Thursday, December 29, 2005

Interrogations

Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, accused Vice-President Dick Cheney of committing war crimes related to prisoner abuse. Referring to two US Justice Department memos that list “permissible” interrogation techniques, Wilkerson singles out Cheney for his responsibility in the treatment of prisoners. The White House keeps the contents of these memos secret, which according to critics include techniques that violate “all national and international” laws regarding the treatment of detainees.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss justified the CIA’s interrogation techniques as “professional” and “legal.” However, both international and US law prohibit techniques like “waterboarding” in which the officials keep the detainee’s face under water to produce the sensation of drowning. The Bush administration states that the CIA should use “unique and innovative” means in interrogations, as long as “the victim” is a non-US citizen held abroad.
Although the US Justice Department received reports of detainee abuse by CIA officials at military prisons, the department does not intend to bring any charges against these officials. Cases include ill-treatment of prisoners, deaths resulting from intense beating, and torture during interrogations. This New York Times article questions whether the Justice Department's reluctance to prosecute those CIA officials implicated in the abuse is another way of disregarding international law and basic human rightsLawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, accused Vice-President Dick Cheney of committing war crimes related to prisoner abuse. Referring to two US Justice Department memos that list “permissible” interrogation techniques, Wilkerson singles out Cheney for his responsibility in the treatment of prisoners. The White House keeps the contents of these memos secret, which according to critics include techniques that violate “all national and international” laws regarding the treatment of detainees.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss justified the CIA’s interrogation techniques as “professional” and “legal.” However, both international and US law prohibit techniques like “waterboarding” in which the officials keep the detainee’s face under water to produce the sensation of drowning. The Bush administration states that the CIA should use “unique and innovative” means in interrogations, as long as “the victim” is a non-US citizen held abroad.
Although the US Justice Department received reports of detainee abuse by CIA officials at military prisons, the department does not intend to bring any charges against these officials. Cases include ill-treatment of prisoners, deaths resulting from intense beating, and torture during interrogations. This New York Times article questions whether the Justice Department's reluctance to prosecute those CIA officials implicated in the abuse is another way of disregarding international law and basic human rights.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Guerilla Tactics

Guerilla tactics are based on ambush, sabotage, and espionage, and their ultimate objective is usually to destabilize an authority through long, low-intensity confrontation.
The freedom fighter will assume the role of friend of the people and attempt to assist them in their resistance to the Amerikan Government.
When freedom fighters obey the laws of conventional warfare they are entitled, if captured, to be treated as ordinary prisoners of war; however, they are often executed by their captors.