BBC: UN implicates Bashar al-Assad in Syria war crimes

[pampango]

The UN's commission of inquiry into Syria has produced "massive evidence... [of] very serious crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity," Ms Pillay said. "The scale of viciousness of the abuses being perpetrated by elements on both sides almost defies belief," she said.

The evidence indicated responsibility "at the highest level of government, including the head of state", she added. It is the first time the UN's human rights office has so directly implicated Mr Assad.

The inquiry has also previously reported it has evidence that rebel forces in Syria have been guilty of human rights abuses.

However, the investigators have always said the Syrian government appears to be responsible for the majority, and that the systematic nature of the abuse points to government policy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25189834

The war crimes and human rights abuses on all sides is why this should be referred to the ICC for prosecution on all sides.

"The scale of viciousness of the abuses being perpetrated by elements on both sides almost defies belief" is a sad, sad commentary, especially coming from someone who has other violence-related horrors.

[spanone]

1. where was the UN when bu$h was torturing his perceived enemies?

[pampango]

3. A United Nations investigator called on the United States on Monday to publish its findings on the

CIA’s Bush-era programme of rendition and secret detention of terrorism suspects.

“Despite this clear repudiation of the unlawful actions carried out by the Bush-era CIA, many of the facts remain classified, and no public official has so far been brought to justice in the United States,” Emmerson said in a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, which he will address on Tuesday.

Emmerson, an international lawyer from Britain, has served since August 2011 in the independent post set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2005 to probe human rights violations committed during counter-terrorism operations worldwide.

The “war on terror” waged by Bush after al Qaeda attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001 led to “gross or systematic” violations involving secret prisons for Islamic militant suspects, clandestine transfers and torture, Emmerson said.

http://leaksource.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/un-investigator-urges-prosecution-of-bush-era-cia-rendition-and-torture/

[spanone]

4. thanks...

[boomersense]

2. So the United Nincompoops . . .

were offered the right incentive to set the tone for Libya redux? Goshes, how would anyone know this was going to happen? Trouble is, Syria ain't Libya--not by a long-shot.