From The Memory Hole: Bush WH Statement Condemning Torture - After His Own Torture Program Began
By Logan Murphy Monday Jul 13, 2009 1:30pm
Since Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush/Cheney torture regime, I thought it might be helpful to post this statement released by George Bush himself back in June of 2003. Perhaps it might serve as motivation for both President Obama and Attorney General Holder. President Bush himself called for the prosecution of those who torture, so why hesitate to hold him accountable? (see bold text below)
Keep this in mind as you read it -- Abu Zubaydah had already been waterboarded over 80 times in August of 2002 and Kalid Sheik Muhammed was waterboarded some 183 times in March of 2003 and we still don't know the full extent of their torture program.
Statement by the President
United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Today, on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the United States declares its strong solidarity with torture victims across the world. Torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere. We are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law.
Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, ratified by the United States and more than 130 other countries since 1984, forbids governments from deliberately inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering on those within their custody or control. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes whose cruel methods match their determination to crush the human spirit. Beating, burning, rape, and electric shock are some of the grisly tools such regimes use to terrorize their own citizens. These despicable crimes cannot be tolerated by a world committed to justice.
Notorious human rights abusers, including, among others, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Zimbabwe, have long sought to shield their abuses from the eyes of the world by staging elaborate deceptions and denying access to international human rights monitors. Until recently, Saddam Hussein used similar means to hide the crimes of his regime. With Iraq's liberation, the world is only now learning the enormity of the dictator's three decades of victimization of the Iraqi people. Across the country, evidence of Baathist atrocities is mounting, including scores of mass graves containing the remains of thousands of men, women, and children and torture chambers hidden inside palaces and ministries. The most compelling evidence of all lies in the stories told by torture survivors, who are recounting a vast array of sadistic acts perpetrated against the innocent. Their testimony reminds us of their great courage in outlasting one of history's most brutal regimes, and it reminds us that similar cruelties are taking place behind the closed doors of other prison states.
The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy. I further urge governments to join America and others in supporting torture victims' treatment centers, contributing to the UN Fund for the Victims of Torture, and supporting the efforts of non-governmental organizations to end torture and assist its victims.
No people, no matter where they reside, should have to live in fear of their own government. Nowhere should the midnight knock foreshadow a nightmare of state-commissioned crime. The suffering of torture victims must end, and the United States calls on all governments to assume this great mission.
Login or Register to post comments.
Notorious human rights abusers, including, among others George Bush, Richard Cheney, must be held to account, to the fullest extent of the law.
bush's own words condemns him and most of his
administration for their decisions to torture
and to cover it up. cheney should be watching
his back now....the AG is coming for this also.
This is one occasion where the words of George W. Bush...
... Should be ringing loud and clear!
Logan,
Thank you for reminding us!
.
So why Is Obama and Emanuel stopping a TRUE investigation with the purpose of prosecuting Bush , Cheney or ANYONE that is involved in torture / crimes in the past Administration.
If there is an investigations it will be to pacify Americans and will not prosecute persons which have created criminal crimes and destroy our laws and constitution.
I believe there is something very strange the way Obama has changed his promises when running for president , to that of a corporate republican policy..
I also believe we have a serious problems with the supposedly democrats which are voting republican corporate policies while our country is be destroy and the very foundation is crumbing before our eyes..
The first objective necessary to reverse the destruction of our economy and laws is to create permanent jobs for AMERICAN workers and re-negotiate the free trade act if not to destroy it.. If you and I know that if we do not have jobs our nation is doom to failure , then the elected officials know the same thing.. So why are we still outsourcing our jobs and some with the bailout money given to the very people which has caused this economical disaster.. We can no longer send our military overseas to every fight which someone wishes to engage in for the benefit of the Global Empire for it's Global World Power..
Of course other nations are for the free trade bill because it has given them American jobs and wealth while we lose our wages , benefits , retirement and homes.
Just how much of our country's land , resources and businesses been sold to foreign countries and businesses now. For foreign citizens the lose of jobs is a blessing for them and they are getting deals when they buy our homes , land and businesses.
Just what polices has the government passed or illegally imposed on Americans which has really been a benefit for the working class in over 8 years..
Why is our government is meeting with the health "dealers" spending millions of dollars a day to enforce their wishes on American to pays for what they decide & wish the Health peddlers to give us for the profits for them.
Our government is suppose to create legislation for the benefit of the American citizen's wishes and welfare not for the wealth and power of this Global Empire which has been released in the past 8 plus years for Global dominates.
I'm about to search for video unless anyone already has it?
Bush: "War crimes will be prosecuted and it will be no defense to say, I was just following orders."
The video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkzUGguIKWA&fe...
Use his own words against him. Lying bastard!
Thanks for the link, Edwin.
No people, no matter where they reside, should have to live in fear of their own government.
Chalk up another W failure. What? No more chalk?
Better order some more from the special KBR subsidiary that exclusively supplies the government chalk.
...at only $500.00 per piece! (And half of them will not write.)
Bush was obviously saying you shouldn't torture your own citizens. Everyone else's are fair game, right? I mean, in their world view the earth is populated only by Americans and ants.
With the proliferation of taser incidents in American law enforcement, one could hardly say that Bush's America didn't torture its own citizens.
How do we send the video to Eric Holder????? Anyone...
People that know how, please, download, save, archive that video. If things start up it might be disappeared from the net.
Video? where dat?
With the election of a new administration, the world is only now learning the enormity of the Republican's three decades of victimization of the American people.
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
I'll forward the link to him now.
