Well, this will be interesting... Perhaps James Clapper will come along to testify? He could just fidget around in his seat and wipe the sweat from his head as he's testifying lying through his teeth.
U.S. officials are in for a serious grilling on Wednesday as they get hauled before the U.N. Committee against Torture and questioned about about a multitude of ways in which the U.S. appears to be failing to comply with the anti-torture treaty it ratified 20 years ago.
Treaties are so quaint these days.
The story, written by Dan Froomkin can be found at The Intercept: An Innocent Man, Tortured by the U.S., Asks the U.N.: Where’s the Accountability?
As Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Program noted on Monday:
This marks the first U.N. review of the United States’ torture record since President Obama took office in 2009, and much is at stake. The review will test the pledges President Obama made to reverse disastrous Bush-era policies that led to gross violations of human rights, like torture, secret and incommunicado detention, “extraordinary renditions,” unfair trials, and more. It is also likely to examine practices that emerged or became entrenched during Obama’s time in office, such as indefinite detention at Guantánamo, immigration detention and deportations, and the militarization of the police, as witnessed by the world during this summer’s events in Ferguson.
This "review" should have been conducted six-years ago by our own Congress. But it didn't. Instead, we heard
"The important thing is we're looking ahead, not behind us ..." canard. The
ACLU’s “shadow report” to the committee equally excoriates the Obama administration for its failure to prosecute the torturers in the Bush regime. And, the
New York Times offered the current administration a cautionary, reporting that [President Obama... ]
... could well fail another key test of his sincerity by reaffirming the Bush administration’s position that the international Convention Against Torture imposes no legal obligation on the U.S. to bar cruelty outside its borders.
Obama has already flouted the convention’s requirement that member states tortures accountable. I have long argued that his failure there has been particularly profound.
The following is a statement submitted to the committee by
Murat Kurnaz (pictured above), who was
tortured and detained by the U.S. at Kandahar and then Guantanamo over a period of five years. Kurnaz's statement speaks for itself, and is offered without further comment.
Good afternoon. My name is Murat Kurnaz. I am a Turkish citizen who was born and raised in Bremen, Germany, where I currently live. I spent five years of my life in detention in Kandahar and Guantanamo Bay from 2001-2006.
My story is like many others. In 2001, while traveling in Pakistan, I was arrested by Pakistani police and sold to the U.S. military for a $3,000 bounty. In Kandahar, the U.S. military subjected me to electric shocks, stress positions, simulated drowning, and endless beatings. In Guantanamo, there was also psychological torture—I was stripped of my humanity, treated like an animal, isolated from the rest of the world, and did not know if I would ever be released.
Even though my lawyers proved that the U.S. knew of my innocence by 2002, I was not released until 2006. I lost five years of my life in Guantanamo.
Eight years later, I cannot believe that Guantanamo is still open and that there are almost 150 men detained there indefinitely. My time in Guantanamo was a nightmare, but I sometimes consider myself lucky. I know that part of the reason I am free today is because I am from Germany.
Most of the current prisoners remain in Guantanamo because they are from Yemen and the U.S. refuses to send them home. Many are as innocent as I was. But they are enduring the torture of Guantanamo for over 12 years because of their nationality, not because of anything they have done.
I understand that international human rights laws like the Convention Against Torture were created so that the people who commit torture are punished. Isn’t that how we can end torture in the world? So why has no U.S. official been held responsible for brutal practices and torture at Guantanamo or other U.S. prisons?
I will never get five years of my life back, but for me and others, it is important that the Committee confronts the United States about its actions in Guantanamo and other prisons.
Thank you.
Livestreaming of the proceedings can be found
here on Wednesday. Questioning of the U.S. delegation begins @ 10 a.m. EST (Geneva time: 4 p.m.)
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