Mixed Up in Wrongdoing
Mixed Up in Wrongdoing. What a concept to be actually calling a spade a spade.
More of Steve Bell at the Guardian.
"The judgment given by the high court yesterday in the case of Binyam Mohamed opens up the real prospect that the international law and rule of law transgressions of the "war on terror" will unravel in British courts. Never before has so much been disclosed of the real extent of the British government's complicity even though much of the hearing was in closed sessions using special advocates and the only judgment we have access to is the "open" one.
Binyam Mohamed is the only British resident left in Guantánamo Bay. Although all the other residents have been returned the US has refused to bring him back to the UK on the grounds that he is to be put on trial before a military commission which could impose the death penalty."
More in "The shame of British complicity"
The American people still do not care, but should: From Nuremberg to Guantánamo: International Law and American Power Politics
"American Exceptionalism
The US played an important—but decidedly mixed—role in the history of international lawmaking and enforcement. American officials, in cooperation with other victorious Allies, ran the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals to put an international legal veneer on retribution against the Axis powers. But if horrific violence against civilians could be criminalized and punished, there was a clear double standard in the fact that no similar retributive process was mounted to account for the horrors caused by the bombings of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The US supported the establishment of the UN to provide for global peace and security, but forged an exception for itself and the other four permanent members of the Security Council in the form of veto power. The veto provided a political shield from accountability and was utilized countless times to foil calls for intervention on behalf of populations at risk. American officials operating in the UN contributed to the formulation and passage of international laws, while a powerful coterie of domestic officials opposed international law and institutions in principle. In the 1940s and 1950s, domestic opposition was led by but certainly not limited to old-school conservatives from the Midwest. The Midwesterners were soon buttressed by Southerners motivated to contest the "radical" principle of universal human equality, which menaced beloved local traditions of racism. This domestic opposition congealed into a logic that international law contravenes the status of the Constitution as the "highest law," subordinates the will of the American people to foreigners and can lead down the slippery slope to "global government" that would threaten American sovereignty."
Never in Our Names
More of Steve Bell at the Guardian.
"The judgment given by the high court yesterday in the case of Binyam Mohamed opens up the real prospect that the international law and rule of law transgressions of the "war on terror" will unravel in British courts. Never before has so much been disclosed of the real extent of the British government's complicity even though much of the hearing was in closed sessions using special advocates and the only judgment we have access to is the "open" one.
Binyam Mohamed is the only British resident left in Guantánamo Bay. Although all the other residents have been returned the US has refused to bring him back to the UK on the grounds that he is to be put on trial before a military commission which could impose the death penalty."
More in "The shame of British complicity"
The American people still do not care, but should: From Nuremberg to Guantánamo: International Law and American Power Politics
"American Exceptionalism
The US played an important—but decidedly mixed—role in the history of international lawmaking and enforcement. American officials, in cooperation with other victorious Allies, ran the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals to put an international legal veneer on retribution against the Axis powers. But if horrific violence against civilians could be criminalized and punished, there was a clear double standard in the fact that no similar retributive process was mounted to account for the horrors caused by the bombings of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The US supported the establishment of the UN to provide for global peace and security, but forged an exception for itself and the other four permanent members of the Security Council in the form of veto power. The veto provided a political shield from accountability and was utilized countless times to foil calls for intervention on behalf of populations at risk. American officials operating in the UN contributed to the formulation and passage of international laws, while a powerful coterie of domestic officials opposed international law and institutions in principle. In the 1940s and 1950s, domestic opposition was led by but certainly not limited to old-school conservatives from the Midwest. The Midwesterners were soon buttressed by Southerners motivated to contest the "radical" principle of universal human equality, which menaced beloved local traditions of racism. This domestic opposition congealed into a logic that international law contravenes the status of the Constitution as the "highest law," subordinates the will of the American people to foreigners and can lead down the slippery slope to "global government" that would threaten American sovereignty."
Never in Our Names
Labels: American torture, British torture rendition, Guantanamo, Never in our names
posted by Ingrid at
8:59 AM
5 Comments:
I am sick of the complicity and people bowing to Bush's Nazi tactics. I was looking for the article about Nuremburg trial veterans told Bush to stop using their Righteous trials to further his abuse but this will suffice!
The Associated Press reports:
The U.S. war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo have betrayed the principles of fairness that made the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremberg a judicial landmark, one of the U.S. Nuremberg prosecutors said on Monday.
“I think Robert Jackson, who’s the architect of Nuremberg, would turn over in his grave if he knew what was going on at Guantanamo,” Nuremberg prosecutor Henry King Jr. told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“It violates the Nuremberg principles, what they’re doing, as well as the spirit of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.”
King, 88, served under Jackson, the
U.S. Supreme Court justice who was the chief prosecutor at the trials created by the Allied powers to try Nazi military and political leaders after World War Two in Nuremberg, Germany.
King, who interrogated Nuremberg defendant Albert Speer, was incredulous that the Guantanamo rules left open the possibility of using evidence obtained through coercion. Nuremberg Prosecutor Says Guantanamo Trials Unfair
thanks, great link Jim! If obama wins, it will be curious to see if his administration will do away with all the illegality. The democrats themselves for the most part have been pretty complicite and compliant themselves..
Ingrid
Ingrid
Interesting to say the least. Bush has ensured much war and angst. I absolutely can not see the right giving up their agenda or power. No way no way! They keep calling it close so it can be stolen a third time. The alternatives are much worse.
This in its entirety is just beginning and is scheduled to come to a head soon. Remember Bush has yet to do his worst. If somehow Obama is kept alive and the election is not stolen it is hard to see any President relinquishing any power!
I am so very embarrassed to be a U.S. citizen. This post elevates my level of disgust to new heights.
well jeepers B.E.. didn't mean to ruin your day! I've written off and on and mostly in 2006 (I lost my bloggers against torture button when I changed colours) as I was part of a large online blogger community who were trying to bring awareness about Gitmo in the first place.. and then the pics of Abu Ghairb showed up and .. well, what has been happening since? It's still happening. I just hope that the Europeans will work harder against this as they've had histories and experiences of torture, wars not too long ago.
good post on Uncommon Sense btw!
Ingrid
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home