Posted on 01/24/2009 7:30:45 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
BERLIN - The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the U.S. Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.
"Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said, in remarks to be broadcast on Germany's ZDF television Tuesday evening.
He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required "all means, particularly penal law" to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.
"We have all these documents that are now publicly available that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld," against detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Nowak said.
"But obviously the highest authorities in the United States were aware of this," added Nowak, who authored a UN investigation report on the Guantanamo prison.
Bush stepped down from power Tuesday, with Barack Obama becoming the 44th president of the United States.
Asked about chances to bring legal action against Bush and Rumsfeld, Nowak said: "In principle yes. I think the evidence is on the table."
At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognize these forms of torture."
A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in U.S. custody.
It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on Dec. 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
As an American, I hereby extend my middle finger in the UN’s general direction. I am so tired of listening to the blather coming out of that place.
the u.n. and the obama administration are still running against bush.
here’s a yahoo headline:
“Obama breaks from Bush, avoids divisive stands”
No kidding.
I wish there was some way to officially invife them to come and get them but they better bring plenty of friends to help. Idiots.
Is it a felony, misdemeanor, or just a written warning to kill a UN official engaged in espionage? I have to ask, because I know UN officials can kill, rape, steal, and maim with impunity. I am just wondering how the reciprocal law reads.
“He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required “all means, particularly penal law” to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.”
One would think there’s a bit of a line to go through before they got to any alleged US abuses.
On the other hand he claims there are all these papers that provide some sort of evidence about the matter.
I'd suggest that Manfred is a liar. At the same time it's worth noting that Manfred doesn't seem to reside in the United States, but instead sticks around Austria where he probably thinks he's safe.
He's not.
BTW, ol'Manfred here thinks solitary confinement is "torture". He argues that forced abortion is "torture" but is silent regarding abortion itself as it relates to the victim.
He's definitely not a person to respect nor like.
I agree. the UN is the most corrupt, limp dick operation imaginable. America needs, out ASAP.
Please, liege, may I join you? And may I please use both middle fingers? This is a classic case where it would be impossible to have too many birds flying.
LOL!
“Bush, Rumsfeld should be pursued for torture: UN official”
NO! This is what I want it to say.....
United Nations should be pursued for Corruption, Rape, Contributing to Terrorism, Murder, Ineffectiveness and Hate Crimes: US Citizen(s).
I (used to agree but now) myself would not say US out of the UN because with out US being there alot of their BS mandates wouldn’t be blocked and then we’d be up a “dung” creek with out a paddle.
When the UN gets their own house in order, maybe they will have some moral authority. Since they will likely never happen, they can go pound sand. Honestly, they should be expelled from New York and relocated to someplace more befittting their agenda (Islamabad? Mogadishu?)
So, yeah, Manfred's interpretation is that if you say something threatening to him that he considers to be torture (like "come here boy I'm putting these panties on your head") he would favor putting Obama in prison.
Of course he's going to have to update his statements on the net to avoid that ~ you just know this puke doesn't want to upset "the one" eh.
So, a question, how many hours a day does Manfred wear ladies' panties on his head? 1, 2, maybe 22? Anyone know?
It’s time to get the UN out of the US, and the US out of the UN.
I’ll be at the harbor waving good-bye...one finger at a time.
Does anybody else wonder why we still support the UN?
It tries to undermine the Constitution of the USA and
would love to cripple our Constitutional Republic.
In over 60 years the only politicians who tried to get
the USA out of the UN were Goldwater and President
Ronald Reagan who did kick UNESCO out.
16 out of 17 of the AMERICANS that were involved
in creating the UN were later identified, in sworn
testimony, as secret communist agents.
The first Secretary General was the AMERICAN Alger Hiss.
Alger Hiss served time in prison pursuant to his
involvement in a Communist spy ring.
Many of the other AMERICANS that were involved in
creating the UN fled the country, to avoid prosecution.
The ONE AMERICAN, that was involved in creating the UN;
and was NOT later identified, in sworn testimony, as a
secret communist agent, was Dean Acheson.
Dean Acheson’s law firm was the legal representative of
the Soviet Union, in US courts.
If the AMERICANS that were involved in creating the UN
were Communists, what do you think we got from the rest
of the world?
To help clarify this guy's perspectives, I hereby propose that United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak first be subjected to 'waterboarding', and then be subjected to torture as applied by Iran, by Hamas, by Communist Vietnam, by North Korea, by the KGB, by various African rebel movements including the ANC, and then he can "rapport" all day long on which ones were and weren't 'torture'...
Some of those UN Peacekeepers should be put to death for raping young women in Africa.
