One of the little reported details from the latest batch of Wikileaks material are cables showing that the Obama Administration worked hard behind the scenes not only to prevent any investigation of torture in the United States but shutdown efforts abroad to enforce the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture. This includes threatening the Spanish that, if they did not derail a judicial investigation, it would have serious consequences in bilateral relations. I discussed these cables on Countdown.
For two years, President Obama has worked to block the investigation of torture under the Bush Administration — even as both Dick Cheney and George Bush publicly admit to ordering waterboarding of suspects.
David Corn in Mother Jones has an interesting posting today on the issue.
A “confidential” April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department discloses how the Administration discarded any respect for the independence of the judiciary in Spain and pressured the government to derail the prosecution of Bush officials. Human rights groups around the world had called for such enforcement in light of Obama promise that no torturers would be prosecuted and Holder’s blocking of any investigation into war crimes.
The Association for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners had filed a demand for prosecution with Spain’s National Court to indict former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; David Addington, former chief of staff and legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney; William Haynes, the Pentagon’s former general counsel; Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy; Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel; and John Yoo, a former official in the Office of Legal Counsel. It had a compelled factual basis that these men ordered or facilitated war crimes — a record that has only become stronger since this confrontation.
American officials pressured government officials, including prosecutors and judges, not to enforce international law and that this was “a very serious matter for the USG.” It was Obama’s own effort at creating a “Coalition of the Unwilling” — nations unwilling to enforce treaties on torture and war crimes when the alleged culprits are American officials.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) joined the embassy’s charge d’affaires in the secret campaign to block the prosection of Judge Baltasar Garzón.
Corn notes that, during an April 14, 2009 White House briefing, he asked press secretary Robert Gibbs if the Obama administration would cooperate with any request from Spain on the investigation and prosecution. Gibbs insisted that this was nothing but “hypotheticals” and did not disclose that in fact the Obama Administration was working diligently to block the Spanish case.
Just as many conservatives abandoned their principles in following George Bush blindly, many liberals have chosen to ignore Obama’s concerted efforts to protect individuals accused of war crimes. Under our treaty obligations, the United States has the primary responsibility to prosecute torture by U.S. citizens. That responsibility rests with the Executive Branch – the prosecuting authority of the United States. What is particularly disgraceful is that Obama would refuse to fulfill this responsibility under our treaties and international law and then demand the same hypocrisy from our allies.
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Noway,
It is so much fun being insulted by you. All the author is asking is if it a true report. He does not say it wasn’t true. He is asking for verification of the alleged attack. You are the one who inferred it wasn’t true, not the author.
@rafflaw
Are you stupid? The author of the cable is the one asking if the story is true. If the person who wrote the story doesn’t know if it’s true, why would you consider it to be true?
No Way,
Do you have evidence that the leaked story is untrue? If so, please share it with us.
@anon nurse
Did you bother to take the time to read the cable, or was the story just too juicy to let a little thing like that get in the way?
From the cable:
Alston: “Without in any way wishing to pre-judge the accuracy of the information received, I would be grateful for a reply to the following questions:
1. Are the facts alleged in the above summary of the case
accurate?
We wouldn’t want to let a little thing, like the fact that Alston considers the account provided to be an unsubstantiated allegation, get in the way of maligning the U.S. Military, would we? It didn’t matter to John Glaser either.
rafflaw,
Of course you know that I agree with you about Cheney (and his ilk) doing the perp walk, as you say… I’m guessing that you read the cable…
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/08/29/cables-reveal-2006-summary-execution-of-civilian-family-in-iraq/
“Women and children had their hands tied behind their back and were shot in the head in house raid, which was covered up by the military
by John Glaser, August 29, 2011
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As revealed by a State Department diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks last week, US forces committed a heinous war crime during a house raid in Iraq in 2006, wherein one man, four women, two children, and three infants were summarily executed.
The cable excerpts a letter written by Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, addressed to then Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. American troops approached the home of Faiz Harrat Al-Majma’ee, a farmer living in central Iraq, to conduct a house raid in search of insurgents in March of 2006.
“It would appear that when the MNF [Multinational Forces] approached the house,” Alston wrote, “shots were fired from it and a confrontation ensued” before the “troops entered the house, handcuffed all residents and executed all of them.” Mr. Faiz Hratt Khalaf, (aged 28), his wife Sumay’ya Abdul Razzaq Khuther (aged 24), their three children Hawra’a (aged 5) Aisha ( aged 3) and Husam (5 months old), Faiz’s mother Ms. Turkiya Majeed Ali (aged 74), Faiz’s sister (name unknown), Faiz’s nieces Asma’a Yousif Ma’arouf (aged 5 years old), and Usama Yousif Ma’arouf (aged 3 years), and a visiting relative Ms. Iqtisad Hameed Mehdi (aged 23) were killed during the raid.
Alston’s letter reveals that a US airstrike was launched on the house presumably to destroy the evidence, but that “autopsies carried out at the Tikrit Hospital’s morgue revealed that all corpses were shot in the head and handcuffed.”
