http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bush-Administration-Losing-by-Barbara-Bellows-Te-080623-379.htmlDid you hear NPR’s Fresh Air on Thursday, June 19th?
If you did, you heard that for the rest of their lives, those who authorized, ordered and/or assisted with the decision to use the interrogation techniques that have been found to be TORTURE – which means Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and a team of lawyers that includes Addington, Bybee, Haynes, Yoo and more – cannot step outside the United States without being vulnerable to arrest and prosecution for war crimes.
It appears there is accountability beyond Pelosi’s table, with no time limit.
Dave Davies, sitting in for Terry Gross, interviewed Phillipe Sands, international human rights lawyer, British Queen’s Counsel, Director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals, Professor of International Law at University College London, and most recently author of Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values.
This was a lot more than a "driveway moment."
After a review of the evidence of Torture, particularly in relationship to Mohammed al-Qahtani, often referred to as 911's 20th highjacker, Sands used the example of Augusto Pinochet’s arrest in London decades after his reign of terror in Chile as the precedent for the detention of former heads of state.
He explained to Davies that these interrogation techniques fall within a universal jurisdiction of international crimes against humanity which any country has an OBLIGATION TO PROSECUTE if a person who was complicit in authorizing or ordering the crime to be committed shows up in that country – OR to EXTRADITE for such prosecution – even decades later – and that any immunity or pardoning that Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld, and their lawyers are currently trying to put in place will have absolutely no affect in the rest of the world.
Can we hear this? Bush/Cheney, and so many on their teams, cannot travel abroad without the possibility of being arrested – for the rest of their lives.
Hear that? It’s the truth busting through.
You should also know that Sands testified before the House Judiciary Committee on May 6 and the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 10th. Republican Senator Thad Cochran made an obnoxious attempt to shut down that Senate Hearing, but failed.
This is billions of points for our side, the side of knowing the truth.
And so we point it out. . .
Authors Bio: I am a working mom living in the very red state of Utah who began to really pay attention in 2003 and began sharing what I found out in 2004 -- with "Know Bush Facts", a series of 40 emailed statements that culminated with "Know Bush: Launching Facts That Shock & Awe, A One Person Patriot Act" -- a presentation of the best of the facts retold for theatre -- in October 2004. I continue to write about the hypocrisies I study, believing that what the Bush administration has done goes far beyond partisan disagreement and should be known. I've learned that it isn't that hard to discover the bit of information that puts the news we see into a much greater perspective. Bill Moyers (as Studs Terkel calls him, "my North Star") said on June 7, 2008 at the National Conference on Media Reform: "Look around. You're not alone, and you know what we need to know. So go tell it on the mountains and in the cities. From your websites and laptops, tell it. From the street corners and coffeehouse, tell it. From delis and diners, tell it. From the workshop and the bookstore, tell it. On campus, at the mall, the synagogue, sanctuary and mosque, tell it. Tell it where you can, when you can and while you can. Tell America what we need to know, and we may just rekindle the patriot dream." I don't need to bash. I don't even need to convince. I simply need to reveal what is going on behind the tap dancing.
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