Plan Would Allow Terror Suspects To Be Sent to Abuse-Prone Nations

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20040930/pl_washpost/a60779_2004sep29&e=2

The Bush administration is supporting a provision in the House leadership's intelligence reform bill that would allow U.S. authorities to deport certain foreigners to countries where they are likely to be tortured or abused, an action prohibited by the international laws against torture the United States signed 20 years ago. The provision, part of the massive bill introduced Friday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would apply to non-U.S. citizens who are suspected of having links to terrorist organizations but have not been tried on or convicted of any charges. Democrats tried to strike the provision in a daylong House Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) meeting, but it survived on a party-line vote.

The provision, human rights advocates said, contradicts pledges President Bush (news - web sites) made after the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal erupted this spring that the United States would stand behind the U.N. Convention Against Torture. Hastert spokesman John Feehery said the Justice Department (news - web sites) "really wants and supports" the provision.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said, "We can't comment on any specific provision, but we support those provisions that will better secure our borders and protect the American people from terrorists."

The provision is one of several items in the bill that Democrats say are unrelated to intelligence reform but Republicans say are important tools for fighting terrorists. The Senate is debating its own intelligence reform bill that does not include the provision, and the House bill is being marked up in several committees.
<snip>
Edited for burgundy. :toast:

Why does this not surprise me? Be sure to rate the story.

[arwalden]

1. In Our Next War (And There Will Be A Next War Under Bush)

there will be no American POW's that come home. Any American troop that's captured is as good as dead. Not just dead, but tortured and dead. Or tortured and tortured and tortured until he dies.

The Bush administration has just signed the death warrants of the next war's captured soldiers. (And there will be some... mistakes happen... sometimes the enemy hits a bit of good luck of their own.)

-- Allen

[NNN0LHI]

3. I think you mean they will be "abused" to death?

That is just one more example of the new double-speak brought to you by the Bush administration. Seen any "homicide" bombers lately?

Don

[arwalden]

5. Excellent Point, Don...

I know that compared to the understated and inaccurate Bush-speak, my rhetoric sometimes appears to be over-the-top exaggeration. Your translation in to their double-talk was exactly right. (You frighten me.)

-- Allen

[canuckforpeace]

2. It's already happening

Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, was detained at JFK airport and sent to Syria where he was tortured.

snip

"After being held apparently without access to legal representation, and despite being a Canadian citizen travelling with a Canadian passport, he was deported to Syria on October 7 or 8. After his arrival in Syria, he disappeared. The Canadian government was not contacted about Mr. Arar's case until October 10, 2002, after his deportation. He later was discovered to be in a Syrian jail."

snip


"In Canada, the New Democratic Party (NDP) pressured the government to do more to secure his return to Canada. The London-based Syrian Human Rights Committee (considered a credible source of information by Amnesty International) reported at this time that Mr. Arar was severely tortured after being imprisoned, and continued to receive physical abuse from time to time. The Syrian ambassador to Canada denied this."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar

[struggle4progress]

9. U.S. argues to throw out Arar's lawsuit

Canadian sues over deportation to Syria
Immigration acted legally, report says

MICHELLE SHEPHARD
STAFF REPORTER

The United States government is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Maher Arar, arguing that American officials cannot be held responsible for the treatment the Canadian citizen received in a Syrian jail.

The overarching argument in the 33-page motion to dismiss the Ottawa man's claim, released by the U.S. Department of Justice yesterday, is that Arar lacks the legal grounds to bring a suit against the U.S. government. <snip>

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1096495811840&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467&tacodalogin=no

[Crunchy Frog]

4. I thought that they already do that.

Is this just to formalize it? They're getting really brazen aren't they.

Hey, the rating is 4.76. We've actually gotten there before the freepers. I wonder how long that will last.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Bear in mind that freepers might actually like this

after all, the Repubs voted happily for it in Congress. For them, torture may be good - and this way, it's almost impossible to arrest an American for it.

[democracy eh]

7. if you are going to do it, use the front door, not the back

let the American people know that honestly you support the use of torture to keep them safe from terra-ists. If it really works, the Freeps should be proud of it and do it here, not hidden in a far corner of the world.

:puke:

f'ing fascists

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. Too true. EOM

[TrogL]

10. The CBC was all over this

They said the US administration wants foreign governments to do their torturing for them.

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. This article desrves a

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

12. kick

:kick: