Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Did Cheney Lie about Amnesty International and Admit to War Crimes?

host · 04-26-2006, 10:11 AM

Nearly a year has gone by since V.P. Cheney's little noticed "statements", televised on the May 30, 2005 episode of "Larry King Live" on CNN. In that interview, Cheney admits that Guantanamo detainees are POW's and that they were "captured on the battlefield",and that the U.S. is "at war". Cheney said that he does not take Amnesty International, "seriously"; a direct contradiction to the numerous citations of Amnesty International findings, found throughout communications from the white house, dod, and state department.

It seems to me that Cheney implicated himself, the POTUS, and other Bush administration officials, as war criminals, given the policies they put in place to violate the Geneva Conventions articles related to detaining and treating POW's, since Cheney admitted that the Guantanamo detainees are POW's. The administration has cited Amnesty International as a "reliable source", numerous times, in it's own public communications to justify it's policies.

What are we to believe? Are the Guantanamo detainees, POW's, as Cheney and Amnesty International have publicly stated? Is Amnesty International only accurate and reliable in instances where the Bush administration finds their reporting on human rights abuses, "useful", but wrong about reports of Geneva Convention violations related to treatment of U.S. military prisoners at Guantanamo? Are violations of the Geneva Conventions, on this methodical scale, war crimes?

Quote:

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr511642003
amnesty international

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Holding human rights hostage
24 December 2003

.....International law has been flouted from the outset. None of the detainees was granted prisoner of war status or brought before a competent tribunal to determine his status, as the Geneva Conventions require. (6) None has been granted access to a court to be able to challenge the lawfulness of his detention, as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights demands. (7) Lawyers have been denied access to the detainees, as have relatives. Hundreds of distressed families have become the "collateral damage" of this shameful policy.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has taken the unusual step of going public about the deterioration in mental health it has witnessed among many of the detainees as a result of the indefinite and isolating incarceration regime. While some prisoners have been released, without charge or apology, and more releases are awaited, the US authorities have yet to address the issue of compensation for unlawful detention.(8) Secretary of State Powell recently acknowledged that some of the detainees still held may have done nothing wrong. (9)

Other senior US officials have shown contempt for the presumption of innocence. The Guantánamo detainees are "among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth" according to the Secretary of Defence, (10). while his deputy has labelled them as "dangerous people... a special breed of person". (11) "The only thing I know for certain", President Bush added in July 2003, "is that these are bad people." (12) ......

6. <a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm">Article 5</a> of the Third Geneva Convention.
7. "Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful." (Article 9.4). The Human Rights Committee, the expert body established by the Covenant to oversee its implementation, has stated in an authoritative interpretation that "in particular the important guarantee laid down in paragraph 4, i.e. the right to control by a court of the legality of the detention, applies to all persons deprived of their liberty by arrest or detention", even those detained "for reasons of public security". General Comment 8.
8. "Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation." Article 9.5, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
9. Secretary Powell said of seven UK nationals held in Camp Delta that: "they have not yet gone through the entire intelligence and interrogation process that exists in Guantánamo to determine whether or not they have done something wrong". Interview with European Newspaper Journalists. Washington, DC, 25 November 2003.
10. American Forces Information Service, 27 January 2002.
11. Paul Wolfowitz, Interview with Jim Lehrer, News Hour, 21 March 2002.
12. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair Discuss War on Terrorism, Press Conference of President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, The Cross Hall, Washington DC, 17 July 2003.

Quote:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...30/lkl.01.html
CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Interview With Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney

Aired May 30, 2005 - 21:00 ET

KING: Amnesty International condemns the United States. How do you react?

D. CHENEY: I don't take them seriously?

KING: Not at all?

D. CHENEY: No. I -- frankly, I was offended by it. I think the fact of the matter is, the United States has done more to advance the cause of freedom, has liberated more people from tyranny over the course of the 20th century and up to the present day than any other nation in the history of the world. Think about what we did in World War I, World War II, throughout the Cold War. Just in this administration, we've liberated 50 million people from the Taliban in Afghanistan and from Saddam Hussein in Iraq, two terribly oppressive regimes that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of their own people. For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously.

KING: They specifically said, though, it was Guantanamo. They compared it to a gulag.

D. CHENEY: Not true. Guantanamo's been operated, I think, in a very sane and sound fashion by the U.S. military. Remember who's down there. These are people that were picked up off the battlefield in Afghanistan and other places in the global war on terror. These are individuals who have been actively involved as the enemy, if you will, trying to kill Americans. That we need to have a place where we can keep them. In a sense, when you're at war, you keep prisoners of war until the war is over with.

We've also been able to derive significant amounts of intelligence from them that helped us understand better the organization and the adversary we face and helped us gather the kind of information that makes it possible for us to defend the United States against further attacks. And what we're doing down there has, I think, been done perfectly appropriately. I think these people have been well treated, treated humanely and decently.

