This was the list of questions that we had compiled and various people who had tickets and went in submitted on note cards. But Don Shelby was apparently a fawning, admiring moderator and he only selected easy softball questions for Condi. Not one of these questions was selected for her to answer during the promised "unscripted Q andA".
GOOD, HARD QUESTIONS for CONDOLEEZZA RICE to encourage dialogue
(To be asked at anti-torture rally outside her speech, St. Louis Park, November 8th, 2009, organized by "Tackling Torture at the Top", a Committee of Women Against Military Madness; and endorsed by Veterans for Peace-Minneapolis Chapter; Anti-War Committee; and National Lawyers Guild-Minnesota Chapter)
(Re Indefinite Detentions) “In an interview with a Stanford student, while discussing the delay in the detainees' trials, you said, ‘Who kept us from holding the trials? Do your homework first. The Supreme Court.’ Was that because the Supreme Court mistakenly found unconstitutional the position of John Yoo-Robert Delahunty (now a professor at the University of St.Thomas Law School) memo claiming the Geneva Conventions did not apply? Or was it because Congress, at the behest of the Bush administration, passed an unconstitutional law?” ---Chuck Turchick
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, so called because it was adopted in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute is an international treaty, binding only on those countries which formally express their consent to be bound by its provisions. These countries then become "Parties" to the Statute. In accordance with its terms, the Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002, once 60 countries had become Parties. Today, 105 countries have become Parties to the Statute. Unfortunately, the United States, Russia, China and South Africa have declined to become Parties to the Statute. Will you work for the United States to sign this important treaty?” ----Dr. Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D. professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota and Genocide Intervention Network-Minnesota
"Were you present at meetings where the use of waterboarding was discussed? Did you protest?" --Doug Johnson, Executive Director of Center for Victims of Torture
“Does it bother you that the torture of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners inspired Iraqis to kill Americans for revenge?” ---John Coover
“Was your statement ‘We did not torture anyone’ consistent with reports or statements from the International Committee of the Red Cross, FBI interrogators, General Counsel to branches of our armed services, and our Military Commission judges? Please explain.” ----Chuck Turchick
“Let them go on a speaking tours and write books?....This is how we reward criminal behavior in our country?! It's sad and immoral.”---Jane Miles
“When you were National Security Advisor, when did the warrantless eavesdropping begin? And did the President or the lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel give their OK?” ---Sonja Johnson
“Chevron has been fined by the U.S. government for paying illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein from August, 2000 to Jan, 2001 during the time that you were on the Board of Directors of Chevron. What part did you play in the kickback scheme involving Saddam Hussein?” ---Roger Cuthbertson
“Why did you not heed the CIA’s ‘Presidential Briefs’ during the summer of 2001 like the one on August 6 entitled: ‘Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States’? Why did you lie and say it was only historical information? Please answer the 64 questions of the 9-11 widows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrgeuLb3dQ&feature=PlayList&p=EE19AD7A0DD8B697&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=56 “ ----Patty Guerrero
(Re Nuremberg Principles) “Regardless of whether internal law imposes a penalty, and regardless of whether the person acted as head of state, as a responsible government official, or was following orders even though a moral choice was possible, do you believe ‘any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible...and liable to punishment’? If not, which part of the Nuremberg Principles do you disagree with?” ---Chuck Turchick
“Given your position as National Security Advisor, how many black sites were used? How were they monitored? What happened to the sites? Why was the International Red Cross not told about the ‘black sites’”? ---Sonja Johnson
“When you said, ‘We did not torture anyone,’ were you aware of contrary reports or statements from the International Committee of the Red Cross, FBI interrogators, General Counsel to branches of our armed services, and our Military Commission judges?” ---Chuck Turchick
“Do you Condi, feel like a traitor to your people for lining up with the George W. Bush doctrine of corporate fascism?” ---Jane Evershed
“Under the United Nations Charter, are individual members -- with no Security Council action -- authorized to use military force to enforce Security Council resolutions?” ---Chuck Turchick
“Did Chevron name an oil tanker after you in a deal to get you to use your influence in Washington to help the Bush administration steal Iraq’s oil?” ---Roger Cuthbertson
(Re Extraordinary Rendition) “Recent State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices allege police officers in Egypt tortured 32 prisoners to death, in Syria there were numerous cases of security forces abusing and torturing prisoners and detainees, and in Uzbekistan torture and abuse were systemic throughout the investigative process since 2003. What was your involvement in sending prisoners or detainees to these countries, or to countries with similar human rights records as documented by our State Department?” ---Chuck Turchick
“Does the thought of someday being brought before an international court for being an accomplice to war crimes sometimes keep you up at night? It should.” ---Kathlyn Stone
“You have said that you didn’t order torture, but merely conveyed authorization for water boarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques. But the Convention Against Torture, Article 2, says, ‘An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.’ Doesn’t this suggest that you may be a war criminal?” ---Roger Cuthbertson
“Did you ever go to Uzbekistan? What is the human rights record there? What happened to the people rendered to ‘black sites’ in Uzbekistan? Do you know how many people were killed in U.S. military-controlled prisons? Do you know how many were killed in prison in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones?” ---Sonja Johnson
(Re Guantanamo a "model medium-security" prison) “In an interview with a Stanford student, you said, ‘Did you know that The Organization of
Security and Cooperation in Europe said Guantanamo was a model medium-security prison?...If you didn't know that, maybe before you make allegations about Guantanamo, you should read.’ Were you aware that the OSCE three years earlier had denied the report on which that allegation was based? Or that an official representative of the OSCE did in fact report ‘...that the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility is continuing to seriously tarnish the reputation of the United States in the world and enabling its enemies to devalue the fight against terrorism by substantiating the idea that it is incompatible with respect for the rule of law and for human rights?’” ---Chuck Turchick
“My question is: How can the U.S. dare to say ‘we do not torture’ when all the proof is there and has been for years? Why have we funded countries that torture with U.S. Tax money (and still do) and then say, the U.S. does not torture…a big bold lie!!!” ---Sister Alice Zachmann
“Didn't Jesus do something about tables, money, changing criminals into fundraisers? My memory...” ----Lisa Barr
“Why did you push for the war in Iraq in such strident terms, even suggesting that we might have to deal with a mushroom cloud if the U.S. didn’t crush your old buddy, Saddam Hussein? (Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack.)” ---Roger Cuthbertson
“Torture is an evil thing. You and others knew it was evil. You and they did it anyway? How could you?” –Patty Guerrero
“How could people in the U.S. (as this poll indicates) get so off-base from fundamental notions of right and wrong?
Should the people who developed the torture techniques used on terrorists be prosecuted?” ---Coleen Rowley
Yes. Torture is wrong, and the United States shouldn't be doing it. 39%
No. We're fighting dangerous foes, and we need to use dangerous methods. 61%
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