Panel discussion on Torture Sun 6/27 3-5pm Minneapolis,

[annm4peace]

(St Thomas law professor and co-author of torture memo, Robert Delahunty, was invited to speak, as were some other supporters of the US ignoring the Geneva convention and ok'ing torture, but they refused the invites)



Sunday, June 27, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Plymouth Congregational Church,

1900 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis.

Attend an educational forum around the question, "

Do the Geneva Conventions on cruelty still apply?" and others.

Participants include: Marjorie Cohn, immediate past president of the National Lawyers Guild;

Captain James Yee, former U.S. Army Muslim Chaplain at the prison at Guantanamo, Cuba;

Ellen Kennedy, PhD, Interim Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota;

and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Assistant Professor of Peace and Justice Studies at the University of St. Thomas.

Sponsored by: the WAMM Tackling Torture at the Top (T3) Committee. FFI: Email [e-mail].

[annm4peace]

1. a little more info.

The Forum is co-sponsored by the St. Paul and Minneapolis chapters of Amnesty International and is endorsed by The Center For Victims Of Torture and *Veterans for Peace. It will be a moderated discussion on a variety of questions, starting with the following four:

1. Do the Geneva Conventions apply to members of Al Qaeda (ie. the new term "enemy combatants")?

2. Are there other international laws to which the United States adheres which do apply to "enemy combatants"?

3. Does the US have the right to unilaterally interpret the Geneva Conventions and other international law to which it adheres?

4. What are the legal (Constitutional) and societal ramifications if the government pursued investigations and prosecutions for torture? What will the ramifications be if we continue the government's present course of not pursuing them?



The Educational Forum is the most ambitious of several events planned for the month of June, designated "Torture Awareness Month" by the U.N. However, we are also presenting other events of our own and publicizing events by other organizations on the topic of torture throughout the month.

These speakers will represent the position that there is no place for torture or any form of cruelty or inhumane treatment in our world.

We are working on finding representatives to advocate the opposing position that there are extraordinary situations when such treatment should be allowed, but are naturally having some difficulty finding such a person willing to speak (though there are at least three law professors in the Twin Cities who have publicly and vigorously defended such actions, one of whom we hope to get.)

BIOGRAPHIES:
Marjorie Cohn is immediate past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She lectures throughout the world on international human rights and U.S. foreign policy.

A news consultant for CBS News, and a legal analyst for Court TV, she also provides legal and political commentary on BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, Air America and Pacifica Radio.


Professor Cohn is the author of Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law and co-author of Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice.

Her latest book is Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent (with Kathleen Gilberd), and her forthcoming anthology, The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse, will be published in fall 2010 by NYU Press.

Her articles have appeared in numerous journals such as Fordham Law Review, Hastings Law Journal and Virginia Journal of International Law, as well as The National Law Journal, Christian Science Monitor and Chicago Tribune.

Professor Cohn is a contributing editor to Jurist, MWC News and Guild Practitioner and her weekly columns appear on AlterNet, Counterpunch, CommonDreams, HuffingtonPost, OpedNews, AtlanticFreePress, AfterDowningStreet, ZNet, and GlobalResearch, and are archived at http://www.marjoriecohn.com/.


Captain James J. Yee is a former US Army Chaplain and graduate of West Point who served as the Muslim Chaplain for the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that would become controversial for its treatment of detainees designated as "enemy combatants" by the U.S. government.

While ministering to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Captain Yee advised camp commanders on detainee religious practices and objected to the cruel and degrading abuses to which the prisoners were subjected.

After being officially recognized twice for outstanding performance, Captain Yee was arrested and imprisoned in a Naval brig for 76 days in September 2003 while being falsely accused of spying, espionage, and aiding the alleged Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners.

He was held in solitary confinement and subjected to the same sensory deprivation techniques that were being used against the prisoners in Cuba that he had been ministering to.

After months of government investigation, all criminal charges were dropped. With his record wiped clean, Chaplain Yee was reinstated to full duty at Fort Lewis, Washington.

He tendered his resignation from the U.S. Army and received an Honorable Discharge on January 7, 2005. Upon separation he was awarded with a second Army Commendation medal for "exceptionally meritorious service."

Following September 11, 2001, Chaplain Yee represented Muslims in the military "with great distinction" handling a multitude of national and global media requests. He endeavored to educate soldiers about Islam by building bridges of understanding.

In June 2006, Chaplain Yee earned his Masters degree in International Relations. He now lectures about his harrowing ordeal, Guantanamo Bay, Islam, Asian-American and religious diversity issues, and the challenges of protecting both national security and civil liberties.

He has appeared on national and global news programs including The O'Reilly Factor, MSNBC's Hardball, CNN Paula Zahn Now, Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, PBS Religion and Ethics, Al-Jazeera's From Washington, Democracy Now, NPR All Things Considered, MSNBC's The Situation with Tucker Carlson, CSPAN-2 After Words, ABC Australia's The 7:30 Report, UK Sky World News Tonight, and BBC World Service.

Chaplain Yee has made presentations on Capitol Hill to congressional staff members, at Harvard University, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern University and several other academic institutions of higher learning.

[annm4peace]

2. this was a great event

Thank you T3 for Panel discussion on June 27th,

This was a very informative event. All the speakers were excellent. I wish it was on Network TV. I don't even know if any corp news was there.
I do know someone for the Uptake did film it and will see parts of it on Youtube and The UPTAKE site.

There were so many good points made. I look forward to others in the audience writing about what they got out of the event.