Yesterday, 11/26/2009, the Online Wall Street Journal posted an article entitled, Prosecuting American War Crimes. Excerpts below, but I recommend you read the entire article.

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The ICC’s chief prosecutor, though, has no intention of waiting for Washington to submit to the court’s authority. Luis Moreno Ocampo says he already has jurisdiction—at least with respect to Afghanistan.

Because Kabul in 2003 ratified the Rome Statute—the ICC’s founding treaty—all soldiers on Afghan territory, even those from nontreaty countries, fall under the ICC’s oversight, Mr. Ocampo told me.

And the chief prosecutor says he is already conducting a "preliminary examination" into whether NATO troops, including American soldiers, fighting the Taliban may have to be put in the dock.

"We have to check if crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide have been committed in Afghanistan," Mr. Ocampo told me.

"There are serious allegations against the Taliban and al Qaeda and serious allegations about warlords, even against some who are connected with members of the government." Taking up his inquiry of Allied soldiers, he added, "there are different reports about problems with bombings and there are also allegations about torture."

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Asked repeatedly whether the examination of bombings and torture allegations refers to NATO and U.S. soldiers, Mr. Ocampo finally stated that "we are investigating whoever commits war crimes, including the group you mentioned."

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I am not alone in wishing that USA had ratified the Rome Treaty which Pres. Clinton signed during his administration, though at the time I thought he made a mistake…"we have our own Justice system to take care of our people who break the law"…(the treaty was never ratified and GWB unsigned the Rome Treaty early on in his administration.)

Well, that was my thinking before George W Bush and Cheney demolished our Judicial Branch and I learned just how far our spineless congress would allow them to go to destroy the very Foundation of our government, that even the worst of our past administrations have professed to uphold.

Now I firmly believe that the peoples of the entire world must stand together to stop the advancement of American imperialism, which never in my long life did I dream would be the intention of the USA.

[my thanks and h/t to anonymous who gave me this link.]

The video below is dedicated to Ray McGovern for his lifetime of service to our country.

The link here takes us to Ray’s latest talk which he gave 11/12/2009 at Washington U. on the subject of torture. No matter how gruesome the subject, Ray manages to weave in his stories and lighthearted tales. In this talk he reminds us that we must remember to find Joy in order to maintain our sanity in these dismal times. The very last story he tells at the end of the Q&A period in the clip is about what happens when The Fiddler of Dooneen meets St. Peter.

The clip embedded here (I hope) is "the extraordinary scene and the music in O’Connor Square, Tullamara at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, 2007, when 2700 musicians converged to establish the World Record for the largest session. It’s the biggest joyful noise I could find for you, Ray, Thank you.

[By the way, in case everyone doesn't know: Ray is pure Irish.]

While watching the video I give you here, all I could think was (like Sen. Whitehouse), “Oh God, tell me we didn’t do that.”

The man being interviewed was a British diplomat with 20 years experience. His name is Craig Murray. In 2002 he was British Senior Diplomat in Uzbekistan, ruled by a brutal dictator. He states that in 2002 there were only about 300 – 400 ‘ex-pats’ in the entire country, meaning Brits and American. He knew the CIA men involved here. He witnessed the rendition flights bringing people in to be tortured in 2002

You will learn more about Governor of TX George W. Bush and his dealings with Enron and Uzbek in 1997, documented by a letter shown.

Attention, AG Holder!! This article in The Guardian, UK shows us what real Judges upholding the Rule of Law in a real Court of Justice are about to do. Right on, Brit Judges!!

Binyam Mohamed: Judges overrule attempt to suppress torture evidence

High court orders publication of US report, saying British foreign secretary’s actions were harmful to the rule of law

[by] Richard Norton-Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 October 2009 17.31 BST
Article history

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, acted in a way that was harmful to the rule of law by suppressing evidence about what the government knew of the illegal treatment of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident who was held in a secret prison in Pakistan, the high court has ruled.

In a devastating judgment, two senior judges roundly dismissed the foreign secretary’s claims that disclosing the evidence would harm national security and threaten the UK’s vital intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US.

In what they described as an “unprecedented” and “exceptional” case, to which the Guardian is a party, they ordered the release of a seven-paragraph summary of what the CIA told British officials – and maybe ministers – about Ethiopian-born Mohamed before he was secretly interrogated by an MI5 officer in 2002.

“The suppression of reports of wrongdoing by officials in circumstances which cannot in any way affect national security is inimical to the rule of law,” Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones ruled. “Championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, is the cornerstone of democracy.”

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“In our view, as a court in the United Kingdom, a vital public interest requires, for reasons of democratic accountability and the rule of law in the United Kingdom, that a summary of the most important evidence relating to the involvement of the British security services in wrongdoing be placed in the public domain in the United Kingdom.”

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In the end, Miliband had to rely for help on a CIA letter to MI6 claiming that disclosure of the document would harm the security of the US and UK.

The judges made it clear they did not believe the claim was credible. “The public interest in making the paragraphs public is overwhelming,” they said.

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Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, admitted in a speech at Bristol University on Thursday that the Security Service had been “slow to detect the emerging pattern of US practice in the period after 9/11″.

“But it is important to recognise that we do not control what other countries do, that operational decisions have to be taken with the knowledge available, even if it is incomplete, and that when the emerging pattern of US policy was detected, necessary improvements were made.”

He repeated the mantra that MI5 “does not torture people, nor do we collude in torture or solicit others to torture people on our behalf”.

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[All emphasis mine - had difficulty restraining myself.]

Please read the full article at the link above; I just might be a bit biased in my selection of portions to excerpt. (heh,heh)

[Hat tip to BB for her alert to this breaking good news.]