UN Official= unofficial= not having authority or sanction
Judiciary Chairman Conyers Issues Report Documenting Bush Abuses, Calling For Further Committee Investigation, Blue-Ribbon Panel, and Criminal Probes
For Immediate Release
January 13, 2009
Contact: Jonathan Godfrey, Lillian German
(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. released a nearly-500 page report documenting numerous abuses and excesses of the Bush administration. The report, titled "Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the presidency of George W. Bush," contains 47 separate recommendations designed to restore the traditional checks and balances of our constitutional system. Recommendations include calls for continued committee investigation, a blue ribbon commission to fully investigate administration activities, and independent criminal probes.
"Even after scores of hearings, investigations, and reports, we still do not have answers to some of the most fundamental questions left in the wake of Bush’s Imperial Presidency," Conyers said. Pointing to allegations of torture and inhumane treatment, extraordinary rendition, warrantless domestic surveillance, the Valerie Plame Wilson-leak, and the U.S. attorney scandal, Conyers continued, "Investigations are not a matter of payback or political revenge – it is our responsibility to examine what has occurred and to set an appropriate baseline of conduct for future administrations."
In addition to the set of recommendations, the report contains a foreword by Chairman Conyers and detailed discussions of: the administration’s legal approach to presidential power; the politicization of the Department of Justice; the administration’s far-reaching assaults on individual liberty (including torture, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance); the misuse of Executive Branch authority; the administration’s retribution against its critics; and the administration’s excessive secrecy, noncompliance with congressional oversight, and manipulation of pre-Iraq War intelligence.
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/090113_1.html
The full report [487 pages on pdf]:
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/printers/110th/IPres090113.pdf
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Seems to me like the "investigators" need to be investigated themselves!
FYI: House Judiciary Committee chairman, democrat John Conyers Jr of Michigan, and HJC member, Maxine Waters, have each given their endorsements to the Revolutionary Communist Party movement/organization, "World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime".
Click on the WCW link just below and see: "Endorsers of the Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime Include". Conyers' endorsement appears right after Ward Churchill's. Al Sharpton's, Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson Jr's are further down the list:
http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2538&Itemid=2
_______________________________________________________________________
Fact: World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime is a Maoist-revolutionary movement organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party. (scroll down the list that appears (after clicking link) to find the World Can't Wait organization --rwor.org is the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party):
http://rwor.org/a/rwlink/links.htm
_______________________________________________________________________
Endorsers of the [World Can't Wait] Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime Include:
James Abourezk, Aris Anagnos, Rocky Anderson, Anti-Flag, Edward Asner, Russell Banks, Ed Begley Jr., Harry Belafonte, St. Clair Bourne, Gabriel Byrne, Margaret Cho, Ward Churchill, Paulette Cole, US Rep John Conyers Jr., John Densmore, Jesse Diaz Jr., Michael Eric Dyson, Steve Earle, Niles Eldredge, Daniel Ellsberg, Eve Ensler, Laura Flanders, Jane Fonda, Martin Garbus, Senator Mike Gravel, Andre Gregory, Sam Hamill, Suheir Hammad, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Mumia Abu-Jamal, Rickie Lee Jones, Sarah Jones, Brig. Gen. (Ret) Janis Karpinski, Jonathan Kozol, Rabbi Michael Lerner, US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Robin Meyers, Mark Crispin Miller, Tom Morello, Viggo Mortensen, John Nichols, US Rep. Major Owens, Grace Paley, Harvey Pekar, Sean Penn, Michelle Phillips, Harold Pinter, Michael Ratner, Mark Ruffalo, US Rep. Bobby Rush, Susan Sarandon, Richard Serra, Jeff Sharlet, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Nancy Spero, Gloria Steinem, Lynne Stewart, Serj Tankian, Sunsara Taylor, Studs Terkel, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Naomi Wallace, US Rep. Maxine Waters, Cornel West, Ann Wright, Howard Zinn, and thousands more who have already joined us.
http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2538&Itemid=2
_______________________________________________________________________
On Oct 5, 2006, Democrat Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr, the same guy who is leading the 'investigation' of the Bush administration, gave a SPEECH to the World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime organization, the "anti-war" front for the Revolutionary Communist Party!
