Human Rights Abuses in the War on Terror

The news about these matters continues to appear in the press. I thought I'd try to catch all of you up on a few of the things out there. Below are some recent articles to help understand this issue. I describe the oldest ones first.

The U.S. has been making statements in response to the pressure that is being put on them about detainees being mistreated. In March, this story got headlines around the country: U.S. Is Examining a Plan to Bolster the Rights of Detainees

What has been disappointing to many of us is that the military continues to maintain that no one of a high level is reponsible for the things that went on at Abu Ghraib prison. A military tribunal cleared a bunch of officers of wrong-doing in a trial last month. The trial seems to have left a lot of unanswered questions. Military tribunal ignored evidence on detainee March 28, 2005
Evidence that the U.S. sent detainees abroad to be tortured is out there. One of the stories that has gotten a lot of attention is that of Maher Arar. From the New York Times:

Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States,
saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 as he changed planes in New York
and transported him to Syria where, he says, he was held for 10 months in a
dank, tiny cell and brutally beaten with a metal cable.

Now federal aviation records examined by The New York Times appear to
corroborate Mr. Arar's account of his flight, during which, he says, he sat
chained on the leather seats of a luxury executive jet as his American guards
watched movies and ignored his protests.

Meanwhile, the fight overt the Patriot Act continues. Gonzales urges renewal of Patriot Act April 6, 2005.

There was an excellent article in the Seattle Times that described some evidence uncovered about detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. It reminded us:

The government is holding about 550 people at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.
An additional 214 have been released since the facility opened in January 2002 —
some into the custody of their home governments, others freed outright.

Little information about those held at Guantánamo has been released
through official government channels. But stories of 60 or more prisoners are
spelled out in detail in thousands of pages of transcripts filed in U.S.
District Court in Washington, where lawsuits challenging their detentions have
been filed.

The military released a report saying that they have reviewed the cases of all of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and are justified in keeping all of them in detention as "enemy combatents". There are still lawyers fighting to have their cases heard in U.S. Courts. Read this article here.
The U.S. has only convicted low-ranking members of the military in connection with the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. In a recent article, a human rights attorney explains why she believes Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials should be invesigated more closely.

A few days ago, news came out that the army is writing a new manual on how to interrogate prisoners (without torturing them). One Senator pointed out that the fact that is had to be re-written is an indication that not enough was being done to train people not to torture prisoners.
Yesterday's paper included a headline that, "Lynndie England to plead guilty to Abu Ghraib abuses." She was in some of the more shocking photos we saw from Abu Ghraib.

Finally, Amnesty International released a press release a few days ago, Abuses Continue One Year After Abu Ghraib.

Tom DeLay Must Go

Tom DeLay has been the Republican Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives for several years and is undeserving of this position. This Texan has repeatedly used cynical, unethical methods of winning political battles by bending rules and intimidating junior representatives shows Congress at its worst. Only the latest of these was the manipulation of the Terry Shiavo tragedy for political gain.

Tom DeLay has brought dishonor and divisiveness to an already highly partisan Congress. We cannot allow a man with such an ethical cloud over his head to continue to wield such power in the House. He is a liability to the Congress, the Republican Party and the United States of America. Today the newest allegations surfaced when it was discovered that he has paid his wife and another family members over half a million dollars since 2001 for political advice according to an article in the New York Times. Please support all efforts to remove Tom DeLay from his position as House Majority Leader. MoveOn.org is currently asking people to sign petitions on-line calling on Congress to remove him from his leadership position. They provide the following damning list of reasons to remove him from power:

Among his offenses, Tom DeLay:
*Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor
*Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare
*Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law
*Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas
*Diverted funds from a children's charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention
*Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don't support Republicans
*Stacked the House Ethics committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund
*Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed
*Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules
*Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him
*Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel
*Sought a rule change that would have no longer "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted"
*Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

Secret Detentions at Guantanamo Bay

While the news of the Pope's death, Terri Schiavo's death, and natural disasters have been grabbing most of the headlines, the troubling practice of evading our Constitution's protections for those accused of crimes continues in the Bush administration. Guantanamo Bay has been symbolic of this problem, a place where "the C.I.A. detention effort has been classified as a "special access program," a category that puts it off limits even to most of those with top secret security clearances. "

It makes a lot of us uncomfortable that the same administration that has displayed so much arrogance and incompetance in prosecuting the war on terror is getting away with gross violations of our Constitution. The New York Times reported that "the White House is maintaining extraordinary restrictions on information about the detention of high-level terror suspects, permitting only a small number of members of Congress to be briefed on how and where the prisoners are being held and interrogated."

More oversight is clearly needed. This administration has not earned enough trust to be allowed such incredible powers without sufficient checks. The American people need to demand their government back.