American Servicemen Tortured by Iraq Applaud President Obama's Order Against Torture

[sabra]

Source: prnewswire

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On January 22, 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order revoking the actions of the Bush Administration with respect to the torture of detainees. The Order makes clear that it extends to ensuring "safe, lawful, and humane treatment of . . . United States personnel who are detained in armed conflict" and "compliance with the . . . Geneva Conventions."

American servicemen held as prisoners of war (POWs) and tortured by Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War welcome this return to traditional United States leadership against torture and have filed a motion seeking to implement the terms of this Order and reverse a Bush policy of siding in court with those who tortured American servicemen.

On April 4, 2002, these former POWs filed suit in federal court to hold their torturers accountable and deter future torture of American POWs. The court found Iraq liable, noting that "deterring torture of POWs should be of the highest priority."

Surprisingly, the Bush Administration thereafter intervened on the side of Iraq to erase the POWs' historic judgment. Subsequently, media reports revealed that certain Bush lawyers had authorized controversial actions against detainees, creating a distorted dynamic.

...

Failing to reverse a tragically ill-advised policy by which a United States President sided with those who tortured American service personnel and set aside a core deterrent mechanism built into the Geneva Conventions for their protection will put future American personnel held by the enemy at heightened risk of torture. President Obama's effort to correct such wrongs is commendable.

Read more: http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-31-2009/0004997916&EDATE=

[Ian David]

1. Don't forget, Bush issued an order that these U.S. servicemen couldn't collect damages from Iraq...

... even after they'd been awarded by the courts.

U.S. Opposes Money for Troops Jailed in Iraq
Published on Monday, November 10, 2003 by the New York Times

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 — The Bush administration is seeking to block a group of American troops who were tortured in Iraqi prisons during the Persian Gulf war in 1991 from collecting any of the hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Iraqi assets they won last summer in a federal court ruling against the government of Saddam Hussein.

In a court challenge that the administration is winning so far but is not eager to publicize, administration lawyers have argued that Iraqi assets frozen in bank accounts in the United States are needed for Iraqi reconstruction and that the judgment won by the 17 former American prisoners should be overturned.

If the administration succeeds, the former prisoners would be deprived of the money they won and, they say, of the validation of a judge's ruling that documented their accounts of torture by the Iraqis — including beatings, burnings, starvation, mock executions and repeated threats of castration and dismemberment.

"I don't want to say that I feel betrayed, because I still believe in my country," said Lt. Col. Dale Storr, whose Air Force A-10 fighter jet was shot down by Iraqi fire in February 1991.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1110-06.htm


See also:

SPOKANE — Dale Storr spent 33 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq after his A-10 ... Iraq, Storr, 41, could once again be called to duty by a president named Bush. ... For the next month, he endured torture, daily interrogation and an ... and allied POWs and their families in a lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of ...
www.aiipowmia.com/inter23/in021803pilot.html


THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: P.O.W.'S; U.S. Moves to Block Money For ...
Nov 10, 2003 ... The Bush administration is seeking to block a group of American troops who ... Dale Storr, whose Air Force A-10 fighter jet was shot down by Iraqi ... The Iraqi government made no effort to respond to the lawsuit. ... against Iraq would discourage other governments from torturing American troops. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/10/world/the-struggle-for-iraq-pow-s-us-moves-to-block-money-for-troops-held-in-91-war.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all


CNN.com - Transcripts
Apr 26, 2003 ... DALE STORR, FORMER GULF WAR POW: Well, my treatment as a ... It's our view that something should have been done to accommodate the lawsuit that we had filed and the ... by the Bush administration, what legal recourse do you have, Mr. Fennell? ... not only at the time of the torture, but ever since. ...
www.transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0304/26/cst.16.html

Timeline - Lawsuit
President Reagan and President-elect Bush were subpoenaed to testify as defense ... Dale Storr was imprisoned. In 2002 17 former US prisoners including Storr won a suit for $959 million of frozen Iraqi assets for their documented torture. ... Links: Iraq, USA, Lawsuit Click to see the source(s) for this event ...
www.timelinesdb.com/listevents.php?subjid=536&title=Lawsuit

[blackspade]

2. each scratch of the scab...

Each scratch of the scab seems to reveal more and more festering wounds.
Can we lock these Bush admin assholes up now!!??