Saturday, May 08, 2004

Paving the way for torture

Okay, there are plenty of examples proving that these Abu Ghraib torture incidents were not the work of an aberrant bunch of untrained soldiers. Well, were not just that.

Here are a couple of pointers. In July 2002, the U.S. tried to block a UN measure to strengthen anti-torture laws*, and in July 2003, threatened the suspension of military aid to 50 countries if they would not agree to exempt Americans from war crimes prosecutions by the International Criminal Court, signing waivers for 22 countries who bowed to the demand.

The United States on Tuesday suspended military assistance to nearly 50 countries, including Colombia and six nations seeking NATO membership, because they have supported the International Criminal Court and failed to exempt Americans from possible prosecution.

As the deadline passed for governments to sign exemption agreements or face the suspension of military aid, President Bush issued waivers for 22 countries.
  article

*
The United States argued that the measure, known as a protocol, could pave the way for international and independent visits to U.S. prisons and to terror suspects being held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.


(Thanks to TJ for the links.)

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