US General Accuses Bush Administration of War Crimes

Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba (now retired) served as the deputy commanding general for support for the Third Army for ten months in Kuwait during the early days of the Iraq occupation. In a statement released today, he bluntly accuses the Bush administration of war crimes and lays down a challenge for prosecution.

In 2004, Taguba released a classified report detailing abuses committed at Abu Ghraib Prison. The "Taguba Report" (executive summary) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4894001/ urged Pentagon officials to follow up on its findings by enforcing adherence to the Geneva Conventions in interrogations.

Taguba retired in January 2007, later alleging that Pentagon officials had ordered him to retire for being "overzealous" in his criticisms of the military.
In light of ongoing Congressional investigations into so-called harsh interrogation techniques, and on the heels of Congressman Dennis Kucinich recently issuing articles of impeachment accusing President Bush of, among other offenses, authorizing torture, we present Taguba's latest statement for your consideration.
The full Physicians for Human Rights report outlining the medical evidence of torture perpetrated by the United States can be read at their website.

physicians for Human Rights
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives

By: Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, USA (Retired)

Maj. Gen. Taguba led the US Army's official investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and testified before Congress on his findings in May 2004.

This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words: It is scrawled for the rest of these individuals' lives on their bodies and minds. Our national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these men received from their captors.

The profiles of these eleven former detainees, none of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they were detained, are tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever justified. Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted - both on America's institutions and our nation's founding values, which the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-bound to defend.

In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded. The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. And the healing professions, including physicians and psychologists, became complicit in the willful infliction of harm against those the Hippocratic Oath demands they protect.

After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

The former detainees in this report - each of whom is fighting a lonely and difficult battle to rebuild his life - require reparations for what they endured, comprehensive psycho-social and medical assistance, and even an official apology from our government.

But most of all, these men deserve justice as required under the tenets of international law and the United States Constitution.
And so do the American people.

---------

Also See: Human Rights Group Says It Has Proof of Detainee Abusehttp://www.truthout.org/article/human-rights-group-says-it-has-proof-detainee-abuse


Original Story Web site (Truthout)
http://www.truthout.org/article/us-general-accuses-bush-administration-war-crimes

Blackwater = Cover up!! Cover Up!! Cover Up!!

By: Stewart Brennan

George Bush gave Condoleezza Rice the task of extending diplomatic immunity to the Blackwater SS agents who killed 17 innocent people in Iraq last month. Washington wants to sweep this unprovoked shooting incident in Iraq under the table and protect Blackwater from any fall out. I say, kill this terrorist organization called Blackwater NOW! Smash their ability to hurt another soul on this planet and seize their assets and suspend their permits to carry guns.

Bush wants to keep his Secret Security called Blackwater free from prosecution and have extended government protection and immunity to a bunch of thugs and criminals. If the American Congress allows this to be swept under the table, then all the people of the World will see your country as an untrustworthy EVIL empire capable of the worst horrors.

Trust is the basis of any friendship, and the USA has betrayed every nation on the Planet by stating that Blackwater operatives are above the law. The Blackwater terrorists are running amok and are out of control. Its time to shut them down!!!

Can YOU claim diplomatic immunity for shooting and killing people?

Blackwater: The American Terrorist Organization

http://worldunitednews.blogspot.ca/2007/10/blackwater-american-terrorist.html

Washington Post Article: Immunity Jeopardizes Iraq Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/29/AR2007102901266.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Washington Post Article (Oct 31st, 2007): Senior Democrats Want Blackwater Case Details
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/30/AR2007103000423_Comments.html

-------------------------------------------

UPDATE: 2014 – Oct 23

Guilty as charged: Blackwater guards convicted for 2007 Iraq shooting

Source: Russia Today

http://youtu.be/qUNCgzXNDOM
-----------------------------------

UPDATE: 2015 April 13

Emails reveal US officials undermining Blackwater case

Former Blackwater security guards, from left: Paul A. Slough, Dustin L. Heard, Nicholas A. Slatten and Evan S. Liberty.

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/04/13/406067/Behind-scenes-of-Blackwater-case-revealed

The FBI agents have found out that senior officials in the US Justice Department intentionally attempted to undermine the case of Blackwater security guards’ fatal shooting of Iraqi civilians in 2007, internal emails revealed.

The FBI has planned to charge the American contractors with crimes, including weapons charges, manslaughter and attempted manslaughter that could send them to prison for the rest of their lives.

Several emails, obtained by the New York Times, however, revealed that the department’s senior officials were against the move and sought to drop some of the charges in an effort to lighten the sentences.

