In his second term, President Bush has an opportunity to rectify the errors of his first, and one of those was the ad hoc assertion of the right of the president to treat captives in the war on terrorism as he saw fit, without regard to U.S. or international law. That strategy inflicted terrible damage on the United States' reputation as a bastion of human rights...

http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/un/2004/1115warlaws.htm


From Information Clearing House

Tony Blair has asked George Bush to return the Birmingham man being held in Guantanamo Bay, Ministers said yesterday. But the Americans have refused to free Moazzam Begg...

http://snipurl.com/aril


Guantanamo Hearings Continue in Wake of Ruling Against Hamdan Trial:
In spite of a court ruling that halted the military trial of a Guantánamo detainee last week, the military is continuing to conduct another kind of controversial hearing for prisoners held at the US base in Cuba.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1236


From Information Clearing House

The British government has submitted a report to the U.N. Committee Against Torture acknowledging 17 possible cases of torture committed by its troops in Iraq...

http://207.44.245.159/article7332.htm

Britain has frequently expressed concern to Washington at the highest level about US troops allegedly mistreating victims in Iraq, most recently in October, a British official has told the UN's anti-torture panel.

http://207.44.245.159/article7328.htm

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/gonzalez.htm


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - November 14th, 2004

The 19-page study, which is likely to go before the current session of the U.N. General Assembly in December, does not identify the United States by name but catalogues the widely publicised torture and humiliation of prisoners and detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. troops waging the so-called ”war on terrorism.”

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26261


From Information Clearing House

The president is putting his own counsel, Alberto Gonzales, who wrote the famous memo defending torture, in charge of our civil liberties. Torture Guy, who blithely threw off 75 years of international law and set the stage for the grotesque abuses at Abu Ghraib and dubious detentions at Guantánamo...

http://snipurl.com/aknn

Genfer Konventionen: US-Bundesrichter stoppt Guantanamo-Tribunal (10.11.04)

Wegen gravierender Verstöße gegen die Genfer Konventionen hat ein US-Bundesgericht erstmals einen Sonderprozess gegen einen Guantanamo-Häftling als ungesetzlich bezeichnet und gestoppt. Wie die Tagesschau am Dienstag berichtete, wies Richter Robertson alle Anträge der US-Regierung zurück. "Er hat entschieden, dass eine der grundsätzlichen Regeln für Militärgerichte die Möglichkeit für einen Angeklagten sein muss, die vorliegenden Beweise gegen ihn einzusehen", erklärte der Verteidiger des jeremitischen Staatsbürgers Salim Achmed Hamdam. Genau das sei weder in den bisher vier geplanten Militärtribunalen vorgesehen noch in den gleichzeitig stattfindenden so genannten Statusanhörungen gegen alle Guantanamo-Häftlinge, in denen geklärt werden soll, ob sie tatsächlich illegale Kämpfer sind und in Haft bleiben müssen. Die ersten Militärtribunale seit dem 2. Weltkrieg wurden somit für illegal erklärt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=9686

A federal judge ruled Monday that President Bush had both overstepped his constitutional bounds and improperly brushed aside the Geneva Conventions in establishing military commissions to try detainees at the United States naval base here as war criminals.

http://207.44.245.159/article7247.htm

A female interrogator ran her fingers through a prisoner's hair and sat in his lap, a barber gave reverse mohawks and a detainee was forced to kneel so many times he was bruised, the U.S. government says in the most detailed accounting of eight abuse cases at its Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects. Those responsible for the abuse have been demoted, reprimanded or sent for more training, according to an 800-word U.S. military response to a written query from The Associated Press. Allegations of mistreatment at Guantanamo, where 550 terror suspects have been held for nearly three years, surfaced after the abuse scandal broke last year at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where pictures showed beatings and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners.

The details of abuse at Guantanamo come as lawyers for several prisoners challenge evidence presented by the government, saying some could have been obtained by force. Only four prisoners have been formally charged at Guantanamo, where most are held without charge or access to lawyers. The military has reported 34 suicide attempts among detainees, though none has been reported since January.

Guantanamo's new commander says lessons have been learned from past abuses cases and troops are treating detainees humanely with a rigorous system of checks and balances.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I345257B9


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - November 7th, 2004