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View Full Version : ACLU and AI vs. Bush and Rumsfeld


Dirty Martini
06-02-05, 12:31 AM
What do you guys make of this? Think anything will come of it? Bunch of hogwash?

from http://www.alternet.org/rights/22118/
Two respected human rights groups say there is prima facie evidence against Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush for war crimes and torture -- and they're asking foreign governments to do something about it.

...Sanchez, who was head of the Pentagon's Combined Joint Task Force-7 in Iraq, swore the answer was no. Under oath, he told the Senators he "never approved any of those measures to be used."

But a document the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) obtained from the Pentagon flat out contradicts Sanchez's testimony. It's a memorandum entitled "CJTF-7 Interrogation and Counter-Resistance Policy," dated September 14, 2003. In it, Sanchez approved several methods designed for "significantly increasing the fear level in a detainee." These included "sleep management"; "yelling, loud music, and light control: used to create fear, disorient detainee, and prolong capture shock"; and "presence of military working dogs: exploits Arab fear of dogs."

...Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA say there is "prima facie" evidence against Rumsfeld for war crimes and torture. And Amnesty International USA says there is also "prima facie" evidence against Bush for war crimes and torture. (According to Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "prima facie evidence" is "evidence sufficient to establish a fact or to raise a presumption of fact unless rebutted.")

Amnesty International USA has even taken the extraordinary step of calling on officials in other countries to apprehend Bush and Rumsfeld and other high-ranking members of the Administration who have played a part in the torture scandal.

from http://www.southbendtribune.com/breakingnews/posts/3411.html
President Bush on Tuesday dismissed a human rights report as "absurd" for its harsh criticism of U.S. treatment of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the allegations were made by prisoners "who hate America."

"It's an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world," Bush said of the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag.

...On the Amnesty International report, Bush said, "It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of the allegations by people who were held in detention, people who hate America."

from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050601/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rumsfeld_prisons;_ylt=Aj0yb5hh14E5yoh4WIb8jEdp24cA ;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Rumsfeld said the U.S. military has done more than any other force to liberate oppressed people and has gone to great lengths to ensure that detainees are free to practice their religion.

"Indeed, that's why the recent allegation that the U.S. military is running a gulag at Guantanamo Bay is so reprehensible," he said.

..."Yes, there have been instances where detainees have been mistreated while in U.S. custody, sometimes grievously, but consider these facts," Rumsfeld said Wednesday. "To date there have been approximately 370 criminal investigations into the charges of misconduct involving detainees" since Sept. 11, 2001. He did not mention it, but about 130 military personnel have been punished as a result of those investigations.

The Rev
06-02-05, 02:59 PM
Can you imagine if Bush was tried in an international court for war crimes, and found guilty!? Personally, I think the USA needs a rolled up newspaper across the nose, and this would certainly do it. I just fear what it would do to the credibility of future administrations and the country in general.

:think:

The Rev

Kurmudgeon
06-02-05, 03:02 PM
they're asking foreign governments to do something about it.

I hope they're saving time and not bothering to ask the Aussie government.

Dirty Martini
06-02-05, 08:49 PM
Can you imagine if Bush was tried in an international court for war crimes, and found guilty!? Personally, I think the USA needs a rolled up newspaper across the nose, and this would certainly do it. I just fear what it would do to the credibility of future administrations and the country in general.

:think:

The Rev

I don't know. personally i don't think that this will go very far unless they get maybe the EU behind it (and good luck with that one) as well as some strong asian countries like japan. But Japan has troops and engineers in Iraq and is positioning itself as an ally, so I have no idea... I agree with you, though. The US could use a hand-slap to teach it the importance of abiding by national agreements (geneva, ahem) in developing international credibility. But hey I guess if you have a strong military, you can force credibility. :rolleyes: