, where you have money laundering activities, drug related activities, and terrorist support activities converging at certain points and becoming one. In certain points - and they (the intelligence community) are separating those portions from just the terrorist activities. And, as I said, they are citing "foreign relations" which is not the case, because we are not talking about only governmental levels. And I keep underlining semi-legit organizations and following the money. When you do that the picture gets grim. It gets really ugly.

JH: Let me read you a short quote from Dr. Griffin's book, quoting from War and Globalization: The Truth Behind September 11 by Michel Chossudovsky and ask you to comment on it. "...The transfer of money to Atta <$325,000>, in conjunction with the presence of the ISI chief in Washington during the week, is the missing link behind 9/11....The evidence confirms that al-Qaeda is supported by Pakistan's ISI (and it is amply documented that) the ISI owes its existence to the CIA."

SE: I cannot comment on that. But I can tell that once, and if, and when this issue gets to be, under real terms, investigated, you will be seeing certain people that we know from this country standing trial; and they will be prosecuted criminally.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml

everyone has to see this!

Most Amis are DEAD-SET AGIN GETTING:

JH: Here's a question that you might be able to answer: What is al-Qaeda?

SE: This is a very interesting and complex question. When you think of al-Qaeda, you are not thinking of al-Qaeda in terms of one particular country, or one particular organization. You are looking at this massive movement that stretches to tens and tens of countries. And it involves a lot of sub-organizations and sub-sub-organizations and branches and it's extremely complicated. So to just narrow it down and say al-Qaeda and the Saudis, or to say it's what they had at the camp in Afghanistan, is extremely misleading. And we don't hear the extent of the penetration that this organization and the sub-organizations have throughout the world, throughout their networks and throughout their various activities. It's extremely sophisticated. And then you involve a significant amount of money into this equation. Then things start getting a lot of overlap-- money laundering, and drugs and terrorist activities and their support networks converging in several points. That's what I'm trying to convey without being too specific. And this money travels. And you start trying to go to the root of it and it's getting into somebody's political campaign, and somebody's lobbying. And people don't want to be traced back to this money.

ANYONE BRAVE ENOUGH TO FOLLOW THE MONEY AND SPOT THE LIE.. LIES... L-I-E-S... Jes' Google B.C.C.I., take an aspirin and put de lime in de coconut.

Then there is that silly little trial underway in London, London isn't it? The law for 10 years has moved so slow. But there are no coincedences are there?

To start a war just because you could, because you had to, because that's what the deal was george. We wouldn't want people looking over there would we george, what could be worse than some ole torture photos?

:SIGH:

Torture, the CIA and the Press
Who Let the Dogs Out?
By DOUGLAS VALENTINE



We were at risk and unable to strike back against terrorists, because the CIA had stopped putting tough agents in the field, Hersh reported, and was relying on technology and friendly foreign services to do the dirty work. He said that in the new war on terror, it was no longer feasible to assign CIA agents undercover as diplomats or cultural attaches at American embassies in major cities. Having said that, he drew a blueprint of exactly what was to come: "in Afghanistan," he said, "or anywhere in the Middle East or South Asia, a C.I.A. operative would have to speak the local language and be able to blend in. The operative should seemingly have nothing to do with any Americans, or with the American embassy, if there is one. The status is known inside the agency as "nonofficial cover," or NOC. Exposure could mean death."

Is this not a recipe for the type of "contractors" who flooded Iraq after the invasion and occupation? The only difference is that a CIA agent under "non-official cover" is no longer referred to as a NOC, but as an OGA, for Other Government Agency.

Before I continue to put in context the persuasive impact of what Hersh said two and half years ago, when he was prodding America to unleash its dogs of war, let me remind you that the agents who drew the CIA into the line of fire over the systematic use of torture at Abu Ghoryab prison ­ as a result, ironically, of Hersh's most recent "explosive" article in The New Yorker ­ were two individuals who fit the "nonofficial cover" bill exactly: Mr. John Israel, a contract US civilian interpreter, working for the company CACI, and ostensibly attached to the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade; and Mr. Steven Stephanowicz, a contract US civilian interrogator, also working for CACI, but not attached to Military Intelligence, and certainly working for the CIA.

The whereabouts of Messrs. Stephanowicz and Israel are currently unknown, and CACI doesn't have to tell, because: 1) as we are told by Hersh, "Exposure could mean death," and 2) because, their trail leads to the CIA people who hired them; and the one thing Bush cannot accept, is having heroic a CIA agent brought up on a murder rap.

