U.N. special rapporteur Manfred Nowak has gone public with a stinging indictment of President Barack Obama’s failure to investigate and prosecute officials for the American torture program, a clear war crime under existing treaties. Obama is in open violation of international law due to his failure to uphold the clear legal and moral obligations of this country.
Continue reading “United Nations Official Strongly Suggests That Obama Is In Violation International Law in Refusing to Investigate War Crimes”
Category: International
One of the more shocking revelation from the May 30, 2005 Bradbury memo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002. Unless I am missing something, that would mean that that KSM was tortured roughly six times a day.
Continue reading “Memo: Bush Administration Tortured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 Times”
An American journalist Roxana Saberi, 31, has been convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison after a closed door trial.
Continue reading “American Journalist Roxana Saberi Given Eight Year Sentence in Iran”
The English police have beens struggling to explain a video by an American businessman showing a police officer attacking 47-year-old newspaper vendor, Ian Tomlinson, after denying that they had no contact with him. Now, a second autopsy has shown that Tomlinson did not die from a heart attack but internal bleeding. The officer is now under investigation for manslaughter.
The newly released torture memos reveal the comprehensive and premeditated character of America’s torture program. It also highlights the shameful role of now Judge Jay Bybee, who distorts the current law in the area to justify a clear war crime. In the meantime, former administration officials have called the release a danger to national security. I discussed the memos onthis segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “New Torture Memos Reveal Details of America’s Torture Program”
The President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo is facing an interesting paternity lawsuit. It is bad enough when your country’s president is charged with fathering a child with a then 16 year old girl. It is even worse if you were the Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo at the time.
Continue reading “Father of His Church and Country: Paraguay President Sued in Paternity Action”
I have never watched American Idol (perhaps the last human being) or any reality show in my life (the God’s honest truth). However, this video has gone viral and I wanted to share Susan Boyle with anyone on this blog that has not seen her.
Continue reading “Video: Susan Boyle Shows There is Still No Substitute for Talent”
Saudi Arabia has been hit with a torrent of criticism over the practice of arranged marriages involving children often ten or even younger. In a spasm of reform, Justice Minister Muhammad Issa has now announced a major reform: the government will “regulate” such marriages to avoid abuse. Of course, this is like saying that you will regulate pedophilia to guarantee that it is not abusive.
In a rare demonstration, 300 women marched in Kabul to protest a new law that legalized marital rape and restricts the ability of women to leave their homes. Over three times the number of counter-demonstrators formed in response and showered the women with stones. Some reportedly shouted “Death to the slaves of the Christians.”
Continue reading “Afghan Women Pelted With Stones During Protest of Law Legalizing Marital Rape”
After his recent trip to the Middle East to reach out to Muslims appears to have born fruit. A Pakistan leader has adopted the position of the Obama Administration on war crimes. Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi chief Sufi Mohammad has announced that Taliban murderers who have been accused of such crimes as burning schools, throwing acid in the faces of school girls, and killings should not be prosecuted because “[w]e intend to bury the past. These things will be left behind and we will go for a new life in peace.” It is the very logic that our President has been trying to advance as an excuse for not allowing an investigation into the torture program. Obama has insisted that “no one is above the law” while immediately guaranteeing that Bush officials are above the law by stating “My orientation’s going to be to move forward . . . getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past.”
There is an interesting report offering striking figures on the level of pollution caused by container ships, which use extremely low-grade fuel. United States researchers have found that a single container ship can release the equivalent of 50 million cars and that these ships kill 60,000 people a year in the U.S. alone. The report follows new measures by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has added pressure on the European Union.
Continue reading “Report: Container Ships Produce the Same Pollution 760 Million cars and Cause 60,000 Deaths Each Year”
Taliban forces in Afghanistan meted out their brand of Sharia justice this week by executing a 19-year-old woman and 21-year-old-man for the crime of wanting to elope. The couple were shot by a firing squad before witnesses.
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Spanish prosecutors reportedly will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales, Federal Appeals Court Judge and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, University of California law professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, former Defense Department general counsel and current Chevron lawyer William J. Haynes II, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff David Addington, and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith. In a particularly embarrassing moment for the United States, the Audencia Nacional court in Madrid asked if or when the United States was going to investigate and said that it would not order the investigation if such an investigation is begun — yielding to the United States. This is precisely what was discussed in previously on Countdown.
After seeking adopting Bush positions on unlawful surveillance last week, President Obama has adopted another controversial Bush policy: opposing basic legal rights for detainees held in U.S. military prison in Afghanistan. Some of the most egregious allegations of torture and abuse have focused on such prisons as the one at Bagram Air base. President Obama is now claiming that access to courts and review in such cases would threaten national security.
Both leading Shiite and Sunni religious leaders have come forward to defend the infamous Afghan law that legalized spousal rape. Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a top Afghan cleric and one of the law’s main drafters, insists that the law is actually a progressive reform and proudly notes that the law was a major reform of women’s rights by allowing wives to decline soon after giving birth, fasting for Ramadan, or preparing for a pilgrimage.
Continue reading “Shiite and Sunni Religious Leaders Support Afghan Law Legalizing Marital Rape”