An interim report of the Council of Europe exposes Bush lies about "extraordinary renditions". It is interesting that the Bush administration has always engaged in tortured, legalistic defenses of the very practice that it denies. It would appear, however, that the latest reports coming out of Europe prove that the Bush administration has been torturing the truth about "rendition". Clearly —the CIA has been flying "detainees" in and out of various locations —primarily eastern Europe —for the purpose of carrying out a program of torture. If the Council's report is accurate, the Bush administration is in violation of the Geneva Convention.Article 13From the MEP's report:
Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.
Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.
Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.—Article 13, Geneva Convention
The European report is "...full of frustration at American [torture] policy" and even more frustration with the idea that by flying detainees to friendly countries, the U.S. is skirting Geneva prohibitions on torture. The practice is a transaparent dodge that fools no one but tends to reinforce a growing perception abroad that the United States —under Bush —has become a rogue nation.MEPs reveal extent of CIA flights
Kidnapping has "clearly" happened, the report says. The CIA has run more than 1,000 flights within the European Union since 2001, often transporting terror suspects for questioning overseas, MEPs have said.
The MEPs began a probe after claims the US flew suspects to secret prisons in countries that regularly use torture.
The US admits some terror suspects were flown overseas for interrogation, but denies sending them for torture.
Report author Claudio Fava said many EU states had ignored the hundreds of CIA flights that had used their airports.
Mr Fava, an Italian socialist MEP, singled out Sweden, Italy and Bosnia, which is not an EU member, for particular criticism.
A string of former detainees have come forward with stories alleging kidnap and transport by the US for interrogation in third countries - a process known as "extraordinary rendition".
Some have provided detailed accounts of alleged torture carried out in secret prisons outside EU or US jurisdiction.
"In countries that pride themselves on being long-standing democracies that protect human rights, the revelation of these allegations should have sparked off reactions and categorical condemnations several months ago, but this was not the case..."The report supports allegations that the U.S. program of "rendition" is part of a pattern of US policy intended to bypass the Geneva Conventions. Marty told a news conference that people have been kidnapped by the CIA, transferred to torture prison, and denied their rights under the Geneva Convention. Camps outside any legal system include well-known camps in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Other kidnap victims have been taken to camps primarily eastern Europe. Their treatment —outside the law —has been called "unacceptable", and, according to Marty, it is a case of the United States "outsourcing" in order to skirt international law —even those to which the U.S. is bound by treaty.—Swiss MP Dick Marty
Pressure has grown since the Washington Post reported last year that the the CIA had orchestrated a rendition program that consisted of "...hiding and interrogating [what the CIA claims are] some of its most important al-Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe". The catch 22 is simply this: as long as the CIA is allowed to conduct such a program unsupervised and outside the law, there is no way of knowing if any of those tortured are or have ever been members of Al Qaeda.
Additional resources:
Bush, Torture, War Crimes'Toons by Dante Lee; use only with permission
5 comments:
In addition to the fact that these "renditions" violate the Geneva Convention, I really don't see how they can generate any reliable intelligence (and isn't it typical of Bushco to ruin other countries' information-gathering activities by stomping around like the proverbial bull in the china shop, such as what we did with Italy as noted in the BBC story?).
(By the way, you should check your "Europe Knew About CIA Flights" link.)
Great stuff - keep up the good work!
I agree...torture has never been a reliable method of obtaining information. In medieval and Elizabethan times, it was a no win situation for the torture victim anyway. One was tortured until confessing to capital crimes and upon confession were tortured until dead.
Cruelty seems especially virulent in the reigns of Edward I, Elizabeth I and other English monarchs where the accused was often denied the right of defense. The accused was tortured until confessing. Execution often consisted of public hanging till near death, disembowlment while still alive, and, at last, dismemberment. Tragically, it was form of public entertainment.
Elizabeth was an early practioner of "outsourcing" torture. In her time, special cases were tortured —not in the Tower —but in Richard Topcliffe's private residence in London. He kept his windows shuttered against prying eyes.
It's too easy to dismiss Topcliffe as a raving psycho whose writings support the theory that he indulged sexual fantasies about the body of the Queen herself even as he tortured her enemies on her behalf. It must be pointed out that U.S. torture at Abu Ghraib was tinged with more than "bit" of sexual deviance. This stuff was just sick and utterly disgusting.
I rather suspect that torture has nothing to do with getting reliable information. The growing body of evidence (read everything Seymour Hersh has written on this) supports the idea that the perverted U.S. torture policy is the policy of two men: George W. Bush and his fellow pervert: Donnie Rumsfeld. After all, for whom were all those pictures taken?
It's interesting to compare this with the US treament of terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carilles, partners in the Oct 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. (Carrilles used to work with Barry Seal and Porter Goss in Operation 40 which may have killed JFK, amongst other things.)
This from William Blum:
Bosch had a partner in plotting the bombing of the Cuban airliner, Luis Posada, a Cuban-born citizen of Venezuela. He's being held in custody in the United States on a minor immigration charge. His extradition has been requested by Venezuela for several crimes including the downing of the airliner, part of the plotting having taken place in Venezuela. But the Bush administration refuses to send him to Venezuela because they don't like the Venezuelan government, nor will they try him in the United States for the crime. However, the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation (1973), of which the United States is a signatory, gives Washington no discretion. Article 7 says that the state in which "the alleged offender is found shall, if it does not extradite him, be obliged, without exception whatsoever and whether or not the offence was committed in its territory, to submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution."(10) Extradite or prosecute. The United States does neither.
So the Geneva convention is just one of a number of international agreements now seen by the US to be discretionary in regard to alleged terrorists.
The Hague is waiting...but it's a long way off.
damien, if anyone will begin organizing an international effort to bring Bush and his merry band of perverts to trial for Nuremberg and Geneva violations, I will support it any way I can. If no one else organizes it, I will do the best I can with limited resources.
The promise of the Nuremberg war crimes trials was that it —"it" being a holocaust —would never happen again.
But it has and will continue to happen as long as people are complacent. Bush and Cheney effectively shut down any real investigation of 911, they must not be allowed to get away with capital crimes.
My sentiments exactly Len. One consolation in all of this is the growing public awareness of the criminality of this administration in general and the torture and rendition crimes in particular. Hopefully these matters will not be allowed to fade.
I've only just noticed that there is a great article on the US endorsed terrorism against Cuba at CounterPunch that may also interest you readers.
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