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Speaking Out Against Torture
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by Sharon Grimes, WAMM
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Duh! Waterboarding is torture. And people are finally finding the courage to speak up against the practice and call it what it is
The top UN human rights official Louise Arbour said, “I have no difficulty describing the practice as falling under” international definitions of torture. (StarTribune, 2/9/08)
“I know that the act is indeed torture,” wrote Richard E. Mezo in the Washington Post. He served six years in the Navy where he underwent waterboarding as part of the training to become a flight crew member. “As a nation, we must ask our leaders, elected and appointed, to be aware of such horrors; we must ask them to stop the narrow and superficial thinking that hinges upon ‘legal’ definitions and to use common sense. Waterboarding is torture, and torture is clearly a crime against humanity.” (2/10/08)
In October, the chief Guantanamo Bay military prosecutor, Col. Morris Davis, resigned. He was told not to talk to the media about why he resigned, but more recently said that when he was placed under the command of Defense Department General Counsel William J. Haynes, who supports the use of torture, he resigned within hours. (Think Progress, 12/10/07)
CIA director Michael Hayden at least went as far as to say to the House Intelligence Committee that in his view, it is not certain the technique would be considered lawful under current law. His testimony came a week after the Bush administration said waterboarding had been used on detainees after September 11, 2001. (StarTribune, 2/8/08)
In an October 20 Washington Post article, Morris said the Pentagon was pushing for putting high profile detainees on trial before the 2008 elections. Morris said “he felt pressure to pursue cases that were deemed ‘sexy’ over those that prosecutors believed were the most solid or were ready to go.”
Isn’t it interesting that on February 11, 2008, the Pentagon announced that three high-profile detainees will go on trial? |
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© 2008 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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