(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
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/20…
I guess this is the True Meaning of Capitalism — if you can’t find the “bad guys” — Buy Them!
What’s worse than the Bounty Payments for chattel, as shocking as the may be, is the utter dependence upon the credibility of the Bounty Hunters: “Yeah, these guys are the ones you want! Pay up please.”
A War Lord with the power and callousness, to capture people and sell them like Cattle — probably isn’t the best judge of character?
No wonder only about 1 in 5 prisoners who ended up in Gitmo, were actually in anyway involved in Jihad against America. Money talks, but apparently without much Justice or Wisdom, when it comes to American foreign policies, especially the Secret Policies.
Here’s some more evidence of the the Not-so-Secret Policy — “Bounties for Bodies” …
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/20…
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”.
Seems like Bounty Hunting was a bit of a “cottage industry” for mercenaries, for a while there too …
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/search?q…
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.blogspo…
But alas, some Pages seem to be “turn slowly” sometimes.
Investigations into such secret policies are not a luxury that we can get to “someday”.
They are essential Accounting. They are necessary to restore our system of “Checks and Balances”.
Honest, transparent, War Investigations are necessary to restore America’s character and soul.
Of course if you condone secret “star chamber” commissions, and bargaining with War Lords and Mercenaries, well I guess you don’t have anything to worry about —
except for the eroding of the American system of Government!
The question boils down to this:
Are we electing Kings or Leaders?
because only Kings, can be justifiably “above the law”.
3 comments
Author
tips for accountability
the crux of the matter. In all the clamor of national security, of rules of war, is this effective, this basic tent of not just our government but of human progress. When nation takes it upon itself to ignore and flaunt basic human rights, basic laws that have been established for centuries, they are no longer part of the community of man. They are rogue states and dangerous to the world at large.
I do not think however that this administration will denounce all that has been done and is still continuing. That would require them to admit that the wars themselves were illegal, that all of what has happened that they voted for and funded even the reason’s given were lies and cannot stand. It would lead to unraveling of this elaborate fiction that they are using for the justification of jettisoning our human and civil rights. It would curtail their lust for power, and require them to adhere to the laws of humankind.
Repealing the odious Patriots Act and the Military Commissions Act would be admitting that all of the government was complicit. Reigning in the CIA would also be an admission that they gave carte blanche to the thugs who used nationalism and fear to push us over the line drawn by humans that we are tearing down for nothing but illegal aggression and tyranny. The myths that got us here must not be revealed.
They’re appointed.