.
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) Dec. 3 — The White House said that the United States is the world leader on human rights, despite outrage in Europe over reports of secret CIA prisons where terrorism detainees may have been mistreated.
The administration has refused to address the question of whether it operated secret sites that may be illegal under European law, citing the constraints of classified information. Secret prisons and many harsh methods of interrogation would be illegal on U.S. soil.
Several European governments are investigating whether covert CIA flights were used to transfer Islamist suspects to countries beyond the reach of international law.
CBS/AP
More than a half-dozen investigations are under way into whether European countries may have hosted secret U.S.-run prisons, and whether European airports and airspace were used for CIA flights in which prisoners were tortured or transported to countries where torture is practiced.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pledged a response to the European Union on the issue, but has given no timetable. It is not clear whether her reply will contain the definitive yes or no as to the existence of prisons first reported a month ago by The Washington Post.
More to follow »»
The Post reported that the CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe as part of a covert prison system that at times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and democracies in Eastern Europe. The Post did not identify the Eastern European countries at the request of senior U.S. officials, who said the disclosure could disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those nations and elsewhere and make them targets of retaliation.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Germany on Monday to start a four-country tour expected to be dogged by questions about reports of secret CIA prison camps and 'torture flights' AFP/File/Shah Marai
Rice has also pledged to discuss the issue publicly before she leaves Monday for a trip to European capitals. Her itinerary includes Romania, one country identified by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch as a likely prison site. Romania has denied it.
“When it comes to human rights, there is no greater leader than the United States of America, and we show that by holding people accountable when they break the law or violate human rights, and we show that by supporting the advance of freedom and democracy and supporting those in countries that are having their human rights denied or violated …”, according to White House spokesperson Scott McClellan.
Is there a record of the White House lies according to Scott McClellan?
Belgrade, 1 December: Kosovo-Metohija Ombudsman Marek Antoni Nowicki said today there was no doubt that Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] had prisons in the southern Serbian province [of Kosovo-Metohija], which were beyond external, civilian and judicial control and this justifiably raises the question of what had occurred there.
The Paris-based Le Monde newspaper reported on Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil Robles maintaining that NATO’s US military base in Kosovo was similar to the notorious US prison in Guantanamo in Cuba.
Nowicki called the controversy on the existence of a secret prison in US Camp Bondsteel, near Urosevac, “irritating”, as he knew that Kfor prisons “have been there since the beginning”.
“We all talked about this all the time,” Nowicki said which the Belgrade media relayed.
He said that since the beginning of 2002, prior to Guantanamo, he has talked about the existence of such a prison model in Kosovo which was outside the judicial system and beyond external control.
“At the time, even Michael Steiner, the [UN] Secretary-General’s former special envoy for Kosovo-Metohija, called me to ask whether I had really said this,” Nowicki said.
«« click on pic for story
Bush at suspected secret prison camp on July 24, 2001, a month and a half before 9-11.
Pointing out that Bondsteel was outside his jurisdiction and therefore, he was unable to investigate the prison, Nowicki underlined that the same question arose about the treatment of prisoners in Bondsteel and Guantanamo as “we virtually know nothing about what goes on there”.
Source: Centre for SouthEast European Studies
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY
.
I have been trying to determine a common denominator for a nation’s Human Rights stance and its democratic value. To avoid secularism and religious judgment in a state, I would suggest the gauge could be the liberal rights for women in society. When the majority in a country has its fundamental rights abused, there is little hope and purpose to look at the human rights of minorities.
I once again will propose at present the Scandinavian countries and some of the older EU countries are ahead in setting an example for the rest of the world.
Women were beaten andsexually harrassed on voting day
A recent shock and disappointment were the free elections in Egypt, where the police abused women protesters and turned them away when they tried to demonstrate.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
.
Joe Lieberman—
WASHINGTON — Joe Lieberman stood virtually alone among Democrats Wednesday, his unyielding support for the administration’s conduct of the Iraq war drawing warm praise from President Bush but no support from his own party.
Then President Bush cited Lieberman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.: “As Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman said recently, setting an artificial timetable would discourage our troops because it seems to be heading for the door. It will encourage the terrorists. It will confuse the Iraqi people. Sen. Lieberman is right.”
Hillary Clinton —
Before I voted in 2002, the Administration publicly and privately assured me that they intended to use their authority to build international support in order to get the U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq, as articulated by the President in his Cincinnati speech on October 7th, 2002. As I said in my October 2002 floor statement, I took “the President at his word that he will try hard to pass a U.N. resolution and will seek to avoid war, if at all possible.”
Instead, the Bush Administration short-circuited the U.N. inspectors – the last line of defense against the possibility that our intelligence was false. The Administration also abandoned securing a larger international coalition, alienating many of those who had joined us in Afghanistan.
I believe the Americans do want a clean-up of the oldies in Washington D.C. for the midterm elections and definitely in Election 2008. Democrats need to look for an outsider to overhaul the White House and most corporate interests, but certainly the religious transgression into our politics. If you don’t want political beliefs preached from the pulpit, don’t take the White House into the churches.
Democrats Lack Unified Position on Iraq
Dems’ Template for Success: Follow Jack Murtha… and George Washington
It’s the first year that every class of midshipmen at this academy arrived after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. Each of you have volunteered to wear our nation’s uniform in a time of war, knowing all the risks and dangers that accompany military service.
