VICE PRESIDENT SPIRO T. AGNEW AS STRIDENT & FEAR-MONGERING AS DICK CHENEY ( THE ONLY GOOD PROTESTOR IS A DEAD PROTESTOR !!! )
DICK CHENEY DRESSES DOWN FOR AUSCHWITZ REMEMBRANCE !!!
ILLUSTRATES LACK OF SENSITIVITY OF BUSH ADMINISTRATION???
January 28, 2005
Dick Cheney, Dressing Down
Parka, Ski Cap at Odds With Solemnity of Auschwitz Ceremony
By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Once again demonstrating the Bush Administration's "Ugly American Policy" is part of its mandate, Vice President Dick Cheney represented the United States at the 60th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation as a buffoon. From The Washington Post today in an article titled Dick Cheney, Dressing Down:
At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.
The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.
NOT QUITE TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB ???
BRINGING AMERICAN VALUES TO THE WORLD !!!
IRAQI FORCES ROUNDING UP INSURGENTS???
INTIMIDATATION OF IRAQI CIVILIANS BY US & IRAQI FORCES !!!
POWS AT QUANTANIMO PRISON
STRIPPERS ENTERTAIN US TROOPS IN IRAQ CARE OF HALIBURTON INC.
PROVING AMERICANS RESPECT WOMEN MORE THAN RADICAL MUSLIMS ???
strippers exoctic dancers part of Haliburton's reverence for traditional American Values ???
Published on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 by the Scripps Howard News Service
Show's Not So 'Purrfect' for Female Forces In Iraq
by Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand
PHOTOS POSTED BY PICASA
Back to the issue of torture of “ detainees “ .
It does seem odd that it is necessary that former members of the CIA & groups like Amnesty International & HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH & various experts on International Law & the Geneva Convention have to explain to the Bush administration & its most fervent supporters what Interrogation Techniques are considered to be illegal forms of torture. Its like trying to explain to some out-of-control dictator in a third world country but there you go.
The Bush Administration has come up with various defenses for its use of torture on suspected Terrorists & Insurgents believing that the only problem with using torture is devising as many excuses or a rationale for its use.
First off the Bush administration denies the detainees are legitimate Prisoners of War since the detainees are suspected terrorists who do not wear a recognizable uniform & secondly they do not belong to a recognized National Army & thirdly these individuals do not operate within the acceptable international rules of warfare , i.e. their targets are often non-combatants or innocent civilians.
This may seem odd since American forces & its agencies like the CIA have often targeted non-combatants & innocent civilians & have taken part in summary executions & assassinations
This also raises the question about how US spies or undercover agents working in foreign lands should be treated in the same way if they are captured., that is, is it acceptable for a foreign country to torture & incarcerate American spies or undercover agents if they are found out without laying charges or denying them legal counsel or denying them any contact with the US government or with their families etc.. If such individuals are not wearing a recognized American forces uniform or, at least, carry ID to prove they are working for US government. One can’t have it both ways as it were.
The Bush Administration has referred to the Geneva Convention's regulations as “ quaint “ & “outdated” & so does not recognize the Geneva Convention as having any authority over US military actions.
In the same way the US Administration has not signed onto other International Agreements banning the use of Napalm or White Phosphorous as Chemical Warfare when used to maim & kill combatants & non-combatants alike.
But such arguments carry little weight with the present US Administration or a large section of the American People as they believe they are the ones who should decide what are appropriate measures to take in fighting Terrorists & no Evil Secular Humanist World Government ( The United Nations )is going to tell them otherwise.
Anyway here is the relevant section of the Geneva Convention as it applies to the acceptable & appropriate treatment of POWs:
{GENEVA CONVENTION
Article 1 of the convention states:
Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat [unable to fight] by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
© outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples. }
see: cbc online
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/iraq/genevaconventions.html
IN-DEPTH: IRAQ
The Geneva Conventions
CBC News Online | May 13, 2004
and on
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/iraq/prisonabuse_inquiries.html
And from ABC NEWS ONLINE:
ABC NEWS NOVEMBER 21, 2005
By BRIAN ROSS and RICHARD ESPOSITO
ABC News: CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described
abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?
{Nov. 18, 2005 — Harsh interrogation techniques authorized by top officials of the CIA have led to questionable confessions and the death of a detainee since the techniques were first authorized in mid-March 2002, ABC News has been told by former and current intelligence officers and supervisors.