We probably all should.
why aren't Bush and Cheney already in the Hague?
and get the support?
I'm not optimistic with the media continuing to place emphasis on headlines like . .
Drinking Beer Is Now Good For The Environment
Same-Sex Penguin Couple In SF Zoo Split
Key Climate Bill Opponent Apparently Believes In Bigfoot
Bruno . . . . . . . .
Obama butt watch . . .
Are the chances better if we don't try?
Oh, come on, folks. Torturing those people didn't do us any harm.
Remember: they hate us for our freedoms. What's a little waterboarding gonna do, cause them to hate us MORE?
(Snark off. Just typing those words made me cringe.)
Oh, don't be silly. No one hates you for your freedoms. We hate you because you're assholes.
PEACE. ;)
(Not C&L-ers, of course)
Torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere.
George Bush and Richard Cheney abandoned human dignity.
George Bush and Richard Cheney abandoned American principle.
Perhaps cheney hadn't told bush yet that he had okayed the CIA to torture people. Who the fu*k knows what bush knew and what cheney allowed him to know? Chris Matthews went batshit crazy tonight all about cheney telling the CIA not to tell congress about certain programs. Mike Isikoff had to explain to Matthews what we all know, that cheney had structured things so that bush couldn't be held accountable for what was going on. He had learned that lesson from his Nixon days.
learned at the masters feet.
The picture of the RCA dog with his ear raised listening to the gramaphone still reminds me of Nixon and his crooks.
the RCA dog should have had his REAR raised for nixun, raygun, bush, and bush2.
New developements - tape reviels Nixon wanted lot's and lot's of wiretapping. Well, surprise surprise, surprise. Nixon really was a little Busch after all...
The artist who created it has talent.
The suffering of torture victims must end, and the United States people call on all branches of the US government to assume this great mission. We call on the equal but seperate branches to cooperate to this end.
George Bush and Richard Cheney have long sought to shield their abuses from the eyes of the world by staging elaborate deceptions and denying access to international human rights monitors. This is bad folks.
What's even worse is that Bush and Cheney are going to get away with it. They are laughing at us. It turns my stomach.
??
I'm getting nervous .....
Liz cheney will be on Morning Joe in the morning. Mika and the gang can do some serious ass kissing while Liz explains what this top secret mission was all about and how it was no big deal.
This post show the amazing Orwellian hypocrisy of a government that pretends to speak for human rights and does the complete opposite behind the scenes. Same with "spreading democracy", all bullshit rhetoric. The hegemony is for corporate interests not fictional altruism. Bush is a war criminal and must be brought to justice.
yes, very simple to see, yet pervasive enough to miss.
"I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, INVESTIGATING, and prosecuting all acts of torture."......Let the investigations begin!
Agreed!
Thanks for the reminder of just how classy the entire bush administration was throughout their entire tenure. I had kinda forgotten that...
Sort of puts everything into perspective, does it not?
Now let's hope that obama doesn't give us the opportunity to do the same kind of musing shortly after he has finished his tenure...
... video to any of the architects of our little foray into war crimes, they'd come back with the same, tired 'search for moral clarity' horseshit they spun for years while America (well, at least the conservative parts of it, and a bunch of incurious Democrats) slept on.
It's going to take someone who can stare these bastards down, shoot down their 'it's not torture' talk, their magic sparklies about national security and keeping us safe and how further examination of the facts will only aid the terrorists.
Without that, nothing will happen.
the way Cheney was monitoring it and taking feed back and changing the manner of torture. The analogy is Mengele.
And I am sure he and his colleagues enjoy watching the torture videos.
Not good overseas, good at home.
50 min Video is here
Some of the monsters learned their trade in US prisons.
... it reminds us that similar cruelties are taking place behind the closed doors of other prison states.
The United States, with the world's highest prison population and highest incarceration rate, ranks first in terms of the world's prison states. Parsing the above statement prompts the question of whether George objected to torture by others because it reminded him of what he himself was doing
.
FACT:
By Bush's own words, the events at US detention centers and "black sites" for rendition projects in Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Afghanistan, Jordan, U.S. warship USS Bataan, etc. that were carried out by "ORDERS", are illegal and should be investigated and prosecuted.
Too bad Congress can't be bothered to give a sh!t, NO?
R E M E M B E R:
When the DOD strained to assemble together a definition of what constitutes TORTURE, detainees that died due to harsh treatment died because they were...
... TORTURED TO DEATH!
Orders given...
... Orders followed.
And for those that think it was JUST a few bad apples...
... Can we then start with why doctors were present to ensure the detainee could be revived from the edge of death, just so that the process can be repeated. How about the doctors that went in at regular intervals to check a detainees condition who was shackled, arms stretched over head while standing, legs shackled too, for hours upon no end. And when they returned they find the detainee dead from asphyxiation due to the doctors not calling a halt soon enough? Because that's NOT just a few bad apples instead, it appears more like "ORDERS" given for a well thought out program that ...
... TORTURED PEOPLE TO DEATH.
.
If the DOJ does not investigate and prosecute these men, it is simply another sign that equality of justice in the USA is a myth and that the name "Department of Justice" is fraudulent.
Damn good question! Especially when to not prosecute is itself a criminal act. A prosecuter can't just refuse to prosecute murders and torturers just because it may upset some of the murders and torturers friends! Eric Holder either needs to begin prosecutions immediately or be immediately disbarred!
Allows Bush to ex post facto legally redefine his torture methods to cover his a$$. Congressional representatives pitched a huge hissy fit over it at the time but now refuse to Repeal it.
Login or Register to post comments.