[Peace-discuss] Bush admin torture policy

[LAURIE]

I think that one of the problems with some of the names suggested is that
the general public will not know who they are or why they are being
recognized without a lot or pre-parade education. Even a large banner
headline saying something like "These individuals stood against unjust
actions and policies when it counted!" probably would not get the point
across in a way that is desired.  I would think that it would need to be
people who are generally recognized on the face of it by the public for
their achievements and positions if the most impact is to be gained.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-discuss-
> bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 2:44 PM
> To: Peace-discuss
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Bush admin torture policy
> 
> [Maybe Gen. Taguba should be included in those honored on the 4th of
> July float.
>   Also, this might make a good flyer for the Saturday 5 July
> demonstration. --CGE]
> 
> 
> 	Published on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by Physicians for Human
> Rights
> 	War Crimes Committed and Justice Denied
> 	by Major General Antonio Taguba, USA (Ret.)
> 
> The following is the preface written for the report, Broken Laws,
> Broken Lives,
>   released by Physicians For Human Rights:
> 
> This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to
> detainees
> in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him
> authorized a
> systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words:
> It is
> scrawled for the rest of these individuals' lives on their bodies and
> minds. Our
> national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these
> men
> received from their captors.The profiles of these eleven former
> detainees, none
> of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they were detained,
> are
> tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever
> justified.
> Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan, and
> Guantanamo Bay,
> we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy
> has
> inflicted-both on America's institutions and our nation's founding
> values, which
> the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-
> bound to
> defend.
> 
> In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which
> they were
> subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the
> Geneva
> Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded.
> The UN
> Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. And the
> healing
> professions, including physicians and psychologists, became complicit
> in the
> willful infliction of harm against those the Hippocratic Oath demands
> they protect.
> 
> After years of disclosures by government investigations, media
> accounts, and
> reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt
> as to
> whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only
> question
> that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of
> torture will
> be held to account.
> 
> The former detainees in this report, each of whom is fighting a lonely
> and
> difficult battle to rebuild his life, require reparations for what they
> endured,
> comprehensive psycho-social and medical assistance, and even an
> official apology
> from our government.
> 
> But most of all, these men deserve justice as required under the tenets
> of
> international law and the United States Constitution.
> 
> And so do the American people.
> 
> [Maj. General Taguba led the US Army's official investigation into the
> Abu
> Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and testified before Congress on his
> findings in
> May, 2004.]
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