by Heather Wokusch

Given repercussions over Abu Ghraib, it isn't surprising that Washington recently asked the UN Security Council for another one-year extension on its war crimes exemption for peace-keepers. The prison abuse scandal is just the iceberg's tip of Geneva Convention violations by the United States, and closer inspection could send Bush Jr., Bush Sr., not to mention Bill Clinton, straight to the courtroom docks....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June04/Wokusch0605.htm

by M. Junaid Alam

Our politicians and pundits have all viewed the latest batch of photographs and videos depicting US soldiers cruelly humiliating, beating, and torturing their Iraqi prisoners. Their purported -- perhaps even genuine -- outrage and revulsion has been duly noted and conveyed time and again to the whole world; domestically the same professed horror has been repeated endlessly in the press, mostly at the expense of thoughts from the victims themselves. Yet even as our elite line up to express their outrage at soldiers grinning next to leashed and chained detainees, their own criticism is leashed and chained to an extremely narrow ideological spectrum, one in which deeper questions about the torture scandal are safely locked away in the dark corners of that Abu-Ghraib-like entity known as “mainstream” debate....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June04/Alam0605.htm

Top brass:

Donald Rumsfeld personally approved four special interrogation techniques used on two al-Qaeda operatives held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who then talked about the terrorist network and its plans, the commander of US forces in Latin America said today.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/1086203599711.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/mccoy05292004.html
http://tinyurl.com/3fark


From Information Clearing House

He was detained and accused of being a spy for Saddam Hussein, even though he is not even a Baathist. He was hung from his ankles for hours in Abu Ghraib, until he passed out...

http://blog.newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches/archives/000518.html


From Information Clearing House

by Abe Arias

Strike the Root

06/03/04

"We no longer have a distinguished voice to speak to the world community about freedom and democracy. The sham has been revealed.

The lies are now exposed. The neoconservative dream is nothing but raw imperialism, resource control and population decimation. If this is the flag of America that proudly waves over such atrocities, how can my heart obey it, or answer its call for the sacrifice of my life and my children? No, it must be raw Freedom, like a cleansing river, that must wash over all of our nationalistic fantasies and our deviant lusts for glory and power."...

http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/arias/arias5.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Army general who reported last fall there was no mistreatment at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq also commands the criminal investigators now pursuing the abuse cases, raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2606332


From Information Clearing House

Two 19-year-old Marines pleaded guilty to giving electric shocks to an Iraqi prisoner they were guarding in early April, months after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse, military officials said...

http://www.adn.com/24hour/nation/story/1413404p-8713139c.html


From Information Clearing House

From the Pen of Hank Roth

http://g0lem.net/bravo/GENeva.shtml


Informant: Chai

More than a third of prisoners who perished while in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were beaten, strangled or shot by U.S. personnel before they died, according to death certificates and a high-ranking U.S. military official (USA Today 6/2/04).

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040601/6248555s.htm

Please Forward Widely

Saturday, June 5th, 11:00 - 1:00

Armed Forces Recruiting Center, 141 Tremont St. (steps from Park St)

What to expect: ~An Energized Demonstration~ ~Political Theater~ ~Demands for Accountability~ ~Appearance of a Cabinet-Level Bush Official~

What it's all about:

Most of you know that the physical and psychological torture that took place at Abu Ghraib was not restricted to Iraq. These practices were already well established in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, where the Geneva Conventions have been deemed inconvenient. Moreover, military and media investigations have revealed that these acts were not the work of a few "bad apples," but were widespread. This is combined with the Red Cross's conclusion that 90% of Abu Ghraib's prisoners should never have been detained in the first place.

These gross injustices demand a response, but the Boston Police Department hasn't reviewed the Bill of Rights recently. One week ago, a small, peaceful demonstration at the recruiting center ended when an activist dressed as a prisoner was arrested. The story and photos are available at:

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/05/289729.shtml

The pattern of arresting people on bogus charges to stifle dissent must be stopped. Having the charges thrown out a few months (or years) down the line does not preserve our freedom of expression. This ongoing police strategy is unconstitutional!

COME OUT SATURDAY TO DEMAND JUSTICE & SHOW THE CITY THAT WE WILL BE HEARD!!

I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today--my own government....we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values....

When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.

Martin Luther King, Jr
Ebenezer Baptist Church, April 30, 1967

http://www.radioproject.org/sound/King11.mp3


Informant: Jeff Duritz