They say they are revealing specific details of the techniques, and their impact on confessions, because the public needs to know the direction their agency has chosen. All gave their accounts on the condition that their names and identities not be revealed. Portions of their accounts are corroborated by public statements of former CIA officers and by reports recently published that cite a classified CIA Inspector General's report.
The CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002 and used, they said, on a dozen top al Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe. According to the sources, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques:
1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.
2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.
3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.
4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.
5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.
6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.
"The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law," said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch.
The techniques are controversial among experienced intelligence agency and military interrogators. Many feel that a confession obtained this way is an unreliable tool. Two experienced officers have told ABC that there is little to be gained by these techniques that could not be more effectively gained by a methodical, careful, psychologically based interrogation. }
Note this ABC report several times quotes those in favor of these brutal forms of torture as characterizing these methods as “ harsh” “ progressively aggressive” and are “ controversial “ that they are “properly supervised” and therefore do not constitute torture. The controversy is not whether certain techniques constitute torture but rather is torture a trust worthy method for obtaining information.
It is interesting how a Network News agency in the US does not want to come clean ,as it were, & just state in straight forward language that these “techniques “ violate International Law & therefore constitute Torture. It is not up to individual nations to decide what “techniques “ constitute “ torture “ and which ones do not.
One can only assume that the ABC News Network is trying to present supposedly fair & balanced reporting of the issue of “ torture” but this I believe is misguided. It seems obvious that these “ techniques “are in fact forms of torture according to international standards . The only question then is if these “ techniques “ can be justified. One can’t expect an American News Network to actually take a stand on this or any other issue if it means questioning the actions of President Bush or his vice-president or other top officials in the present administration.
Dick Cheney reminds one of Spiro T. Agnew or even Senator Joseph McCarthy who like them has put the fear of God as it were in the Press. Cheney & others have warned that charges may be brought against individual journalists or news agencies if they reporting about these highly sensitive issues by gathering information from “ Whistle Blowers “ who are administration employees or from former employees of Government Agencies . Those who leak such information & those who choose to pass on such information in the media to the general public are according to the administration involved in acts of sedition & could be prosecuted as traitors.
and here is part of the response from HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH to the use of such “ techniques”:
CIA Whitewashing Torture
Statements by Goss Contradict U.S. Law and Practice
(New York, November 21, 2005) -- Porter Goss, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has made misleading statements about the CIA’s use of torture and mistreatment of detainees, Human Rights Watch said today. Goss was quoted today in USA Today stating that the CIA does not use torture and that the CIA’s interrogation techniques are legal.
" “Many interrogation techniques authorized for use by the CIA amount to torture. Their authorization by higher-ranking officials is illegal and potentially criminal.” "
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director
Waterboarding is intended to cause a victim to believe he is about to die, and is similar to a mock execution. Earlier this year, in March 2005, Goss justified waterboarding as a “professional interrogation technique” during a Senate hearing. Other Bush administration officials, when questioned about waterboarding, have refused to rule it out.
There is no doubt that waterboarding is torture, despite the administration’s reluctance to say so,” said Roth.
Waterboarding is prohibited under international law and domestic U.S. law. Known as the “submarino” in Latin America, where it was used extensively in the 1970s and 1980s, waterboarding has been condemned as torture for decades.
Other techniques...prolonged forced standing, sleep deprivation, and exposure to cold—are illegal and may possibly amount to torture. These techniques were used by Soviet and North Korean interrogators, and have been reported more recently in Egypt, Burma, Iran and Turkey.
The administration has argued that the CIA has and should continue to have latitude to use techniques that are “cruel, inhumane, or degrading” so long as the victim is a non-American held abroad. This claim is wholly at odds with international law.
Human Rights Watch renewed its call for Congress to appoint an independent, bipartisan commission to examine interrogation practices. In light of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ conflict of interest as an architect of U.S. interrogation policy, Human Rights Watch also called on the Bush administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate criminal activity in the military and CIA, including the conduct of military and civilian officials.
also see:
J'accuse: War Crimes and Iraq
Conn Hallinan
www.world-crisis.com
iFlipFlop
Exposing Republican hypocrisy and big lies; proud citizen of the Reality-Based Community.
www.iflipflop.com/archive/2005
Also see:
UK aid funds Iraqi torture units
Peter Beaumont in Baghdad and Martin Bright
Sunday July 3, 2005
The Observer
" British and American aid intended for Iraq's hard-pressed police service is being diverted to paramilitary commando units accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings, The Observer can reveal. "
Anyway see you later,
GORD.
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