The details revealed in the cable are a valuable insight into how many of these house raids turn out. The raids, often carried out in the middle of the night, have become one of the primary strategies of the US war in Afghanistan, with tens of thousands orchestrated just in the last year.
In one notable and comparable incident in February of 2010, US Special Operations Forces surrounded a house in a village in the Paktia Province in Afghanistan. Two civilian men exited the home to ask why they had been surrounded and were shot and killed. US forces then shot and killed three female relatives (a pregnant mother of ten, a pregnant mother of six, and a teenager).
Instead of calling in an airstrike to hide the evidence, US troops, realizing their mistake, lied and tampered with the evidence at the scene. The initial claim, which was corroborated by the Pentagon, was that the two men were insurgents who had “engaged” the troops, and the three murdered women were simply found by US soldiers, in what they described as an apparent honor killing. Investigations into the incident eventually forced the Pentagon to retract its initial story and issue an apology.
Civilian deaths are a common occurrence in these commonly occurring raid operations. In May, NATO killed another four civilians in a night raid, and another three in early August. No soldiers or US officials have been held to account.”
Anon nurse,
Greenwald’s article is an eye opener. There are a lot of Bush officials that should be doing the perp walk, instead of writing books.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/08/31/media/index.html
From Greenwald’s article (above):
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-82-a0LQJLX8/Tl6rB6Y1d2I/AAAAAAAAAIY/4LJqP_7APjk/s1600/wl.png
Donald,
Yes. And in the meantime, the state’s goon and thugs are going after Americans on American soil…, but who would believe it?
George Bush Conspired to Obstruct Justice with Congressional Republicans behind Closed Doors to pass the Military Commissions Act of 2006 Written by John McCain that provides Civilians in his Administration and under his Control (CIA) IMMUNITY from prosecution for War Crimes retroactive to 9-11-2001.
Bush’s 5-4 Republican Supreme Court refused to hear any arguement related to that Clause in the Law.
Pelosi and Democrats Claimed they would Repeal the MCA entirely ASAP; Funny how that was forgotten After Obama Became President?
That law Still Stands uncontested or Repealed!
Ex-Bush Official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: “I Am Willing To Testify” If Dick Cheney Is Put On Trial
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/30/ex_bush_official_col_lawrence_wilkerson
“monsanto has some real inside connections. I wonder if they are part of Bill HIck’s ruling elite?” -rafflaw
One has to wonder, rafflaw…
Charell,
That short Bill HIcks clip was amazing.
anon nurse, monsanto has some real inside connections. I wonder if they are part of Bill HIck’s ruling elite?!
http://foodwhistleblower.org/blog/22-2011/217-monsanto-interests-guide-us-diplomacy-wikileaks-cables-show
Charell, Thanks for a little Bill Hicks this morning — it’s been awhile since I’ve heard that bit…
Something is seriously amiss in these United States… As rafflaw said, we need to start prosecuting the high-level criminals in this country… or, IMO, it’s pretty much over…
I think that Mark Fey and Erik are right. — if those who are really running this country are challenged in any serious way, it’s hard to say what might happen. By the time people wake up to what’s really going on in America, it could very well be too late, if it isn’t already.
Bill Hicks’ supposition seems more plausible these days
I agree with MarkFey that there might be some danger to the tradition of peaceful transfer of power were we to go after former officials who commit crimes, but the alternative is at least as bad–officials who commit every type of crime since they know that no one will hold them to account. Such a government is already a democracy in name only and the appearance of elections then becomes a complete sham. Since our ‘elected’ officials, from the President on down, are increasingly wholly-owned by Wall Street and corporate America, what’s the point in living a comfortable lie and pretending that the will or interests of the citizenry carries any serious weight any longer? It is clear that the corporate finance/media vetting process that controls which candidates are allowed to make it as far as election day is under the control of the corporate/billionaire/CFR type elite that is determined to put boots on the ground around all the strategic resources on the planet before the looming competition for resources really gets going. If a President is willing to invalidate an election to avoid prosecution, he’ll be willing to break the law to avoid impeachment. In admitting our fear that a President might violate the Constitution if threatened with post-tenure prosecution, we must also admit that any President who has such a capability and followers willing to carry it out is already beyond control, and the Constitution is already a dead letter.
Personally, I’m not voting for the man again. He’s a war criminal, a serial liar, and a fraud. He talked a good game of lofty principles during his election, and he has turned out to be a team player–for the other team. I intend to throw my vote away–and keep my self respect. I can’t prevent millions of people from voting for whatever idiot from the Spanish inquisition that the right wing fringe and fascists like Rove dredge up, and frankly, it’s not my job to stop them by supporting a less enthusiastic war criminal. If there is anyone I can respect in the primaries, he or she gets my vote. If not, I’m leaving that space blank and only ticking the box on candidates and initiatives I can in good conscience support.
Anon nurse,
You are correct that it must have teeth.
Mark Fey,
If government officials are immune from prosecution than governmental crimes will never stop. Maybe things need to get uncomfortable for awhile for the guilty to be held accountable.