Occasionally there are allegations of mistreatment. But if you trace those back, in nearly every case, it turns out to come from somebody who had been inside and been released by to their home country and now are peddling lies about how they were treated.........

When it comes to Amnesty International, Cheney stated that he "does not take them seriously."Did the Bush-Cheney administration take any of it's own citations of Amnesty International, "seriously?.......

Quote:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...tion_Documents
The following are Bush Administration Documents and US Congressional Citations related to the main article Bush administration flip flops: Amnesty International (AI):

[edit]
White House Documents

* In a White House web presentation titled: "Renewal In Iraq (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/)", AI reports are cited on the
o "Saddam Hussein's Iraq (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/reasons.html)" webpage, and
o "Tales of Saddam's Brutality (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/tales.html)", quotes a newspaper article that cites AI.
* September 12, 2002 -A Decade of Deception and Defiance (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea.../20020912.html) - pdf file (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...iraqdecade.pdf)) A web release in support of a George W. Bush United Nations speech given the same day used at least six citations to AI Reports.
o Saddam Hussein's Repression of the Iraqi People (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ir...ade/sect4.html) - 5 citations.
o Saddam Hussein's Refusal to Account for Gulf War Prisoners (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ir...ade/sect6.html).
* December 2, 2002 - Press Briefing (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0021202-6.html) by Ari Fleischer.
* April 4, 2003 - Life Under Saddam Hussein (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0030404-1.html) - 1 citation.
* April 17, 2003 - Statement by the Deputy Press Secretary-United Nations Sanctions Cuba for Human Rights Violations (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0030417-4.html) - 1 citation.
* May 28, 2003 - Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...30528-5.html#l) - Fleischer both commends and condemns an AI Report released that day.- 1 citation.
* September 20, 2004 Statement by the Press Secretary (Scott McClellan) (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0040920-8.html) - "We welcome Libya's engagement with Amnesty International."

[edit]
Department of Defense Documents

* November 11, 2001 - The Taliban: A Well-Documented Legacy of Brutality (pdf file) (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2...011115brut.pdf) - 2 citations.
* July 31, 2002 - Transcript (http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/...31-secdef.html) of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's prepared testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee (rtf file (http://www.defenselink.mil/dodgc/olc...31Rumsfeld.rtf))- cites AI’s 2001 human rights report.
* March 12, 2003 - Transcript (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcrip..._t0312dsd.html) of Deputy Secretary Paul Dundes Wolfowitz Interview with Newsweek - 1 citation.
* March 27, 2003 - Press Stakeout at Senate (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcrip...327sdcjcs.html) - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers - 1 citation.
* March 28, 2003 - DoD News Briefing (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcrip...3_t0328sd.html) - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers - 1 citation.
* October 23, 2003 - Transcript of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Interview with Washington Times, Editorial Board (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcrip...ecdef0819.html) - 1 citation.
* June 23, 2004 Special Defense Department Briefing (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcrip...0623-0921.html) with Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England - The DOD sought input from AI about their annual review of Guantanamo Bay Detainees.

[edit]
Department of State Documents

Note: There are far too many to reference properly in this format.

* October 17, 2001 - The Taliban's Betrayal of the Afghan People (http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive_I...an_People.html) - 4 citations.
* November 22, 2001 - Al Qaeda and Taliban Atrocities (http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive_I...trocities.html) - 2 citations.
* March 4, 2002 - 2001 State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/).
o Paraguay (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/wha/8297.htm) - 10 citations.
o Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/eap/8330.htm) - 13 citations.
o Spain (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/eur/8343.htm) - 8 citations
o See also: State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/).
* December 2002 - IRAQ: From Fear to Freedom (http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/iraq/homepage.htm) '(pdf file (http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/iraq/iraq.pdf)) - A Human Rights Catastrophe (http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/iraq/homepage.htm) - 4 citations.
* February 2003 - Iraq: A Population Silenced (http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pub...d/homepage.htm) - The Missing Are Silent (http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pub...ed/missing.htm) - 3 citations.
* May 26, 2004 - Daily Press Briefing (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2004/32860.htm): Richard Boucher, Spokesman.

"We work with Amnesty International. We listen to Amnesty International. We have close ties. We talk to them all the time, share information." 

* September 14, 2004 - Eric Green, Human Rights Groups Call for Cuban Dissidents' Release from Jail (http://usinfo.state.gov/wh/Archive/2...14-955201.html) - 6 citations.
* September 14, 2004 - Eric Green, [ ... Human Rights Said to be Under Threat in Venezuela: Amnesty International faults "inadequate" response to abuses] - 4 citations plus weblink to report (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR530052004)
* March 18, 2005 - Eric Green, Human-Rights Abuses in Cuba Must Stop, Says Amnesty International: Group publishes new report on "prisoners of conscience" (http://usinfo.state.gov/wh/Archive/2...18-595711.html) in Cuba (Fidel, not Guantanamo) - 8 citations, plus weblink to AI's Report (http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR250022005).