I do not include all Judges in the US Courts in my opening statements, for some have been very courageous and true to the Rule of Law in their rulings regarding suppression of evidence on the basis of national security when there is reason to believe that it is being used as a cover up for embarrassing or criminal conduct. Those Judges deserve our honor and highest praise.

This GoogleVideo is primarily an interview with former CIA black ops operative, Dios Gene "Chip" Tatum. This interview is also on YouTube in 8 segments which are very frustrating to ferret out.

The assassination arm of the CIA has come under fire recently with Panetta and Congress claiming shock and awe. Who are they kidding?

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…Gene "Chip" Tatum, a former CIA Black Ops Assassin who was also an Iran-Contra and OSG2 NWO Insider. In this video, you’ll hear Chip discuss his involvement in Operation Red Rock, Task Force 160 and OSG2. Hear him reveal the names of high profile officials who were integrally involved in these CIA covert killing sprees and/or narco-trafficking, directly or indirectly: Oliver "Ollie" North, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. You’ll learn from an "insider" about outrageous U.S. government felony crime and corruption and the impending New World Order destruction of America. You’ll hear his amazing insight concerning the Nixon Administration and the dirty politics of the Vietnam War. This is the last interview prior to his sudden disappearance in 1998. LATEST UPDATE: Chip’s tortured body was reported to have washed up on a beach in Panama in early 2007…

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Chip Tatum came of age when the draft was mandatory. The young men in that situation only had one choice: volunteer into the branch they chose or wait to be drafted without choice. Chip’s number was coming up so he chose to volunteer into the Air Force. Thereafter he found himself under orders which he would follow or be exterminated.

Chip Tatum knew he was signing his death warrant when he spoke out and showed his documents. He disappeared in 1998 and in early 2007 his body washed up on shore in Panama – tortured and without a face.

I would value comments from the wise ones here at FDL, particularly the Vets.

Yesterday, 08/26//2009, Amy Goodman on www.democracynow.org interviewed Glenn Greenwald (no description needed here at FDL) on the subjects of the recent heavily redacted IG document dump, the CIA’s torturous interrogation methods, and the moves of Obama/Holder in the area of interrogation of detainees going forward.

I do not presume to expand on the statements of Amy or Glenn; IMO none can present the situation better than they. So, without more words from me, here is the program: (please bear with the technical problems for even Glenn’s last words are vitally important).

I found here at www.commondreams.org perhaps the most brilliant, astounding writing I have ever read (and I’m a book addict).

I give you an excerpt from the memo sent to President Obama dated 04/30/2009. I only copied the introductory statement to the official memo compiled by The Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), signed by some very heavy-hitters formerly in the Intel Community. Membership in VIPS totals 70 or more. You will recognize many of the listed signatures and names with their credentials.

Most high regard and honors are due this group of courageous truly patriotic Americans. They warned Bush and Cheney in time to have turned away from the disastrous path they were hell-bent to pursue, to the tragic, unnecessary and unjustified war of agression against Iraq.

Now, in this memo to President Obama, they are again holding out to him the product of their exceptional minds and strong convictions….will he listen and responsibly conduct the affairs of State as demanded by the Oath of Office to which he swore ?

Published on Thursday, April 30, 2009
An Anti-Torture Memorandum for President Obama

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
SUBJECT: Torture

This memorandum is VIPS’ first attempt to inform you on a major intelligence issue, as we did your predecessor; thus, some background might be helpful. Five former CIA officers established Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in January 2003, when we saw our profession being corrupted to justify an attack on Iraq. Since then, our numbers have grown to 70 intelligence professionals, mostly retired, who have served in virtually all U.S. civilian and military intelligence agencies.

In our first Memorandum for the President (George W. Bush), dated February 5, 2002, [should be 2003] we provided a same-day commentary on Colin Powell’s U.N. speech. Read the rest of this entry →

In this Sunday, 04/26/2009 UK’s ‘The Independent’, Patrick Cockburn has an article entitled, "Torture? It Probabily Killed More Americans than 9/ll"

I do not cut-and-paste from the article in order to avoid infringing upon any copyrights, nor do I deem my skills worthy of critiquing Patrick Cockburn’s award winning journalism.So, to learn more of ‘Our Guy, Matthew Alexander, the proven successful interrogator of Iraqi detainees, I highly recommend that all read this article.

Also: Here is a plug for Matt Alexander’s book, ‘How To Break A Terrorist’ ["break" being interrogator lingo for "breakthrough" a detainee's fears and resistance and establish trust].

In case you missed my Oxdown diary which gives the link to the video of the debate between ‘Our Guy’ Matt Alexander and David Rivkin, torture lawyer, I will give the link to it in the first comment.

(h/t to bluebutterfly in his comment at burqa’s Oxdown diary)

Recently the Canadian government has failed to comply with a court order to demand the release of Kadir, the Canadian citizen captured at age 15 and imprisoned in GITMO. The Canadian government waits, "saying repeatedly it would wait for the US proceedings to play out. “

Imagine yourself as one of these:

An old man in Afghanistan returning from market with a bag of tomatoes, pounced upon, handcuffed arms behind his back, tied on a lead rope with others of his fate like a horse or donkey, thrown into prison and abused, flown off to GITMO where all is foreign; – - waiting….

A powerless mother of 2 young children, wife of a militant husband with whom she has no influence, swooped down upon by gunbearing foreigners, not heard from since; if even alive – - waiting….

The 2 young boys ages either 6 and 8 or 7 and 9, powerless to influence any political or militant activity of anyone; assaulted in the night and hauled off to prison; starved for food and water for days to weaken their bodies and swell their brains; ants and other insects put on their legs to torture Read the rest of this entry →