Amnesty International Calls on all Foreign Governments to Arrest President Bush...

This was touched on a bit here

politics.abovetopsecret.com...

However I have found the actual link to the statement released by William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. In the statement Mr. Schulz actual calls on all foreign governments to arrest and prosecute US diplomats for the torture scandel. The lists calls several diplomats out by name such as Rumsfeld and President Bush among others.

If the US government continues to shirk its responsibility, Amnesty International calls on foreign governments to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating all senior US officials involved in the torture scandal. And if those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them. The apparent high-level architects of torture should think twice before planning their next vacation to places like Acapulco or the French Riviera because they may find themselves under arrest as Augusto Pinochet famously did in London in 1998……..

Foreign governments that are party to the Geneva Conventions and/or the Convention against Torture—and that is some 190 countries—and countries that have national legislation that authorizes prosecution—and that is at least 125 countries—have a legally binding obligation to exercise what is known as universal jurisdiction over people accused of grave breaches of the Conventions. Governments are required to investigate suspects and, if warranted, to prosecute them or to extradite them to a country that will. Crimes such as torture are so serious that they amount to an offense against all of humanity and require governments to investigate and prosecute people responsible for those crimes—no matter where the crime was committed.

Amnesty International’s list of those who may be considered high-level torture architects includes Donald Rumsfeld, who approved a December 2002 memorandum that permitted such unlawful interrogation techniques as stress positions, prolonged isolation, stripping, and the use of dogs at Guantanamo Bay; William Haynes, the Defense Department General Counsel who wrote that memo, and Douglas Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, who is cited in the memo as concurring with its recommendations.

Our list includes Major General Geoffrey Miller, Commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, whose subordinates used some of the approved torture techniques and who was sent to Iraq where he recommended that prison guards “soften up” detainees for interrogations; former CIA Director George Tenet, whose agency kept so-called “ghost detainees” off registration logs and hidden during visits by the Red Cross and whose operatives reportedly used such techniques as water-boarding, feigning suffocation, stress positions, and incommunicado detention.

And it includes Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who called the Geneva Conventions “quaint” and “obsolete” in a January 2002 memo and who requested the memos that fueled the atrocities at Abu Ghraib; Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, former Commander of US Forces in Iraq, and Sanchez’ deputy, Major General Walter Wojdakowsi, who failed to ensure proper staff oversight of detention and interrogation operations at Abu Ghraib, according to the military’s Fay-Jones report, and Captain Carolyn Wood, who oversaw interrogation operations at Bagram Air Base and who permitted the use of dogs, stress positions and sensory deprivation.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of those who deserve investigation, we would be remiss if we ignored President George W. Bush’s role in the scandal. After all, his Administration has repeatedly justified its detention and interrogation policies as legitimate under the President’s powers as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. And President Bush signed a February 2002 memo stating that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to Taliban or al Qaeda detainees and that their humane treatment should be contingent on “military necessity.” This set the stage for the tragic abuses of detainees.
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www.amnestyusa.org...


[edit on 21-6-2005 by BlackJackal]

Uh...Does Amnesty International get any government funding? If they do, I think it should stop. This is just terrible. :shk:

Well, if it is found that Bush and company did sign those orders then why shouldn't they be charged the same way that others have? I doubt it would go, but the law must be upheld, even when it is against us.

Although I'd like to see them "prove" such claims. Sounds a little like drum beating.

This is what Amnesty International does. They draw attention to governments anywhere around the world that abuse human rights. Sometimes they make a difference, other times they can't. Just because it's America's turn in the spotlight doesn't make their work any less admirable.

-koji K.

Really? What other governments have they shined a spot light on? Don't see them doing anything about N. Korea, Darfur or any of the other countless governments who are actually condoning and ordering torture. They only seem to be focusing on Anti American polices.

Face it, AI has yet to prove anything bout bush signing and document making torture legal all they do is talk against the U.S.

Westpoint, just by going to their website it reads like the whos who of international dolts. Ofcourse the US is there, but so is Yemen, france, generally Europe, Africa and such. Hardly what I would call picking or having something against one country, seems to have a problem with all violence and human rights violations, not just those from the US.

As for Proof, what proof would you like. Memo's, recordings, fraudian slips, none of that has given you pause to question the rank and file. It is doubtfull anything would make you lose sight of "defending" the US, no matter how foolish you look doing it.

The fall of Amnesty International is complete.

