Amnesty International Calls for Criminal Investigation(waterboarding)

[cal04]

Source: PR Newswire

Amnesty International Calls for Criminal Investigation Following CIA 'Waterboarding' Admission
Amnesty International today called for a full, independent and prompt criminal investigation, following the first public admission by CIA Director, General Michael Hayden, that waterboarding had been used by the agency as an interrogation technique against three detainees held in secret custody.

"Waterboarding -- where detainees are subjected to simulated drowning -- is torture. Torture is a crime under international law," said Rob Freer, Amnesty International's researcher on the United States. "Yet, no one has been held accountable for the authorization and use of waterboarding by U.S. personnel."

At the same congressional hearing, the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, said that waterboarding could again be used by the CIA in cases approved by the U.S. President and the Attorney General.

(snip)
"It has become clear in recent years that the U.S. administration has interpreted U.S. and international law in ways that have sought to avoid the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and that have facilitated impunity for human rights violations," said Freer.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080206/pl_usnw/amnesty_international_calls_for_criminal_investigation_following_cia__waterboarding__admission

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CIA ‘waterboarding’: Admission of a crime, now there must be a criminal investigation
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/011/2008
Document Content
http://www.amnesty.org/en/alfresco_asset/9db93a13-d4c5-11dc-ae76-cd9a3dc63251/amr510112008eng.html

[tekisui]

1. Let's get it started.

Enough is Enough.

[Solly Mack]

2. What's it going to be America?

More of the same...allowing a corrupt and criminal government to walk free and call it "healing"

or

Do the right thing?

[subsuelo]

20. You might be a Kucinich supporter

if you go around talking like that

[Xipe Totec]

3. Sadam tortured his own people

Now we know why the bushies were so careful to underline that it was his own people he tortured.

Apparently, it's okay to torture, so long as it's not your own people.







:freak:

[ixion]

4. BushCo has tortured us all. He's done permanent damage to this country

and others. He is a war criminal, and belongs in the Hague, IMO.

[bdamomma]

23. who's to say we are not next?

these thugs have a deep disdain for human life, aren't our soldiers being tortured mentally and physically being in Iraq and Afghanistan, these thugs in Washington need to be held accountable.....sigh, just move along huh?

[kestrel91316]

5. Our new AG will completely ignore AI in this matter. Mark my words.

[RuleOfNah]

6. Marked.

I will go farther and say not only will the Bush AG avoid this matter as long as possible, so will the Legislature, the Judicial, and law enforcement.

[MasonJar]

7. Can we bombard Nancy with impeachment cries now? This is completely

unlawful under international law, including the Geneva Conventions, which we signed, making it above any other law or citizen, including the self-absorbed deluder-in-chief.

[Demeter]

8. The Woman Is Impervious to Reason and Rule of Law

How is Cindy's campaign to replace her going?

[pat_k]

10. The key to breaking down the "impervious" wall is to

.. . elicit and contradict their irrational rationalizations and beliefs.

If you can get to a town meeting there is likely to be an opportunity. Someone is likely to ask about impeachment. Whatever idiocy they offer, try not to let it go unchallenged. Even a brief comment while shaking hands has power.

Their delusions and irrational "conventional wisdom" are constantly reinforced inside their insular world. Inside the beltway, they don't even come up because the questions are "settled."

The goal is actually a fairly modest one. Do something to make their assumptions explicit. Getting them to speak them is one way. Reflecting back public statements is another. The more they are forced to invoke a false meme, the more likely they are to actually HEAR how absurd they sound.

Simply getting them to pull out one of their "standards" is a significant accomplishment. If you can also plant a seed of doubt by contradicting them, you've hit a home run.

When some http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=334569&mesg_id=334745">particularly moronic and immoral quote is reported, it's a chance to fax a letter with a few pointed questions ("Do you actually believe. . .?). If you are willing to follow up, include a request for a conference call (having a friend there is helpful.). After you have faxed a question you tend to get farther up the chain when you call to follow up for an answer.

And if that seems like too much, just pose a rhetorical question without follow-up.

If you find yourself face to face with a Rep, Senator, or staffer when they blather one of the false memes, look at them like they are nuts (because they are) and then state the contradictory reality flat out. You don't need some lengthy "case" -- short sweet is better. (Might find some useful quips in http://january6th.org/talking-impeachment-customize.pdf">Talking Impeachment PDF).

And if no response comes to mind (my brain tends to shut down under stress) just tell them there is no basis for their baseless assertions. (And know that there NEVER is.)

If they've run out of rationalizatiosn to hide behind, they may hit you with "you just don't/can't understand." If that happens, just tell them they are insulting your intelligence with such condescending statements. If there are facts and logic to "understand" then offer them.

