US War Crimes Exposed: Obama refuses 'Truth Commission'

[Erickassonfire]

“it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of
torture and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate
responsibility for it.No to Truth Commission

The kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after
9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the
wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some
detainees in our custody,” was the determination of a bi-partisan
commission that consisted of a former Republican Bush official, a
Democratic Party former Congressman and other professionals in a
comprehensive and extensive 600-page report released last week.

The report significantly noted that the Obama administration declined,
as a matter of policy, to undertake or commission an official study of
what happened, saying it was unproductive to “look backwards” rather
than forward.

The report advocating the wisdom of appointing a commission to
establish accountability of action of war crimes among which is
torture that the highest officials oof the Bush administration bore
ultimate responsibility states:

"In Congress, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont introduced legislation
to establish a “Truth Commission” to look into the U.S. behavior in
the years following the September 11 attacks. The concept, successful
in South Africa, Guatemala and several other countries, is predicated
on recognizing the paramount value to a nation of an accurate
accounting of its history, especially in the aftermath of an
extraordinary episode or period of crisis".

Since the conclusion of the 26-year war with terrorism defeating a
ruthless terrorist group in a South Asian nation Sri Lanka in 2009,
the United States advocated and later almost forced the Government of
Sri Lanka to appoint a 'Truth Commission' which that government
appointed in the form of a 'lessons learnt and reconciliation' and
produced its report and recommendations. The State Department, in
promoting a commission of that nature in Sri Lanka brought South
Africa as an example.

The report bi-partisan further states: "The Task Force examined court
cases in which torture was deemed to have occurred both inside and
outside the country and, tellingly, in instances in which the United
States has leveled the charge of torture against other governments.
The United States may not declare a nation guilty of engaging in
torture and then exempt itself from being so labeled for similar if
not identical conduct.

"The United States has routinely and firmly condemned as torture and/
or abuse many of the same techniques used by U.S. personnel against
detainees over the course of the past decade. The Department of State
(DOS), in its annual U.S. country reports on human rights practices,
has characterized many of the coercive techniques used against
detainees in U.S. custody in the post–September 11 era as torture,
abuse or cruel treatment. These reports, assessing the human rights
situation in 194 countries around the world, are submitted annually as
required by both the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act
of 1974.

"The CIA, in an internal review, acknowledged that the “[enhanced
interrogation techniques] used by the [CIA] … are inconsistent with
the public policy positions that the United States has taken regarding
human rights.” Unrepentant executer on Global War on Terror

The Washington Think Tank Constitutional Project's blue ribbon Task
Force extensively examined the Detainee Treatment since the 9/11
attacks.

It is made up of former high-ranking officials with distinguished
careers in the judiciary, Congress, the diplomatic service, law
enforcement, the military, and other parts of the executive branch, as
well as recognized experts in law, medicine and ethics. The group
includes conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats.

This report is the product of more than two years of research,
analysis and deliberation by the Task Force members and staff. It is
based on a thorough examination of available publicintelligence
officers, interrogators and policymakers. It is the most comprehensive
record of detainee treatment across multiple administrations and
multiple geographic theaters — Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo and the
so-called “black sites”.

One of those who was on the Constitution Project's Task Force was Mr.
Asa Hatchinson.

Mr. Hutchinson, who served in the Bush administration as chief of the
Drug Enforcement Administration and undersecretary of the Department
of Homeland Security, said he “took convincing” on the torture issue.
But after the panel’s nearly two years of research, he said he had no
doubts about what the United States did. “This has not been an easy
inquiry for me, because I know many of the players,” Mr. Hutchinson
said in an interview. He said he thought everyone involved in
decisions, from Mr. Bush down, had acted in good faith, in a desperate
effort to try to prevent more attacks.

“But I just think we learn from history,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “It’s
incredibly important to have an accurate account not just of what
happened but of how decisions were made.”

He added, “The United States has a historic and unique character, and
part of that character is that we do not torture.” Torture Photographs
in Iraq that went viral in internet

The panel found that the United States violated its international
legal obligations by engineering “enforced disappearances” and secret
detentions. It questions recidivism figures published by the Defense
Intelligence Agency for Guantánamo detainees who have been released,
saying they conflict with independent reviews.

The report’s main thrust was its attempt to assess what the United
States government did in the years after 2001 and how it should be
judged. The C.I.A. not only waterboarded prisoners, but slammed them
into walls, chained them in uncomfortable positions for hours,
stripped them of clothing and kept them awake for days on end.

"By the end of 2002, at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, interrogators
began routinely depriving detainees of sleep by means of shackling
them to the ceiling. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld later
approved interrogation techniques in Guantanamo that included sleep
deprivation, stress positions, nudity, sensory deprivation, and
threatening detainees with dogs. Many of the same techniques were
later used in Iraq says the report.

The Constitution Project Task Force report declared that the CIA also
created its own detention and interrogation facilities — at several
locations in Afghanistan, and even more secretive “black sites” in
Thailand, Poland, Romania and Lithuania, where the highest value
captives were interrogated.

The Task Force finds that U.S. officials involved with detention in
the black sites committed acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment.

Ample evidence of this treatment is found in the December 2004 CIA
Inspector General’s Report on Counterterrorism, Detention, and
Interrogation Activities, as well as the testimony of former
detainees. The use of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment has long been considered war crimes and violations of
customary international law, as well as being prohibited by the
Convention Against Torture and denounced by the United States when
practiced by other states.

(Quote) U.S. forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques
on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an
even larger number of interrogations that involved “cruel, inhuman, or
degrading” treatment. Both categories of actions violate U.S. laws and
international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of
the Constitution and our nation.

