New UN Report Shows the US Combo of Torture and Impunity Thrives in Iraqi Prisons

[kpete]

Source: Common Dreams

New UN Report Shows the US Combo of Torture and Impunity Thrives in Iraqi Prisons

by Jeremy Scahill

Part of the deadly serious problem with the Obama administration's position on (not) holding accountable CIA torturers, their lawyers and the Bush administration officials who authorized and ordered all of these crimes is this: It sends a message to other governments that if Washington does it, we can too. Especially governments completely created by the US government.

................

A new UN human rights report examining Iraq shows that torture of prisoners by Iraqi authorities is widespread and accountability is nonexistent. "The lack of accountability of the perpetrators of such human rights abuses reinforces the culture of impunity," the UN bluntly states. The 30-page report by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, which examined conditions in Iraq from July to December 2008, was just released Wednesday.

At times, the report reads as though it could have been written about the US torture program at Guantanamo and other US-run prisons and the total lack of accountability. In Iraq, the UN cites "the use of torture as an interrogation method" and "prolonged periods of detention without charge or access to legal counsel and the use of torture or physical abuse against detainees to extract confessions."

UN investigators said it was of "particular concern" that a senior Iraqi police official complained that the Iraqi government's pending ratification of the Convention against Torture would "not be helpful," stating, "How are we going to get confessions? We have to force the criminals to confess and how are we going to do that now?" It sounds like that Iraqi police official has been listening to Dick Cheney.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/01-12

[Amonester]

1. This is one of the big reasons why all suspected lawbreakers...

MUST be indicted & prosecuted ASAP.

It's getting late. The sooner that happens, the sooner a return to the rule of law for all, equally. No suspect should get a free pass!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

:thumbsup:

[Overseas]

2. K&R for another reason we need to prosecute the torturers and those who

drafted the ridiculous attempts to justify techniques for which we executed others in the past.

And all the fools who claimed to "support our troops" while trampling the Geneva Conventions that are also supposed to protect our troops in the event of their capture.

The executive branch should not be above the law and prosecutions will reinforce that understanding.

I am glad President Obama talked about Churchill disavowing torture of his detainees even in the "ticking time bomb" situation of daily bombings.

[KoKo]

3. So...we run the prisons like Saddam? Or, we put people in to run the prisons

like Saddam. Good thing we got rid of that lying, torturing murdering, sadistic dictator. We brought Democracy to Iraq.

[pat_k]

4. "That's why we have these treaties, so when Americans are captured. . .

There's a reason why we sign these treaties: to protect my son in the military. That's why we have these treaties, so when Americans are captured they are not tortured. That's the reason in case anybody forgets it.
--Sen. Joesph Biden (Ashcroft hearing, June 8, 2004)

Until we fulfill our treaty-bound duties to bring suspects before a court, the U.S. Constitution is in breach and our armed services personnel are without the protection afforded by our adherence to treaty.

We face an unprecedented crisis. The man we allowed to occupy the Office of the President for eight years tortured in our name. We must confront the inescapable reality that the 43rd President of the United States must stand trial for war crimes.

If we get our so-called "leaders" to see that there is no way out of our treaty-bound duty to try Bush, resistance to prosecuting the "lower level" government officials will melt away.

And when the magnitude of this unprecedented moment in history sinks in, it becomes clear that an unprecedented response is called for. Obama's attempt to foist this off on Holder is http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=443901&mesg_id=443901">driven by denial. Good man though he may be, Holder simply doesn't have the stature required. Something this big needs more than the investigation of a special prosecutor, out of sight, and out of mind. We need a person, or a panel, to oversee distinct efforts to gather evidence, conduct prosecutions, and to confront the failures of our Congress and of the "fifth estate" that allowed this nation to go so far astray for so long.

Who might have the required stature? Check out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5572518&mesg_id=5572518">Kismet!?! Justice Souter Should Preside Over Our War Crimes Tribunal/Inquiry