In September 2007, Blackwater security guards opened fire on unarmed Iraqi people near a bustling traffic circle with machine guns and grenade into Baghdad’s crowded Nisour Square, killing at least 17 people and wounding several others.

In December 2008, as the Justice Department prepared to ask a grand jury to vote on an indictment, the lead FBI agent, John Patarini received an email from Kenneth Kohl, a federal prosecutor who had written, “We are getting some serious resistance from our office to charging the defendants with mandatory minimum time.”

Patarini, however, replied, “I would rather not present for a vote now and wait until the new administration takes office than to get an indictment that is an insult to the individual victims, the Iraqi people as a whole, and the American people who expect their Justice Department to act better than this.”

He also forwarded it to colleagues and superiors.

Four former Blackwater contractors are scheduled to be sentenced at a federal court on Monday. Dustin L. Heard, Evan S. Liberty, Nicholas A. Slatten and Paul A. Slough were convicted at trial in October.

The Department is seeking sentences of 57 years for Slough, 51 years for Liberty, 47 years for Heard and life in prison without parole for Slatten.

Last week, federal prosecutors wrote in court documents that “the crimes here were so horrendous — the massacre and maiming of innocents so heinous — that they outweigh any factors that the defendants may argue form a basis for leniency.”

An FBI supervisor, Andrew McCabe, encouraged top FBI officials to continue with the case, saying the Justice Department was “delaying and reducing” the indictment.

“This is the latest in what has become a troubling habit by DOJ,” he wrote.

The Attack on Your Freedom

By: Stewart Brennan

There is an all out attack on the freedom loving people of the United States by its Government. Your liberty as free people in the U.S. will fall victim to Security Corporations such as Blackwater if they are not challenged and put in prison.

I bet Blackwater would do a good job for the Bush family when it comes to security at the poles come election time in 2008. That is, IF there is an election, because now, all that needs to happen in the USA for there not to be an election is an economic depression. Bush could declare martial law and suspend all elections given his new executive powers!

That economic depression is well on its way.

The Bush Family and the Oligarchy that they serve are planning an economic collapse in the USA. George Bush could then declare martial law with his specially trained security forces and suspend elections when the economic depression unfolds. George Bush could then invoke Martial Law and his dictatorship would then be complete and no dictatorship is complete without its secret service (SS).

Blackwater and other security organizations are contracted to fill that spot. Blackwater did such a great job for the White House in Iraq (Sarcasm), I bet they could beat and suppress children speaking out in high schools just as effectively. Have they been hired as school security guards yet? How about social security, oh that’s right Bush says there is no more money for helping out Americans down on their luck. There will be no social security, because George Bush believes that Blackwater should be your social security…had enough yet my American friends? Are you tired of seeing your children beaten up for speaking out, or getting broken arms for dropping cake on the floor in a high school cafeteria?

Government Hijacked:

When Republican George Bush asked for an extra 190 billion dollars, Congress gave it to him. A congress with a Democratic majority I might add, who rode the anti war protest of the American people in 2006…votes overwhelmingly in favour of funding the illegal war in Iraq. Did you, “the American people” give your politicians the authority to wage a continuing war?! I thought you voted against it? Maybe your government is not listening to you anymore. Are they not supposed to be working for you?

The American politicians and their rich corporate sponsors have declared war on the American people. You no longer have a division of 2 political parties but one government that wants war, save two presidential hopefuls (Ron Paul, & Dennis Kucinich). The American Oligarchy has hijacked the American government and is pulling on the leash. The harder the American public cries foul, the harder and louder this group pushes their congressional employees to support the Bush directive. They are at War with YOU!

Internal Security Crackdown:

US Security is handled by groups like Blackwater…think about that one for a minute. These guys will be at your airports, train stations, Government buildings, in your schools, and at every poling station. They shoot first and don’t ask questions. These arrogant thugs, or hired guns don’t answer to anyone! They are the Bush Family’s secret security or SS for short. Similar to Hitler’s Patriotic SS, these sick murdering Blackwater individuals are so ruthless, they make Hitler seem like a Yosemite Sam cartoon character.

Higher Morals Must Prevail:

There MUST be a crackdown on ALL private security companies with regulations put in place to protect the American citizens from being brutalized victims from a rising totalitarian state! Don’t wait for Bush’s elected term to end, get him NOW…before its too late. If there is still something worth fighting for in the USA, it is your children! Protect your children and grandchildren from these ruthless thugs!

Stewart