The Task Force believes there was no justification for the responsible
government and military leaders to have allowed those lines to be
crossed. Doing so damaged the standing of our nation, reduced our
capacity to convey moral censure when necessary and potentially
increased the danger to U.S. military personnel taken captive.
Democracy and torture cannot peacefully coexist in the same body
politic.

The Task Force also believes and hopes that publicly acknowledging
this grave error, however belatedly, may mitigate some of those
consequences and help undo some of the damage to our reputation at
home and abroad. (End Quote)

What the report note as 'Publicly acknowledging this grave error' the
appointment of a 'Truth Commission' to establish 'accountability' for
the 'war crimes' committed violating international laws.

Accountability: The report states: (Quote) Despite the president’s
opposition to “looking backwards” regarding torture allegations, on
August 24, 2009, Attorney General Holder announced he would open “a
preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated in
connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas
locations” by the CIA. Holder appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham, who
was already investigating the CIA’s destruction of videotapes of
interrogations at black sites, to conduct the review.

In November 2010, Durham concluded that he would not pursue charges in
connection with the destruction of the tapes. The Justice Department
(DOJ) did not specify the reason for declining prosecution, but made
the announcement the same week that the statute of limitations on the
relevant criminal charges expired.

In June 2011, DOJ announced the results of Durham’s preliminary review
of the CIA’s treatment of detainees. It opened full criminal
investigations into the deaths of two detainees in CIA custody — Gul
Rahman, an Afghan killed at the Salt Pit in November 2002, and Manadel
al-Jamadi, the Iraqi detainee whose corpse is shown in several of the
Abu Ghraib photographs. Ninety-nine other cases of alleged detainee
abuse were closed without proceeding to a full investigation.

Holder announced on August 30, 2012, that no charges would be brought
for al-Jamadi’s or Rahman’s deaths because “the admissible evidence
would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a
reasonable doubt.” The Justice Department declined to elaborate
further, or respond to questions.

The U.N. special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, has denounced the
closure of Durham’s investigations without charges as violating the
obligation under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) to hold
perpetrators of torture accountable:

In a number of other civil and criminal cases, the Obama
administration has robustly defended
the CIA’s prerogative to keep information about its treatment of
detainees secret. Obama’s Department of Justice successfully argued
for the dismissal of Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., a suit by
five rendition victims against a Boeing subsidiary that allegedly
participated in flying them to torture overseas, on the basis of the
state-secrets privilege. It also successfully opposed Supreme Court
review of another rendition victim’s suit, Arar v. Ashcroft.

The DOJ has repeatedly and successfully argued against requiring
disclosure of evidence regarding CIA rendition and torture in Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) litigation. The government’s position is
that while the Justice department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
memos released in 2009 revealed a great deal of information about the
CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” Torture under U.S. watch

The Constitution Project's Task Force report, which can be found at
http://detaineetaskforce.org/ , refers to several international
covenants to which the United States is a signatory.

The report cites (1) Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which
says “prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever” for
individuals no longer actively involved in hostilities, specifically
including detainees. The prohibited acts include torture, outrages
upon personal dignity, and cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment,
among others. Common Article 3 also creates an affirmative obligation
that detainees “shall in all circumstances be treated humanely.”

(2) The Convention Against Torture (CAT) reflects that the ban of
torture is one of the bedrock principles of international law. The
prohibition of torture is absolute, without exception for war or
national emergency.

Detainees may not be transferred to countries where they would face a
serious risk of torture, and information acquired through torture can
never be used in court except as evidence against those accused of
torture. Under Article 1 of CAT, torture is (1) an intentional
infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental;
(2) to obtain information or a confession, to punish for an act or
suspected act, to intimidate or coerce, or for discrimination of any
kind; (3) when such pain or suffering is inflicted by, at the
instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public
official or other person acting in an official capacity.

(3)The Torture Statute is the U.S. federal statute prohibiting acts of
torture. The statute was enacted in 1994 by Congress in order to
comply with CAT’s requirement to enact enabling legislation. The
statute defines torture as an act committed(a) by a person acting
under the color of law; (b)specifically intended to inflict severe
physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person; (c) within
his custody or physical control. The Torture Statute covers acts
committed outside the United States; acts committed within the United
States are prohibited by other federal and state laws.

(4) The War Crimes Act was passed by Congress in 1996 and criminalizes
certain violations of the law of armed conflict.108 The act makes it a
crime under U.S. law to violate the Geneva Conventions and other
international laws of war ratified by the United States. The WCA
applies to all U.S. nationals and members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The WCA, as originally enacted, created two categories of crimes: (1)
“grave breaches” of the Geneva Convention in international armed
conflicts;111 and (2) any violations of Common Article 3 in other
conflicts.

Two additional international law instruments reflect U.S. commitment
to the bans on torture and CID: the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR).

After a two-year extensive investigation and perusing the
international laws and along with the U.S. federal laws that the
Constitution Project's blue ribbon Task Force on Detainee Treatment
report finds that top officials of the Bush administration, and
President Push himself, were responsible for the degrading treatment
of detainees after 9/11 attacks and highlights the vitality of the
appointment of a "Truth Commission" to investigate and bring those
responsible before justice.

The report is equally makes the Obama administration of ignoring the
demand for a "Truth Commission" President Obama himself declaring it
is better "to look forward" that "backward".

The Asian Tribune found a very interesting comment in the media: Make
your own judgment! Seems to me, one of the most abusive and barbaric
regimes in the world is the one that points the finger of torture
accusations at others. By projecting its own evil onto its intended
targets, it then 'gets away' with war crime after war crime.


http://asiantribune.com/node/62380