posted on January 14, 2002 01:32:52 AM new
........Home of the Hypocrite.
Every year since 1977 the U.S. State Department has issued forth a report called 'Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' in which the United States decries to the world all of it's perceptions of the abuses of human and civil rights by the governments of other countries around the world.
In last year's report, for example, the State Department gravely commented on the difficulties in getting a fair trial in Iraq where there are "special security courts" which "hear cases in secret" and, worse, "many cases appear to end in summary execution, although defendants may appeal to the President for clemency". That president would be Saddam Hussein, a man second only to Osama bin Laden in contemporary America's roll call of evildoers.
What will the department say this year, now that the Bush Administration has responded to the September 11 terrorist attacks by setting up military tribunals where suspected terrorists can be tried secretly, after which they can be put to death with their only avenue of appeal being the president or defence secretary?
The report for this year is due out soon. I'll bet they release it as usual without batting an eye.
posted on January 14, 2002 12:39:29 PM new
Aw, C'mon KRS. You know it's only a human rights violation if they do it, not if we do it. They are the "evil doers". We are the "good guys" .
posted on January 14, 2002 01:24:39 PM new
Human Rights violation....what a laugh. No matter who gets voted in as being bad, nothing is done about it anyway. These places are listed in Travel Guides as "challenging places to go".
posted on January 14, 2002 05:48:49 PM new
Hearing cases in secret is nothing new in America. The Grand Jury system was set up to allow witnesses to organized crime to testify in secret in order to protect their safety. These days, the system is abused as district attorneys everywhere routinely use the Grand Jury system to get indictments that otherwise they would not have enough evidence for. After the indictment, they pressure the accused with multi-decades of prison time for the slightest of offences in order to get them to plea bargain and plead guilty to lessar charges. That insufficient evidence is no longer cause for a district attorney to rethink the case, this abuse of the system goes on and on and little to no justice for the accused.