We are social creatures. None of us are completely "impervious" to social forces like ridicule. (It is the ridicule of their fellows that keeps group thinkers in line. It is their condescending attitude toward us that helps them dismiss us.)

The thing is, at lot of people have been effectively confronting them. We ARE getting through. How do we know it? Just look at their escalating level of defensiveness and annoyance. The more they are forced to actively deny a fundamental truth, the more that truth eats at them. And the more they are "bothered," the more they see us as "bothersome."."

Effective lobbying can't be limited to "making the case." It requires dialog. It requires social interaction. There are cracks in the wall of irrational beliefs and rationalizations. We just have to keep chipping away. Whether or not we actually move them to impeach, we are challenging the dysfunctional thinking that has immobilized them for years -- and for a good number of them, decades.

[Demeter]

11. Thank You for This

You have put into words exactly what I am doing to the Co-op board where I live. They've already tried to evict me, but a lawsuit threat put an end to that.

I will store this so I can refer to it when they get particularly on my last nerve.

Oh! And use it in the wider political context, also!

[pat_k]

9. The label we should be using: "Drowning Torture". . .

Can't find it at the moment, but there was a forum in which the war criminal shill objected to label "drowning torture" by arguing that it couldn't apply because drowning torture generally leaves the tortured person alive. He argued that it wasn't "drowning torture" because the subject is not "drowned" (never mind that their lungs are being filled with water).

In other words, if a lifeguard pulls a drowning person out of the water and successfully administers CPR, the person was never "drowning."

It seems like some of the fascist followers are really losing it. They've always lied, parroted propaganda, blathered idiocy, but it seems to me that they are showing their "true colors" with greater frequency and sputtering more and more truly jaw-dropping absurdities.

[Baby Snooks]

12. So who is going to investigate?

There is no Justice Department at this point. Who will investigate? Congress? You think the Empress will put an investigation on the table when she won't put impeachment on the table?

The Libby trial was the last trial you will see. There will be no further investigations. No further trials. The law is now above the law.

More than likely the only reason why Bush only commuted Scooter Libby's sentence is to hold a pardon over his head in order to keep his mouth shut. And on his way out of the White House, Bush will pardon him. Knowing that at that point, particularly if Hillary Clinton is president, no one will ever say another word.

Don't think so? Bill Clinton stopped any further investigation into Iran-Contra or into BCCI or any number of other criminal matters.

They held impeachment over his head the way Bush is holding a pardon over Scotter Libby's head. In the end, they impeached him anyway. But didn't convict him. The fix, as they say, was in.

For Bill Clinton. And probably for Hillary Clinton as well.

I know it is politically incorrect but I do wish Nancy Pelosi would drop dead. Maybe whoever replaced her would put everything back on the table. While it can still be put back on the table.

[pocoloco]

21. Can she tahe Reid with her?

[Drum]

13. Kick & Rec!

:kick:

[Senator]

14. If We Don't Impeach/Prosecute Torturers, It Can Be "Done For Us"

That's what we agreed to by treaty. That torturers and war criminals not prosecuted by their own government officials become fair game for international "arrest" and prosecution.

Even Pelosi herself may one day have to explain to an international tribunal why she put our treaty obligations "off the table."

I understand that Hillobamania has "given us all hope" that we can just kick some sand over this pile of reality and walk away, but it just doesn't work like that. Like with election theft, the acid continues to eat through our society and poisons our roots in the world community.

Only Impeachment can even begin to Redeem Our National Soul.

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[Ganja Ninja]

15. Yup. One of these days we're going to have to face the world and

extradite our war criminals and the country will tear itself apart once more over whether or not we should.

[bonito]

16. Waterboarding has more methods than talked about on MSN

Don't believe for one moment people who employ waterboarding are not aware of these
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding See Historical uses

[Lint Head]

17. That means our enemies can drown our soldiers and

we have no reason to complain. I used to love my country. Now I hate the criminals that have taken it over and the criminals that are now attempting to continue to destroy it. These traitors have turned the USA into something totally different from what the founding fathers had in mind. We live in a fascist state and I expect this post will be read by someone illegally spying on me and I will not be surprised to hear a knock on the door from the brown shirts any time. :dem:

[Broadslidin]

18. Sorry, the CIA Ghouls involved, are busy with a Secret Assignment down in Rio.....

Our Corporate front :party: group,
the "National Endowment for Democracy"
will trump those Amnesty folks any time.

[L. Coyote]

19. Hearing starting this morning with Mukasey defending Inquisitional torture tactics

Must see, I'm sure!

[L. Coyote]

22. NOW ***** View LIVE Webcast ***** HOUSE Oversight Hearing DoJ Mukasey ****** 11 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2829051

[bdamomma]

24. kick