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3801&Itemid=69
_______________________________________________________________________
On October 5, 2006, on the basis of the Call, The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime!, people throughout the country will be stepping forward in a day of mass resistance. The breadth, the depth, the impact and the power of that day depends not only on those in The World Can't Wait organization, and others, who are already organizing for this day -- it depends on you, on us, on all those who have been hoping and searching for a means to do something that will really make a difference.
http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2655&Itemid=223
_______________________________________________________________________
From David Horowitz's FrontpageMag.com /DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: World Can't Wait (WCW)
*Revolutionary communist movement that stages protests against the Bush administration
*Organizes college and high-school students
*Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7213
_______________________________________________________________________
Mission Statement from the Revolutionary Communist Party website (revcom.us or rwor.org):
"Create Public Opinion, Seize Power: We are preparing minds and organizing forces for the time when there is a major crack in the system, whenever it comes and wherever it comes from: an opening that makes it possible to bring the future Revolutionary Army of the Proletariat (R.A.P.) into the field and wage a revolutionary armed struggle that actually has a chance of winning.
And we have said that building our party itself is the most important part of organizing forces for revolution. This is true now, and it is true looking forward to the creation of that future R.A.P. and the waging of that armed struggle.":
http://revcom.us/a/v20/1000-1009/1000/barw.htm
_______________________________________________________________________
Also from the Revolutionary Communist Party website:
"Tearing Up the U.S. Paper Tiger in Korea:
How 300,000 Chinese Troops Snuck into Korea and Kicked the Ass of the U.S. Armed Forces"
RW #1059, June 18, 2000:
http://rwor.org/a/v22/1052-059/1059/korea.htm
_______________________________________________________________________
Re: House Judiciary Committee member, Maxine Waters...
(she also endorsed the World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime organization/movement)
From David Horowitz's FrontpageMag.com /DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
"Throughout its history, one of RCP's [Revolutionary Communist Party] principal objectives has been to foment civil unrest in the United States. The most notable example of such efforts occurred on April 29, 1992, when RCP members looted and trashed the downtown and government districts of Los Angeles, triggering the infamous Rodney King riots. During the days immediately preceding the violence, RCP -- which maintained close ties to the L.A. gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods -- had circulated throughout South Central Los Angeles a leaflet featuring a statement by RCP National Spokesman Carl Dix, titled 'It's Right To Rebel' -- a quote popularized by Mao Zedong.
Encouraged by Dix, RCP activists helped lead the riots that would leave 58 people dead, more than 2,300 people injured, some 5,300 buildings burned, and $1 billion in property damaged or destroyed. On the ten-year anniversary of the rioting, RCP member Joseph Veale fondly recalled the violence as 'the most beautiful, the most heroic civil action in the history of the United States.'"
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6197
_______________________________________________________________________
"The RCP upheld the 1992 sometimes-violent unrest in Los Angeles and nationally as a 'rebellion' in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdicts. Then-LAPD chief Daryl Gates alleged that the RCP was involved in the 'riots'. Los Angeles has long been one of the RCP's larger and more active branches. William 'Mobile' Shaw was a local leader who recently passed and received public commendation from the party."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Communist_Party%2C_USA
_______________________________________________________________________
Maxine Waters on the Los Angeles riots of 1992/Rodney King riots
(Maxine AGREES with the Revolutionary Communist Party: it was an "acceptable rebellion":
"[Maxine] Waters has been criticized for her comments regarding the Los Angeles riots of 1992. In defense of the people that looted stores and damaged property, Waters said 'If you call it a riot it sounds like it was just a bunch of crazy people who went out and did bad things for no reason. I maintain it was somewhat understandable, if not acceptable. So I call it a rebellion.'[5] She also said it was 'a spontaneous reaction to a lot of injustice' and 'The anger in my district is righteous. I'm just as angry as they are.' She responded to the mass looting of Korean-owned stores by saying: 'There were mothers who took this as an opportunity to take some milk, to take some bread, to take some shoes. They are not crooks. Everybody in the street was not a thug or a hood.'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_Waters#Los_Angeles_riots_of_1992
_______________________________________________________________________
Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA [Maoist]
Revolution interview with ["Peace Mom"] Cindy Sheehan: October 29, 2005:
['Revolution' is the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party]
http://rwor.org/a/021/cindy-sheehan-interview.htm
_______________________________________________________________________
[Revolution] Interview with Bill Ayers, Revolution #63, October 1, 2006:
"On Progressive Education, Critical Thinking and the Cowardice of Some in Dangerous Times"
http://rwor.org/a/063/ayers-en.html
_______________________________________________________________________
Here's the Revolutionary Communist Party (see link below) boasting of a FULL PAGE 'World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime' ad of theirs which appeared in the New York Slimes. (either "rwor.org" or "revcom.us" takes you to the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party). The NY Times has since allowed several additional full-page RCP/WCW ads.
Article title: "Who Hated the Bush Step Down Ad in the New York Times? ...And what that Tells Us About Why We Must and How We Can Drive Out the Bush Regime"(actual title)
http://www.rwor.org/a/028/who-hated-bush-ad.htm
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