Try, if you can, to imagine a trial by jury, or tribunal, in which a CIA officer was sentenced to death for killing an Iraqi civilian.

Then come quickly to your senses, and realize that CIA officers have a license to kill, just as Army snipers can assassinate Iraqi civilians with impunity. The fact is, the war crime of murder is not punishable by death under the Bush Regime, for it was the Bush Regime that lifted all the moral and legal restraints on its soldiers and spies in the first place. So far, murdering Iraqis carries with it only a less than honorable discharges.


Led Zeppelin - Your Time Is Gonna Come

Lyin', cheatin', hurtin, that's all you seem to do.
Messin' around with every guy in town,
Puttin' me down for thinkin' of someone new.
Always the same, playin' your game,
Drive me insane, trouble is gonna come to you,
One of these days and it won't be long,
You'll look for me but baby, I'll be gone.
This is all I gotta say to you woman:

*Your Time Is Gonna Come X4

Made up my mind to break you this time,
Won't be so fine, it's my turn to cry.
Do want you want, I won't take the brunt.
It's fadin' away, can't feel you anymore.
Don't care what you say 'cause I'm goin' away to stay,
Gonna make you pay for that great big hole in my heart.
People talkin' all around,
Watch out woman, no longer
Is the joke gonna be on my heart.
You been bad to me woman,
But it's coming back home to you.

Led Zeppelin - Your Time Is Gonna Come

NOW would work for me....

If it isn't a case of reincarnation between the two of them, then at least the Nazi's hair stylist was reincarnated, to be patronized 60 years later by Rummy.

Rummy is said to be 70 or 71, which would make him born about 1934. I guess that rules out the first hypothesis.

Any idea what is going on?

Probably from Afghanistan, a while back, as I recall pictures like that. Although it could be something more recent, I suppose. It is hard to keep up.

was a war crime from the get go.

If the Hague is the proper place for the likes of Milosevic, it is most certainly the place for the likes of Donald Rumsfeld and the invaders and torturers he leads.

Something akin to the Nuremberg trials is in order. That it will never happen is a measure of how much Empire has distorted the moral landscape.

about this, and any other war crimes occuring in Iraq - of which there are probably plenty.

Very important, lengthy interview with the former FBI translator published today. Get a load of this - she's pointing her finger at the BCCI/BFEE Octopus, not "al Qaeda."


JH: I understand why you can't say anything about this, but there are several books out about the Bush ties to the Saudis and the bin Ladens in particular. And in David Griffin's book, The New Pearl Harbor, there is a very good synopsis of the ISI, which is the Pakistani intelligence service. He shows the direct connections between the CIA, the ISI, and Mohamed Atta. He makes a very convincing case that the Pakistani ISI had been helping to plan 9/11 for a long time.

I don't imagine that you are allowed to say much about that.

SE: You are correct. But I can tell you that the issue, on one side, boils down to money--a lot of money. And it boils down to people and their connections with this money, and that's the portion that, even with this book, has not been mentioned to this day. Because then it starts touching some people in high places.

JH: Can you explain more about what money you are talking about?

SE: The most significant information that we were receiving did not come from counter-terrorism investigations, and I want to emphasize this. It came from counter-intelligence, and certain criminal investigations, and issues that have to do with money laundering operations.

You get to a point where it gets very complex, where you have money laundering activities, drug related activities, and terrorist support activities converging at certain points and becoming one. In certain points - and they (the intelligence community) are separating those portions from just the terrorist activities. And, as I said, they are citing "foreign relations" which is not the case, because we are not talking about only governmental levels. And I keep underlining semi-legit organizations and following the money. When you do that the picture gets grim. It gets really ugly.

JH: Let me read you a short quote from Dr. Griffin's book, quoting from War and Globalization: The Truth Behind September 11 by Michel Chossudovsky and ask you to comment on it. "...The transfer of money to Atta <$325,000>, in conjunction with the presence of the ISI chief in Washington during the week, is the missing link behind 9/11....The evidence confirms that al-Qaeda is supported by Pakistan's ISI (and it is amply documented that) the ISI owes its existence to the CIA."

SE: I cannot comment on that. But I can tell that once, and if, and when this issue gets to be, under real terms, investigated, you will be seeing certain people that we know from this country standing trial; and they will be prosecuted criminally.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml

But the U.S. government's investigation of these tortures is likely to take as long and be as effective as the current 911 investigations, if even that.

I thought some of them had said they have seen the light and were going to be real reporters? What happened?

Don