reply to
post by xpert11
On Abu Ghraib I hold the view that the extend of who authorized the torture of detainees was very well covered up. Symbolism by it self isn’t enough
because the next time a torture scandal erupts Command Responsibility will still be ignored.
As for the jurisdiction of the US courts well there is simply no reason for them to have jurisdiction over people who are not US citizens and were not
captured or detained on US soil.
I have already said our first mistake was not in bulldozing Abu Ghraib Prison and the Presidential Palace in Baghdad. Those 2 edifices represented the
WORST of Saddam Hussein. Whey we would have to USE them ourselves is beyond me. It’s got to be elementary.
Guantanamo Bay is equal to if not worse than Abu Ghraib. We took Git-mo from the helpless Cubans after we decided we could not remain in Cuba
profitably, it having fallen into our hands when the Spanish surrendered in 1899. Just as was true in the Philippines, there were local rebels
already in place who unfortunately for them in both places, actually thought the Americans had come as LIBERATORS. Not so, silly boys! We came as
commercial exploiters backed by the USMC and US Army. The Muslim Filipinos on Mindanao killed 3,000 US soldiers there and we said, we’re outt’a
here but not before we took control of the money of the Catholic Filipinos in Manila and the main islands.
We left Cuba for the same reason the Haitians ran Napoleon away from that sugar plantation in 1803, mosquitoes. All the people native to either place
and still alive had survived a minor case of malaria. Newcomers died by the scores of 1000s. We left.
We could UNDO a century of commerical exploitation backed by the armed might of the USMC in the lands south of the Reio Grande by returning Guantanamo
Bay to Cuba. A place we have no use for. Except as an on-going irritant to Latinos of all flags. I do hope we begin to THINK and to ACT smart.
Extra-territoriality. Originally English speaking countries regarded their sovereignly to extend 3 miles off their shores into the oceans. Spain and
others however regarded the off-shore boundary to be 3 leagues which it turns out is 12 English miles. Then such nations as Iceland which heavily
depended on fishing, extended their claim for jurisdiction first to 20 miles but which grew into today’s 200 miles and in Peru’s case, 400 miles
and called Economic Zones. I believe the US uses the 12 and 200 miles as its “right” to control the oceans.
American Empire. After World War 2, the US faced for the first time what to do with conquered countries. (We regarded the 1898 Spanish War conquests
as colonies which we label territories. It makes us feel superior). We still have Armed Forces in Germany, and maybe elsewhere in Europe. We still
have armed forces in South Korea and maybe Japan. In fact, the DoD says we have “over 100 bases” around the world.
We don’t want our soldiers subject to local laws which are often driven as much by custom and usage as by reducing to writing. This is not just
hubris although that is no doubt a strong component, but it is as simple as it looks. We are unfamiliar with local customs. After all, we go abroad to
TEACH and not to learn! Hey, we already know! We send our people out on 1 or 2 year tours. Highly desirable postings may be for 3 years for single
men, 2 years for married. So we do not have either time or inclination to learn local ways.
So we have acquired the habit of using our laws outside our land boundaries. Then with the advent of international drug smuggling which we have been
unable to halt despite the 1969 War on Drugs proclaimed by President Nixon, we began to make acts done in foreign countries against Americans there a
violation of American laws. Just ask Gen. Noriega of Panama if it is not so!
He is still imprisoned in the basement of the Federal Courthouse in Miami. Convicted in April, 1992, Noriega's US prison sentence ended in September
of 2007; pending the outcome of extradition requests by both Panama and France, he remains in prison as of January 2009. (I don’t understand holding
him unless Noriega has consented to stay here rather than go to France of Panama. It was said he had very nice quarters to do his time in).
As you should have heard recently, the rush to achieve a SOF - status of forces - agreement with Iraq was essential because the UN Resolutions we
claimed gave us the RIGHT to be in Iraq expired December 31, 2008. We knew the UN would not vote an extension to a resolution the majority felt we had
violated in the first place. Of course, as in any Empire, most of the SOF agreements - not treaties you should note - are BOUGHT for cash from the
ruling cliques where we are visiting. (Treaties require the approval of the Senate whereas the Executive Branch claims Agreements do not).
See Article 1, US Constitution, Section 8. The Congress shall have power . . . Clause 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; Clause
10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; Clause 11. To declare war . . and
make rules concerning captures on land and water; Clause 14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces; Clause 18.
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
www.law.cornell.edu...
[edit on 1/15/2009 by donwhite]
