After September 11, 2001, George W. Bush established the Guantánamo Bay prison to enable the United States to imprison non-Americans indefinitely outside the reach and protection of both U.S. and international law. The military commissions and their trial procedures, created under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, have been universally condemned by jurists, scholars and… Read more »
Category: Human Rights
Obama Spells New Hope for Human Rights
Celebrations of Barack Obama’s election as President of the United States erupted in countries around the world. From Europe to Africa to the Middle East, people were jubilant. After suffering though eight years of an administration that violated more human rights than any other in U.S. history, Obama spells hope for a new day. While… Read more »
NLG Urges United States to Sign and Ratify Treaty Banning Use of Cluster Bombs
NLG Also Renews Its Call for the U.S. to Ratify Land Mine Treaty New York. The National Lawyers Guild is disturbed to see that, once again, the rhetoric of the United States government about building peace and security is directly contradicted by its actions. While more than 100 countries met in Dublin and signed a… Read more »
Injustice at Guantanamo: Torture Evidence and the Military Commissions Act
The Bush administration has announced its intention to try six alleged al Qaeda members at Guantánamo under the Military Commissions Act. That Act forbids the admission of evidence extracted by torture, although it permits evidence obtained by cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment if it was secured before December 30, 2005. Thus, the administration would be… Read more »
The Torture Tape Cover-up: How High Does It Go?
When the hideous photographs of torture and abuse emerged from Abu Ghraib in the spring of 2004, they created a public relations disaster for the Bush administration. The White House had painstakingly worked to capitalize on the 9/11 attacks by creating a “war on terror.” Never mind the absurdity of declaring war on a tactic…. Read more »
Guantánamo Detainees’ Fate at Stake in Boumediene
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in Boumediene v. Bush. Most of the 34 detainees whose fate hangs in the balance in this case were brought to Guantánamo after being picked up by bounty hunters or tribesmen in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet the Bush administration has fought hard to keep them away from… Read more »
Unrepentant, Bush Denies Torture
The April 2004 publication of grotesque photographs of naked Iraqis piled on top of each other, forced to masturbate, and led around on leashes like dogs, sent shock waves around the world. George W. Bush declared, “I shared a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated.” Yet less than a… Read more »
Repression in Oaxaca: One Year Anniversary of State’s Bloody Attack on Popular Movements
There’s an Aztec legend of a warrior who was in love with a princess. When he left to go into battle, the lovers promised each other eternal love. The warrior died in battle, but to fulfill his promise to the princess, he came back as a brilliant orange flower. That flower now graces Flamboyan trees… Read more »
Conscientious Objector Faces Court-Martial
On March 6, the court-martial will begin in Germany for Army Specialist Augustín Aguayo, who faces up to seven years in prison for refusing to deploy to Iraq for a second tour of duty. His petition for habeas corpus was denied by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on February 16…. Read more »
Fool Us Twice? From Iraq to Iran
It’s déja vu. This time the Bush gang wants war with Iran . Following a carefully orchestrated strategy, they have ratcheted up the “threat” from Iran, designed to mislead us into a new war four years after they misled us into Iraq. Like its insistence that Iraq had WMD, the Bush administration has been hyping… Read more »