How Guantanamo's prisoners were sold
The president of Pakistan's [Pervez Musharraf] attempts to publicise his memoirs throw light on the flawed and dishonest processes that the US uses in bringing "terrorists" to justice
by Clive Stafford Smith - NewStatesman - 09 October 2006
The payments help us see why so many innocent prisoners ended up in Guantanamo Bay. Musharraf writes that "millions" were paid for 369 prisoners - the minimum rate was apparently $5,000, enough to tempt a poor Pakistani to shop an unwanted Arab to the Americans, gift-wrapped with a story that he was up to no good in Afghanistan.
(emphasis added)
http://www.newstatesman.com/...
I guess this is the True Meaning of Capitalism -- if you can't find the "bad guys" -- Buy Them!
Bush: Amnesty Report on Guantanamo Abuses is "Absurd"
DemocracyNow - June 01, 2005
On Tuesday President Bush dismissed a report on U.S. committing human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay. He told reporters at a news conference "I’m aware of the Amnesty International report. It’s an absurd allegation." Last week Amnesty compared Guantanamo to the Soviet-era gulag prison camps. Meanwhile the Associated Press is reporting it has obtained government documents that indicate many Guantanamo detainees may be at the prison only because they were sold to the U.S. for a bounty. During military tribunals held at the prison, detainees testified that they were essentially sold to the U.S. who were paying thousands of dollars in cash for suspects. One former CIA intelligence officer who helped lead the search for Osama bin Laden told AP the accounts sounded legitimate because U.S. allies regularly gave out money to help catch Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. That officer--Gary Schroen--said he took a suitcase of $3 million in cash into Afghanistan himself to help supply and win over warlords.
(emphasis added)
http://www.democracynow.org/...
CIA Agents with 3 Million in a Suitcase? I guess it helps to have some "serious walking around" money, when you're coercing the Taliban, to give you some "warm bodies".
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005: embodying U.S. values to eliminate detainee abuse by civilian contractors and bounty hunters in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Publication: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Publication Date: 01-NOV-06
Author: Logan, Ryan P.
The growth in the number of bounty hunters and civilian contractors accompanying the U.S. military into battle has swelled during the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Civilians have been utilized in all facets of those military campaigns, including the interrogation of suspected terrorists or insurgents. Faced with intense pressure to rapidly obtain information about terrorist operations and yet having little oversight of their interrogation activities, some of these contractors and bounty hunters have been accused of abusing detainees.
[...]
As a result of the downsizing, the Pentagon increasingly relies on private citizens to perform many tasks in war zones. These activities include everything from supplying fuel for convoys to providing food for soldiers and personal security services for important officials, (7) In order to promote the capture of notorious terrorists, the U.S. military also offered bounties for Osama Bin Laden and many members of Saddam Hussein's regime, who were identified in the infamous deck of cards that gained prominence in the media during the early days of the Iraq War. (8) The prospect of large financial awards, coupled with a post-9/11 surge in patriotism, caused many veterans and other individuals to head to Afghanistan or Iraq in order to obtain those bounties. (9) This led some soldiers returning from the war zones to compare those areas to the Wild West of the American frontier. (10)
[...]
Private civilians, who have been heavily involved in Afghanistan and Iraq, have also been implicated as playing key roles in the torture of detainees. (13)
This Note explores the legal avenues available for dealing with U.S. civilian contractors or bounty hunters who stand accused of detainee abuse. Section II traces the history of the involvement of U.S. civilians in military conflicts and introduces the problem of contractors and bounty hunters who torture.
(emphasis added)
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/...
Hmmm, Was the Section II
of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005
the "Get out jail - Free Card" -- for any over-rambunctious Bounty Hunter???
(Is it still?)
United States Comments on the UN Report:
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
by Martin Scheinin (A/HRC/6/17/Add.3) - 22 November 2007
[originally reported] to the United Nations - General Assembly:
Section II – Military Detention Facilities
Paragraph 11 – Concept of "unlawful enemy combatant"
We [the US] strongly disagree with the view expressed in the report that the category of "unlawful enemy combatant" effectively does not exist in international law. The report suggests that this term "is a description of convenience, meaningful only in international armed conflicts and even then only denoting persons taking a direct part in hostilities while not being members of the regular armed forces or of assimilated units," and that the term "does not exist in non-international armed conflicts." With regard to international armed conflicts, the report suggests that all people fall either into the category of prisoner of war or civilian.
This failure to even recognize the existence of the category of unlawful enemy combatants is an extremely troubling aspect of the [UN] report.
(emphasis added)
http://209.85.173.132/...
US response to UN Report (PDF)
This scholarly Judaical Journal, weighs in on the Detainee Treatment Act and the Military Commissions Act. In short, they fall short of American Values, and the Constitution, and should be struck down, immediately ...
DC Circuit Considers Legality of Detainee Treatment Act
Justice Watch - April 4, 2008
The Bush administration has used the "war on terror" to dismantle the very bedrocks of our legal system which have made it a beacon of liberty and justice throughout the world. The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 are shameful pieces of legislation which were passed in an atmosphere of paranoia and fear. They do not reflect the values that America holds dear and should be repealed immediately. Until Congress sees fit to fix these laws however, the federal judiciary has the responsibility to review them against the backdrop of the Constitution and strike them down when they conflict with its guarantees.
(emphasis added)
http://afjjusticewatch.blogspot.com/...
But alas, some Pages seem to be "turn slowly" within the New Obama Justice Dept. Indeed some Pages, seem to be "turning" backwards, especially on Friday Nites.
Taking a Page From the Bush Playbook
By Elliot Cohen - truthdig - May 5, 2009
Rather than to admit that evidence attained through torture is tainted, in order to dispose of the cases in question, Obama is moving to retain the Military Commissions Act and its notoriously vague, legally flawed and chilling definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" as "an individual engaged in hostilities against the United States who is not a lawful enemy combatant." This is not only a violation of the rule of law and of due process; it is also a concession to torture, which the president has repeatedly claimed to be off the table. To rely on evidence gained through torture is to dignify the use of torture, not to reject it. Thus, there are implications of sustaining the Military Commissions Act well beyond what meets the eye.
Not to mention that many detainees have been held without having been charged, in violation of their right of habeas corpus. This is an egregious affront to the United States Constitution, as recently confirmed by the Supreme Court.
(emphasis added)
http://www.truthdig.com/...
Beep, Beep, Beep, warning: Friday nite News Dump ...
As reported on on the Rachel Maddow Show, May 15, 2009:
"'Coereced Evidence' is still admissible under the new Military Commissions Act. 'Hearsay Evidence' is still admissible under the new Military Commissions Act."
says David J.R. Frakt, Defense Council, Office of Military Commissions, defending
Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad, an alleged combatant facing charges for events that took place when he was a minor. Jawad is one of two detainees, along with Omar Khadr, to be prosecuted for acts they allegedly committed while juveniles.
Enemy Combatants (aka. "Bounty Fodder" at $5K per head)
Guilty -- Until Proven Innocent!
assuming you even get your Day in Court!
-- before an ad-hoc Military Tribunal!
Good Luck guys...
and sorry, America still is NOT Healed, yet. (we're still waiting)
Pssst! Mid-East Allies, and Taliban War Lords, do you have any rif-raft you want to sell us, again? ... No?
How about taking a few hundred back, then?-- for a tidy "reward" of course! That's just the American Way, of dealing with a messy situation -- just throw more Cash at it! We GOT Cash!
We can count on you Sayid, Right? How does $5000 each, sound?