I have just finished reading 'The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder' by Vincent Bugliosi, a US lawyer who prosecuted Charles Manson. It seems a cogent case for the indictment and prosecution of this man and raises some interesting issues concerning Blair and the way this country joined the US in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
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For those who might not be upto flying speed on the use of torture approved by the Bush regime, let me elaborate. The US felt that it was perfectly acceptable to 'waterboard'; use a confinement box; 'wall' and deprive suspects of sleep.
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'Waterboarding' is effectively taking the victim to the point of drowning; the confinement box was essentially a coffin' with the belief that a poisonous insect was enclosed in it; 'walling ' was slamming a suspect into a wall; 'sleep deprivation' involved not allowing a suspect to sleep for 48 hrs to 180 hrs (upto 7 days) by shackling in a standing position and keeping him awake.
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There is an aspect of obscenity in seeing Mrs Clinton concerned about how Iran has dealt with a US citizen who has been found guilty of spying: how would the USA have treated an Iranian in similar circumstances? Equally hypocritical was the recent 'walk-out' by Western Diplomats from a UN conference when The President of Iran was addressing the Conference and criticising Israeli 'racism' in its illegal occupation of Palestinian land and its recent actions in Gaza.
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The hypocrisy and cant that has emanated from the US to these shores, should worry us all as St George's Day comes to an end. Not only has this Labour administration undermined our constitution but it has undermined basic English concepts of honesty, truth, integrity, decency and right. This undermining of core values has seeped its pernicious way into our policing of quite restrained demonstrations and even own governance in Thanet by a TDC led by those who seem to lack any integrity.
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If I seem a little vehement this evening please forgive me. In the early 1960's I read avidly the accounts of the SOE and the heroism of those who survived long periods of interrogation and torture by the Gestapo and subsequent incarceration in Ravensbruch or Buchenwald.
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It suddenly dawned on me where I had first learned of 'waterboarding'. This was a favourite technique of torture used by the Gestapo. The heroic SOE members subjected to this treatment described the panic induced by the body as breathing pulls water into the lungs instead of air. To discover that since 2002, the US employed this very same technique no less than 183 times on just one suspect is frightening.
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How did we lose our way?
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Maybe, just maybe, we might see an American DA, file a suit against George W Bush but will we in the UK ever get to know about Blair/Brown and their connivance with the USA and its inhumane actions?
1 comment:
Japanese soldiers and officers who waterboarded American POWS during WWII were, after conviction, sentenced to 15 years hard labour.
During the Vietnam war waterboarding was declared illegal by US Generals. Soldiers were court-martialed and discharged from the Army.
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