[Peace-discuss] US troops violate Geneva Convention ... & save evidence on DoD computer

[Margaret E. Kosal]

If anyone else/as anyone else hears/reads more about this ... please share!

i am highly unimpressed with the "senior defense official" down-playing 
alleged violations of the Geneva Convention as "just stupid"; he makes it 
sound like a fraternity stunt ... or is that the point?  <read: dripping 
sarcasm>

Just for completeness:  taking humiliating souvenir photos of POWs falls 
under Article 3.1.c... (T)he following acts are and shall remain prohibited 
at any time and in any place: Outrages upon personal dignity, in 
particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.

Regards,
Margaret

"We appeal, as human beings, to human beings:  Remember your humanity and 
forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open for a new paradise; if 
you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death."

- The final lines of the _Russell-Einstein Manifesto_, as quoted by 
signatory (& nuclear physicist) Joseph    Rotblat in his Nobel Peace Prize 
acceptance speech.


http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/12/ret.walker.lindh.photos/index.html

U.S. troops took photos of blindfolded Walker Lindh
April 12, 2002 Posted: 9:07 PM EDT (0107 GMT)

 From Barbara Starr CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorneys for John Walker Lindh are expected to renew 
their request for photographs and videotapes of their client after the 
Pentagon said Friday it found more photos of a blindfolded and shackled 
Walker Lindh with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan.

Walker Lindh is one of two Americans captured by the United States and held 
with others suspected of fighting on behalf of the ousted Taliban regime.

The pictures of Lindh appear to be souvenir photographs. One official who 
has seen the images told CNN on Friday that Special Forces troops are shown 
"posing" with their prisoner. Another source familiar with the photographs 
said a profanity is written across Walker Lindh's blindfold.

The Geneva Convention prohibits activities that might humiliate prisoners.

"There is nothing sinister here. It's just plain stupid what they did," a 
senior defense official said. One source said the matter "will be looked 
at," but Defense Secretary Rumsfeld told reporters he has not ordered an 
investigation. He also said he has not seen the images.

Walker Lindh co-counsel Tony West told CNN, "We have not yet received the 
photograph" in question.
These photographs have not been made public. A previously released 
photograph shows Walker Lindh naked on a stretcher, blindfolded and 
handcuffed.

The snapshots were stored electronically and found on a computer as the 
Defense Department responded to court orders to produce all photos and 
documents related to Walker Lindh. The orders were part of the discovery 
process in the federal case against him.

Walker Lindh's lawyers have said in court papers they were aware that 
hundreds of photographs, including what they characterized as souvenir- 
type photos, had been taken of their client.

The attorneys have argued that Walker Lindh has not -- as the government 
has claimed in court papers -- been treated like any other American. And 
because of the way he was treated, the lawyers said Walker Lindh's 
statements to military interrogators and the FBI should be thrown out.

Walker Lindh's lawyers have suggested the only reason he talked with 
authorities was because he believed his conditions would improve if he 
cooperated with authorities.

As proof, the legal team said after Walker Lindh talked with the military, 
he was no longer bound naked to a stretcher and kept in a shipping 
container. They have also said his conditions improved after he spoke with 
the FBI.

The defense team also said their client asked for an attorney before he 
spoke with the FBI, but that an agent told him no attorneys were available. 
Walker Lindh's lawyers said that, by then, the lawyer hired by Walker 
Lindh's family had already requested a visit with him.

Walker Lindh's legal team has told the court that home videos and still 
camera shots taken by soldiers and later discovered by the military were 
confiscated and their recordings and images destroyed as soon as a superior 
learned of their existence -- before attorneys filed discovery motions.

Walker Lindh's lawyers have asked for any other videos of Walker Lindh that 
may still exist. His attorneys have accused the government of destroying 
evidence, some of which might show how their client was treated. While the 
government has denied that claim, a federal judge recently issued a 
preservation order for all evidence, including videos and photographs.

In another matter, the government Friday responded to a defense motion 
requesting an interview with a man identified as CS-1, a CIA officer who 
was present with the late CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann when the two 
interviewed Walker Lindh after the prison uprising at Mazar-e-Sharif.

In its court filing, the government refused to produce CS-1 -- short for 
"confidential source one" -- saying he declined the interview request. The 
defense can now move to subpoena CS-1, but the government could try to 
quash any such subpoena.
-- CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.