What a shame. They USED to do such good work. Now look at them.
They ignore the nightmare Saddam created for the Iraqis. They ignore
the buy off of the UN Security Council. They ignore N. Korea. But they
call upon people to throw G.W. in jail because he dared to free Iraqis
from Saddam... because he dared do something that the corrupt UN
security council didn't want to happen (because if it did, their illegal
funds would stop coming in).

We used to support Amnesty International and we actually gave
$$$ to them. Never again. They are worse than useless.
They are frauds.

They condemn countries by publically demanding all foriegn governments arrest their diplomats? I've never heard those press releases in the past.

What's even more shocking, though, is that their response to Bush being upset about their gulag comments was that they really didn't know what was going on at gitmo, but they had a really good feeling it wasn't good. So now all American diplomats should be arrested because Amnesty International has a gut feeling?

What's more, what if a country takes them up on their demand? The US doesn't look kindly to what it would percieve as kidnapping our diplomats. We may even react with force. Wouldn't Amnesty International be proud then.

Originally posted by koji_K
They draw attention to governments anywhere around
the world that abuse human rights.

Not exactly. They draw attention to governments around
the world that DISAGREE with Amnesty's political agenda
while ignoring the 'biggies' like N. Korea.

Originally posted by Passer By
It is doubtfull anything would make you lose sight of
"defending" the US, no matter how foolish you look doing it.

Westpoint doesn't look foolish defending America against the idiots
at Amnesty International. However, the 'blame America first' crowd
certainly DO look like idiots and Amnesty International is part of
that irrational bunch.

would it not be funny to see the bush family with sadam in court at the same time.up for crimes against foreign countires.i bet cnn would run it lol.there has been alot of ideas surfacing lately.i do have to agree laws have been bent in the u.n and other treatys.u.s has been not been a good boy lately.the world is trying there best to come up with new ideas to say no.things are not what they seem to be.

Please explain to me how Amnesty International ignores the crimes of North Korea.

This doesnt seem like ignoring North Korea to me...

The government continued to fail in its duty to uphold and protect the right to food, exacerbating the effects of the long-standing food crisis. Chronic malnutrition among children and urban populations, especially in the northern provinces, was widespread. Fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, association and movement, continued to be denied. Access by independent monitors continued to be severely restricted. There were reports of widespread political imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment, and of executions.

How is this ignoring the nightmare Saddam created for Iraq?

Hundreds of people, among them political prisoners including possible prisoners of conscience, were executed. Hundreds of suspected political opponents, including army officers suspected of planning to overthrow the government, were arrested and their fate and whereabouts remained unknown. Torture and ill-treatment were widespread and new punishments, including beheading and the amputation of the tongue, were reportedly introduced. Non-Arabs, mostly Kurds, continued to be forcibly expelled from their homes in the Kirkuk area to Iraqi Kurdistan.

Originally posted by boogyman
Please explain to me how Amnesty International ignores the crimes of North Korea.

This doesnt seem like ignoring North Korea to me...

The government continued to fail in its duty to uphold and protect the right to food, exacerbating the effects of the long-standing food crisis. Chronic malnutrition among children and urban populations, especially in the northern provinces, was widespread. Fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, association and movement, continued to be denied. Access by independent monitors continued to be severely restricted. There were reports of widespread political imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment, and of executions.

Well I don't see Amnesty International specifically or name or call for the arrest of NK diplomats or, for that matter, the "diplomats" or despotic leaders of numerous states that are actively involved in real torture, enforced, government sanctioned, slavery or outright genocidal atrocities. Of course, like the U.N., perhaps Amnesty International simply redefines terms to suit their needs.

As far as I can tell, amnesty is prefectly correct. IF the US doesn't do anythin about abu-garaib, and if its revealed that the US government condoned illegal torture, and if investigations have proven this then other nations should start arresting US officials.


Of course, thats a lot of ifs.

Hrm.. it's quite obvious that the only aspect of Amnesty International that many posters on this thread have heard of is the one press release which started this thread.

Amnesty does work all over the globe. As someone else here said, check out their web site.

Have any of you actually given to Amnesty? I am a member, and receive their information newsletters monthly. They are always talking about N. Korea, and were talking even more about Iraq when it was still under Saddam. Hell, they were even talking about how bad he was when the US government was telling us the exact opposite. You never, ever heard anything about the US, except of course for the death penalty cases, compared to what you heard from them about Iraq and other similar places.

But, this is what partisan politics does to people. Anything not in line with their rosy, official view of the world, and especially America, is to be rejected and attacked.

-koji K.