The Secrets We Keep In The Name Of Justice????
For almost three years the Bush gang has made statements that indicated that we did not have "secret prisons," did not employ torture or maltreatment of prisoners, and balanced the rights of individuals with the need for national security and intelligence. Despite accusations from European Union authorities, watchdog human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, exposure by UN authorities, the Bush gang has denied the existence of "secret" CIA or other government agency activities that violated basic human rights.
POINT 1: The violation of human rights in these secret prisons is UNCONSTITUTIONAL by virtue of the "treaties clause" which incorporates ratified treaties into the "supreme law of the land." Since the United States is a signatory to the United Nations Charter and the original impetus behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both of which have been ratified by congress as treaties and international agreements, the use of these secret, covert prison operations, torture and maltreatment of prisoners--and the denial of access to legal representation, visitation and access to a probable cause procees (i.e. the writ of habeas corpus) IS maltreatment and a violation of human rights--is 100 percent illegal, unethical, immoral and reprehensible.
Bush and his gang of thugs have turned us into a totalitarian, fascist state that doesn't give a damn whose rights we violate in the name of self-interest, self-promotion and international domination.
POINT 2: These prisoners were denied basic rights guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties, agreements and laws... yet another violation of our own Constitution by virtue of the treaties clause.
POINT 3: The treatment of captives, prisoners or detainees in the manner in which we have conducted ourselves violates over 400 years of military justice, convention and tradition, casting the role of our military and intelligence operatives in the light of war criminals and crimes against humanity. The people responsible for these acts--starting with the persons authorizing these actions (i.e. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Chertoff, Rice) and going all the way down the chain of command to each and every officer, official, operative, agent or military member that participated in any manner--should be prosecuted and sentenced to the harshest penalties possible. The fact that each of these individuals took an oath to defend and support the US Constitution should not be overlooked. The violation of their oath and allegiance to the Constitution is a form of treason as well as international war crimes. It is the duty of every US government official to implement and enforce the priovisions of the Constitution first and foremost.
POINT 4: It is time for our military officers to decide whether or not they support the US Constitution and believe in the oaths they took, or whether or not they are the same as the Nazi leaders and German officers that offered the rejected defense of "I was just following orders." Time after time the "just following orders" defense has been rejected under competent judicial review. The ends justifying the means has never been a moral absolute and has more often been held as an example of the failure of an ethical and/or political system than the foundation for either.
We should impeach the bastards and prosecute them to the fullest extent of US and International law.
POINT 1: The violation of human rights in these secret prisons is UNCONSTITUTIONAL by virtue of the "treaties clause" which incorporates ratified treaties into the "supreme law of the land." Since the United States is a signatory to the United Nations Charter and the original impetus behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both of which have been ratified by congress as treaties and international agreements, the use of these secret, covert prison operations, torture and maltreatment of prisoners--and the denial of access to legal representation, visitation and access to a probable cause procees (i.e. the writ of habeas corpus) IS maltreatment and a violation of human rights--is 100 percent illegal, unethical, immoral and reprehensible.
Bush and his gang of thugs have turned us into a totalitarian, fascist state that doesn't give a damn whose rights we violate in the name of self-interest, self-promotion and international domination.
POINT 2: These prisoners were denied basic rights guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties, agreements and laws... yet another violation of our own Constitution by virtue of the treaties clause.
POINT 3: The treatment of captives, prisoners or detainees in the manner in which we have conducted ourselves violates over 400 years of military justice, convention and tradition, casting the role of our military and intelligence operatives in the light of war criminals and crimes against humanity. The people responsible for these acts--starting with the persons authorizing these actions (i.e. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Chertoff, Rice) and going all the way down the chain of command to each and every officer, official, operative, agent or military member that participated in any manner--should be prosecuted and sentenced to the harshest penalties possible. The fact that each of these individuals took an oath to defend and support the US Constitution should not be overlooked. The violation of their oath and allegiance to the Constitution is a form of treason as well as international war crimes. It is the duty of every US government official to implement and enforce the priovisions of the Constitution first and foremost.
POINT 4: It is time for our military officers to decide whether or not they support the US Constitution and believe in the oaths they took, or whether or not they are the same as the Nazi leaders and German officers that offered the rejected defense of "I was just following orders." Time after time the "just following orders" defense has been rejected under competent judicial review. The ends justifying the means has never been a moral absolute and has more often been held as an example of the failure of an ethical and/or political system than the foundation for either.
We should impeach the bastards and prosecute them to the fullest extent of US and International law.
posted by Jim Downey at 10:06 PM
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