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Under Article VI of the US Constitution: Under Article 1 of the Convention against Torture: Under Article 2 of the Convention against Torture: Under Article 4 of the Convention against Torture: Under the US Foreign Assistance Act: |
BUSH ADMITS TO SECRET JAILS WITH 'ALTERNATIVE' INTERROGATIONS SPEECH IS FIRST PUBLIC ADMISSION TO NETWORK OF COVERT DETENTION FACILITIES, PREVIOUSLY DENIED BY ADMINISTRATION 8 September 2006 Pres. Bush has acknowledged the existence of a secret network of CIA-run prisons, where an "alternative set of procedures" was used to extract information given up "unwillingly" by top terror suspects. The revelation suggests that some facilities existed on European soil, renewing allegations that have long been denied by European and US officials, and provoking calls for a probe into possible human rights violations. The 6 September admission came as 14 suspects were being transferred to the controversial Guantánamo Bay detention camp, in an apparent effort to persuade Congress to set up special, extra-constitutional tribunals for their prosecution, and to use the peril allegedly connected with these individuals as a lever to alter the US system of justice and expand presidential powers. Italian newspaper La Repubblica led with a photo showing the detainees hooded and bound on the floor of a military transport plane, with guards to either side and an American flag hanging in the background. The transfer allows Bush to announce that the prison facilities have been closed, but he was not willing to admit to what types of forcible interrogation were used, on whom and whether or not they fulfill the terms of the Geneva Conventions. A Council of Europe investigation has already found the jails violate international human rights law and has said European officials who collaborated must be held accountable for any complicity in such crimes. It is now likely several nations may see criminal inquiries, and the European Union itself may be forced to investigate possible complicity of heads of state and top officials in operating the illegal prisons. There are also criminal probes involving agents of the CIA who allegedly kidnapped a man off the street in Milan, subsequently transferring him to a secret facility in another country, subjecting him to coercive interrogation that went as far as torture, then released him unceremoniously and without any apology, legal inquiry or disciplinary action against the illegal and erroneous detention. Those inquiries involve possible complicity by the government of then PM Silvio Berlusconi. There are also investigations into numerous unregistered flights, allegedly carried out by the CIA, which illegally transferred detainees through nations like Spain without a judicial process. The former government of then Spanish PM Aznar is also facing possible charges for complicity in allowing the flights without consulting the Spanish justice system. Bush announced that the suspects being transferred to Guantánamo Bay may still be interrogated further during their detention, but that they would be brought under the auspices of stricter interrogation rules, in keeping with obligations under the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of prisoners of war. In June, the US Supreme Court struck down Bush's attempt to formulate special military tribunals for terror suspects, ruling the tribunals were outside existing law and that the US Constitution did not authorize the actions taken by the president in detaining suspects and that there could be no "legal limbo" where US officials were not bound by American laws and treaty obligations. The ruling also questioned the legality of CIA detentions and mandated that all detentions be brought into the scope of the justice system as laid out by the US Constitution, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Geneva Conventions. The Bush administration has sought to persuade Congress that special military tribunals are in fact the proper course of action, and have pushed to circumvent the Supreme Court by passing new legislation. The problem of the "fruit of the poisonous tree", the legal concept of evidence gathered from illegal measures being inadmissible in US courts, still hovers over the entire process, posing a very serious threat that some suspects may not be able to be prosecuted under American law, due to the means and the nature of their detention and interrogation, if they can show they were in fact mistreated. That claim is made more easily verifiable by Pres. Bush's admission that the suspects were subjected to aggressive and coercive interrogation techniques. What's more, it appears the techniques were used not to gain information about future attacks, but rather to elicit confessions, an area where existing law and psychological inquiry clearly state resulting information cannot be used effectively in legitimate legal prosecutions. Some elected officials have expressed dismay and disbelief at the admission, while others have tried to portray the admission as evidence of allegiance to the rule of law and measurable successes in the war on terror. News sources around the world ran the story as a top news item, as it brings possible historical changes in this controversial period, and appears to clarify numerous allegations made over the last two years, since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal first broke. [s]
SUPREME COURT FINDS GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES' RIGHTS DENIED BY BUSH MILITARY TRIBUNALS Pres. Bush's efforts to assume new powers in personally judging accused al-Qaeda co-conspirators "enemy combatants", then crafting a unique, extralegal war crimes tribunal system, where certain rights are denied the defendants, have been rejected by the Supreme Court. The Bush administration must now file criminal charges, either in civilian criminal court or before a standard military court martial. [Full Story] EUROPE INVESTIGATION SAYS EU GOV'TS LIKELY KNEW OF RENDITION NETWORK, TORTURE 'OUTSOURCING' Preliminary findings from the Council of Europe's investigation into human rights abuses and a secret CIA network of extralegal detention facilities report high probability that European governments knew what US forces were doing on their soil and in neighboring countries. [Full Story] SERIOUS LEGAL PROBLEMS INHERENT IN GHOST FLIGHTS & 'EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION' The principal legal problem relating to alleged "ghost flights", secret interrogations and the policy of "extraordinary rendition" is the extralegal nature of all three techniques. The issue centers on these processes being designed to operate beyond the scope of ordinary legal constraints. [Full Story] RICE STAKES OUT "NUANCED" POSITION ON ABDUCTIONS, TORTURE Amid growing concern relating to press reports of undisclosed CIA flights through or over European nations, with possible connections to the abduction of terror suspects and the use of secret detention centers, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has sought to defend US policy. She admitted that the US might make mistakes in the "war on terror", but did not make specific reference to controversy over the alleged abduction of an innocent German citizen who, after 5 months of questioning in Afghanistan, proved to be a case of mistaken identity. STORY UPDATE: 8 December Update: |
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