Sunday, December 4, 2011

War Criminal Obama's Black Hole of Bagram

Obama has quintupled the size of the American torture facility near Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.  Here's what he's having done to people there:
And we shouldn't forget that it doesn’t end there. This report released about a year ago now from the Open Society Institute had human rights researcher Jonathan Horowitz investigate a little-known black site run by U.S. Special Operations forces adjacent to the Bagram facilities. The report detailed “sleep deprivation, holding detainees in cold cells, forced nudity, physical abuse, detaining individuals in isolation cells for longer than 30 days, and restricting the access of the International Committee of the Red Cross.” Add to that further the two teenagers, Issa Mohammad, then 17, and Abdul Rashid, then 16,  told the Washington Post that they were subjected to all of these abuses, including being punched and slapped in the face. One prisoner at this site, which the US military denied even existed, lost an entire row of teeth from being hit in the face with the butt of gun by an American soldier while in custody.
Many of these prisoners are the product of the night raids Obama has intensified, that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent men, women and children.  According to some U.S. military personnel, only half of the prisoners might even be guilty of the "crime" of fighting the occupation of their own country:
Another report by the Open Society Institute reported that Obama’s use of night raids has more than tripled in Afghanistan. “An estimated 12 to 20 night raids now occur per night,” according to the report, “resulting in thousands of detentions per year, many of whom are non-combatants.” And many of the associated tactics, like “mass detention operations, holding entire villages for questioning on site for prolonged periods of time,” may violate international law. I would venture to guess many of these thousands of prisoners being treated like cattle in Bagram were originally picked up in night raids, which senior commanders in the Joint Special Operations Command said get the wrong guy about 50 percent of the time.
When is Obama going to be held accountable for these crimes? 

We knew Bush was a war criminal before the 2004 election, and he was reelected anyway.  Obama is bound to remain in office until January 20, 2017.  I suppose that - like W - he will have to severely limit his international travel after that date:

Amnesty International has called for several African nations to arrest and detain former President George W. Bush for authorizing the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture.
Mr. Bush is visiting Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia this week to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer and HIV/AIDS.

The international human rights group's written statement recognizes the value those goals, but says it "cannot lessen the damage to the fight against torture caused by allowing someone who has admitted to authorizing waterboarding to travel without facing the consequences prescribed by law."

The organization called for the governments of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to arrest Mr. Bush and "to secure his presence during the investigation" of "his alleged involvement in and responsibility for torture."

It is not the first time human rights groups have called for Mr. Bush's arrest. Amnesty called for his arrest in October during a visit to Canada and the former president canceled a visit to Switzerland in February on fears that he may have faced legal action there.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama will never be held accountable. I firmly believe this is why he adopted his "look forward, not back" approach. It wasn't to heal the country from its 8-year Bush nightmare. It was to create a precedent in hopes of sparing his own criminal ass from prosecution by its successor for his own administration's continued Bush's illegal policies.

Cue the "Who would you rather have in the oval office, Obama or a Republican?" chorus.

NEVER do they address Obama's war crimes; they pretend they don't exist. But they do and I thank you for continuing to hammer this nail!

KaJo said...

No, I'm not going to ask "Who would you rather have in the oval office, Obama or a Republican?"?

I'm going to ask of you, Phil, and the always-Anonymous instigator at 6:49 PM,

"When did you two become Sarah Palin?"

Wasn't it Sarah Palin who ranted about President Obama to the point her wingnuts began carrying guns to the President's events? Wasn't it Sarah Palin who made a point of displaying a graphic with crosshairs on 20 candidates in 2010, and one of those was shot 9 months later?

Then you hint at "the ultimate solution", referring to Bush and his fear of traveling out of the country for fear of being arrested or assassinated.

Maybe you ought to think twice before writing "war criminal" next to President Obama's name, before you become the inspiration for another Lee Harvey Oswald (a far LEFT assassin) or Jared Loughner.

Write about the atrocities at Bagram all you want, to publicize them. Just write responsibly, without LEFT wingnut inflammatory hate rhetoric.

Anonymous said...

That all you got, KaJo? BTW, is that nickname supposed to identify you any more than "anonymous" would?

You are really trying to conflate criticism of Obama and accurate comparison of his war crimes with Bush's into a call for Obama's assassination?

And you dare to call US Sarah Palin?!

You are one sickass, desperate puppy. Not to mention, backwards.

Rightwing nutjobs don't go after Obama for following so closely in Bush's footsteps. They go after him for NOT following in Bush's footsteps.

Of course, they're so blinded by rightwing hate they're too stupid to know the difference - but I wouldn't have thought you were that stupid. OTOH, you seem to be just as blinded by uncritical love for an ambitious, Wall Street-oriented, sellout-to-Republicans politician that you refuse to see where he is just like Bush.

So, my mistake.

I'm so glad I hold them all the same standard... R or D. It saves me from having to twist myself into painful knots all the time.

Anonymous said...

the above points would be better accepted by the rest of us without the name calling and bitterness. make your points and let them speak for themselves.

Anonymous said...

You're right, 7:53. Accusing somebody of inspiring the next Lee Harvey Oswald because they pointed out Obama's war crimes is pretty harsh.

Philip Munger said...

KaJo,

What is going on at the black sites at Bagram IS a war crime. Your refusal to acknowledge it for what it is saddens me. What good does it do to not label a war crime as one?

Anonymous said...

Phil

Are you going to vote for a war criminal?

If so, then you really do not believe that these "war crimes" are that big a deal.

Phil you are a hypocrite. But then aren't we all?

Philip Munger said...

"Are you going to vote for a war criminal?"

--- I'm beginning to think that I cannot. Any good things he may have done seem to be trumped by this basically inhumane and illegal blemish.

how about you?

Anonymous said...

no

Truth is there is no one to vote for.

The one candidate who is the most honest is Ron Paul, but.... integrity is is not enough.

Now I wish Hillary had won, but I would probably be disappointed with her too, but she would have been better than Obama.

Since perfect is not available, I will join the majority of Americans in voting for the least evil choice.

I wish I had someone to voter for ... instead of just voting against Obama.

Anonymous said...

Phil, I assume you have seen this. http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/02/wikileaks-obama-administration-secretly-worked-to-prevent-prosecution-of-war-crimes-by-the-bush-administration/

Not too surprising.


Blue_in_AK