Our citizens are grateful for your devotion of duty. And America’s proud of the men and women at the U.S. Naval Academy.
I thank Admiral Rempt for his invitation to come and give this speech. I appreciate Admiral Mike Mullen. I’m traveling today with a man who’s done a fine job as the secretary of defense, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY
Thanks again, Oui. You are the best….hugs
.
CNNi has improved lately with social impact documentaries on Human Rights in the Middle-East Muslim countries, Africa on abuse of women and HIV-AIDS, Eastern Europe and women trafficking issues. Lots of work remains to be done.
Decades ago the U.S. was seen as a beacon of Justice in a wicked world, where one could turn to and get his/her spirit lifted. Nowadays, the White House declares they don’t torture, yet the whole world sees the abuse daily of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The stupid people making up of today’s foreign policy are blinded by $$$ signs in their eyes and believe economic prosperity is in line with American moral value.
I’m disappointed by many Democrats in Congress today, we miss men and women of courage.
Yahoo top news is also useful to search breaking news stories. But my favorite is the radio through Internet :: BBC World – Bill Clinton on LIVE!
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
.
WASHINGTON (MSNBC/AP) 32 min ago — Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war who was tortured in Vietnam, said today he will refuse to yield on his demands that the White House agree with his proposed ban on the use of torture to extract information from suspected terrorists.
“I won’t,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether he would compromise with the Bush administration. He is insisting on his language that no person in U.S. custody should be subject to “cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The Arizona Republican said he had met several times with the president’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, on the issue, and both McCain and Hadley said Sunday they were working toward an agreement.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY
Yeah right! And now I am the new Pope. 🙂
We’re a world leader on human rights like Iraq was on Islamic terrorism. Condi should just go back to buying those $1,000 shoes she loves so much and stop making us look bad. And Scott needs to get some speech lessons, fer God’s sake. He makes us look worse.
I so wish we were a world leader in human rights…
.
WASHINGTON (AP) Dec. 3 — The US knew well in advance of and explicitly approved Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor in 1975, newly declassified documents say.
Released this week by the independent Washington-based National Security Archive (NSA), the documents showed US officials were aware of the invasion plans nearly a year in advance.
They adopted a “policy of silence” and even sought to suppress news and discussions on East Timor, including credible reports of Indonesia’s massacres of Timorese civilians, according to the documents.
East Timor is today an independent nation
The people of East Timor voted in favour of breaking away from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored ballot in August 1999 before gaining full independence in May 2002 after more than two years of UN stewardship. But the path to independence was bloody. Militia gangs reportedly directed by Indonesia’s military went on a killing spree before and after the East Timorese referendum, killing about 1400 independence supporters.
Thirty years after the Indonesian invasion, the formerly secret US documents showed how multiple US administrations tried to conceal information on East Timor to avoid a controversy that would prompt a Congressional ban on weapons sales to Indonesia.
“I’m assuming you’re really going to keep your mouth shut on the subject,” then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger told his staff in October 1975 in response to reports that Indonesia had begun its attack on East Timor.
The administration of President Gerald Ford knew that Indonesia had invaded East Timor using almost entirely US equipment, and that the use of that equipment for that purpose was illegal, the documents showed.
In 1977, officials of the administration of Ford’s successor, Jimmy Carter, blocked declassification of an explosive cable transcribing President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger’s meeting with Indonesian President Suharto. At the meeting in December 1975, they explicitly approved of the East Timor invasion, according to the documents.
East Timor President Xanana Gusmao (R) with IndonesianPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. AFP/File
Through the 1980s, US officials continued to receive — and deny or dismiss — credible reports of Indonesia’s massacres of Timorese civilians. The National Security Archive had provided more than 1000 formerly classified US documents to help an East Timorese commission of inquiry into human rights abuses that occurred between 1975 and 1999.
East Timor president Xanana Gusmao handed the commission’s 2500-page report to the Timorese Parliament last week but wanted it withheld from the public, amid an outcry from opposition politicians and rights activists.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
.
WASHINGTON (AP) Dec. 5 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday gave the United States’ most detailed defense yet of its treatment of suspected terrorists, saying it was lawful and carried out with the cooperation of other nations. In remarks delivered shortly before departing on a trip to Europe, where U.S. policies have been under fire, she did not answer the underlying question of whether the United States had CIA-operated secret prisons there.
But, apparently seeking to turn the table on European critics, she suggested that governments that cooperate with the United States could disclose the information themselves. “It is up to those governments and their citizens to decide if they wish to work with us to prevent terrorist attacks against their own country or other countries, and decide how much sensitive information they can make public. They have a sovereign right to make that choice,” she said in remarks delivered at an Air Force Base before her departure.
She described intelligence, law enforcement and military cooperation as “a two-way street”.
“We share intelligence that has helped protect European countries from attack, helping save European lives,” she said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday that Rice’s comment “makes clear” that the United States does not torture its detainees and said, “All of us must work together within the rule of law to use every tool at our disposal” to counter terrorism.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
I read the title and knew that the statement had to come from the White House…
I can picture Scotty repeating that BS line over and over again at a press conference. (All the while trying to hide from the next question behind the podium.)