Original Title
Look Who's Suddenly Insisting On The Presumption Of Innocence And The Right
To A Fair Trial...
When President Bush was confronted by reporters as he left the White House
for Camp David following the announcement of the five indictments of, and
the resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby, he offered up a lame comment, which at the same time exposed him
as a grotesque hypocrite.
"In our system," he said, "each individual is presumed innocent
and entitled to due process and a fair trial."
Sure. That's what will happen with Scooter, and with Karl Rove if he gets
indicted when the other shoe drops.
But what about Jose Padilla? This U.S. citizen, picked up at Chicago's O'Hare
International Airport back in 2001, has been held in a military brig without
charge, without access to an attorney, and in solitary confinement without
any contact with family members for four years because President Bush has
claimed the right, on his sole authority, to declare any American citizen
to be an "enemy combatant" and to revoke their Constitutional
rights and rights of citizenship.
No formal charges have been filed against Padilla. Instead, the Justice
Department has just made unsupported statements claiming first that he was
planning to build and detonate a dirty-nuke bomb, then dropping that and
claiming that he planned to blow up gas lines in apartment buildings. Since
Padilla is unable to contest these charges--or really even to know what
the charges are or who has been testifying against him--no one can know
their veracity.
In this case there is presumption of guilt, no due process, and no trial
whatsoever.
The same thing was been done to another American-born citizens, Yaser Esam
Hamdi, who was ultimately stripped of his birthright and deported to his
parent's homeland, Saudi Arabia, after the government had to admit that
it didn't have the evidence to try him as a terrorist. (The weakness of
the President's case in revoking Hamdi's citizenship rights and his right
to the fair trial Bush so ardently insists on as Libby's right, is that
the government has said it's willing to allow Hamdi to return to the U.S.
with his family to visit Disneyworld.)
And what, for that matter, about the thousands of Muslim residents in America
who have been rounded up and deported over the last few years without even
a hearing, often on charges of minor traffic or visa violations which they
were not given a chance to contest in court?
Clearly Bush does not really believe that everyone in America has a right
to the presumption of innocence and to a fair trial--only people in his
administration who are charged with serious crimes.
But as the noose starts to tighten on this administration for its lies in
the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, and for its many other crimes, from
initiating a war on a country that posed no threat to the U.S. to subverting
the electoral system and violating the Geneva Convention against torture,
it is understandable that this President is suddenly invoking the very Constitution
and Bill of Rights he has been trashing for the last five years.
Dave Lindorff
Reader Comment
----- Original Message -----
From: Mary-Sue
To: Educate-Yourself Adachi
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 4:59 PM
Subject: more on exposing torture of prisoners in Middle East
"The same thing was been done to another American-born
citizens, Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was ultimately stripped of his birthright
and deported to his parent's homeland, Saudi Arabia, after the government
had to admit that it didn't have the evidence to try him as a terrorist."
Those who claim Saudi Arabia doesn't torture prisoners are
strongly refuted in the case of William Sampson, a PhD biochemist who was
working in Saudi Arabia when he was arrested on the allegation that he participated
in a bombing. Sampson has now published a book CONFESSIONS OF AN INNOCENT
MAN: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison (McClelland and Stewart, 2005).
Some highlights are available at:
<http://www.mcclelland.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780771079030>
He was tortured so painfully it drove him finally to sign
a highly contradictory "confession". Eventually he resorted to
"dirty" protest - refusing to wash, and smearing himself with
feces, so that Muslim interrogators would be uncomfortable about dealing
with him. He accuses Canadian embassy officials -- especially one he nicknamed
"Muppet" -- of complicity with the torturers.
In the book he even ends up thanking his torturers, but not
the Canadian or British governments.
And what, for that matter, about the thousands of Muslim residents
in America who have been rounded up and deported over the last few years
without even a hearing, often on charges of minor traffic or visa violations
which they were not given a chance to contest in court?
Clearly Bush does not really believe that everyone in America
has a right to the presumption of innocence and to a fair trial--only people
in his administration who are charged with serious crimes.
But as the noose starts to tighten on this administration
for its lies in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, and for its many other
crimes, from initiating a war on a country that posed no threat to the U.S.
to subverting the electoral system and violating the Geneva Convention against
torture, it is understandable that this President is suddenly invoking the
very Constitution and Bill of Rights he has been trashing for the last five
years. Someone should tell him the Constitution is no longer in effect and
he can't exempt himself from what he's done.
-----------------------------------
As for those deported Muslims. Probably what's being done
is similar to what has been happening in Canada, which has also exported
alleged terrorists. See: <http://www.maherarar.ca/mahers%20story.php>
The Arar website. His wife Monia Mazigh ran for parliament in 2004 -- representing
the NDP, an opposition party.
<http://www.amnesty.ca/human_rights_issues/maher_arar_overview.php>
Amnesty International takes a dim view of exporting citizens for torture.
Maher Arar is not the only Muslim deported to the Middle East.
Last weekend the Ottawa Citizen featured the details about
Abdullah Almalka, who was also deported to Syria and tortured there. Apparently
the Canadian government which has not been doing torture itself, has turned
a blind eye to these deportations, simply transfers the torture to another
jurisdiction and lets another government conduct vicious interrogations.
Finally even Syria decided he wasn't a terrorist and let him leave. According
to the RCMP, however, he's still under suspicion. Under the anti-terrorist
laws, this federal police force can continue to say this and not give reasons.
Some Canadians are opposed to this officially-sanctioned violation
of human rights.
<http://www.notinourname.net/detentions/maher-arar-6nov03.htm>
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