Posted on February 20th, 2010 by Marian Houk
In today’s news:
Karzai says NATO still causes too many civilian deaths: “Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that NATO’s efforts to prevent civilian deaths during its operations are not enough because innocent people keep dying, as the military alliance continued its offensive in a key Taliban stronghold … Karzai said that NATO has made progress [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Afghanistan, International Humanitarian Law, Iraq, USA
Posted on May 1st, 2009 by Marian Houk
The Washington Post reports that the recent release of Justice Department [Office of Legal Affairs] memos [addressed to the CIA] authorizing the use of “harsh interrogation techniques” has given Army Pvt. Charles A. Graner Jr and other soldiers [including Lynndie R. England] “new reason to argue that they were made scapegoats for policies approved at [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Guantanamo, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Iraq, Torture
Posted on April 27th, 2009 by Marian Houk
A NYTimes oped piece today suggests that “Perhaps some new facts may yet emerge if Dick Cheney succeeds in his unexpected and welcome crusade to declassify documents that he says will exonerate administration interrogation policies [on harsh interrogation techniques -- meaning torture] . Meanwhile, we do have evidence for an alternative explanation of what motivated [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Iraq, Torture, USA
Posted on April 22nd, 2009 by Marian Houk
Released yesterday, a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Report states that “The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of ‘a few bad apples’ acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Guantanamo, International Humanitarian Law, Iraq, Torture, USA
Posted on April 20th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Abu Zubaydah “suffered an injury during capture” — he “sustained a wound during capture which is being treated”, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), Jay Bybee, wrote in a memo dated 1 August 2002, yet authorization was given to torture him anyway. One torture contemplated — but apparently not used — was [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Humanitarian Aid, International Court of Justice - ICJ, Iraq, UN History
Posted on December 14th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Bush himself says he is now trying to think of shoe jokes, but I am concerned that journalists all over the world will henceforth be made to remove their shoes before attending press conferences…
I also wonder how many will “defend until death” this journalist’s right to express his opinion about outgoing U.S. President George Bush’s [...]
3 Comments »
Filed under: Iraq, Journalism and Journalists
Posted on May 30th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Here are some excerpts from an apparently rare interview with Gore Vidal in last Sunday’s (25 May) issue of The Independent. The interview was done by Robert Chalmers:
“You would consider yourself to be living under a dishonourable regime?” “Absolutely.”
“With a corrupt president?” “Yes.”
“Who cheated his way to power?” “Oh, yes.”
“Is this the [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Iraq, Journalism and Journalists, USA
Posted on April 11th, 2008 by Marian Houk
The AP reported today that “U.S. authorities have said a U.N. Security Council mandate allows them to retain custody of a detainee they believe is a security risk even if an Iraqi judicial body has ordered that prisoner freed. The U.N. mandate is due to expire this year” …
This report concerned Bilal Hussein, [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Iraq, Journalism and Journalists, UN Security Council
Posted on March 6th, 2008 by Marian Houk
I received this by email, from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Geneva, and shall reproduce it here in its entirety almost without comment, except to point out that this concerns the Iraqi base camp of the military units of the Iranian opposition Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which has long been a thorn in [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Human Rights, Iran, Iraq, United Nations
Posted on February 29th, 2008 by Marian Houk
It is the first execution of Iraq’s former leaders that has been approved by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and two Iraqi vice presidents, apparently fulfilling all the legal requirements in the present Iraqi penal code in a way that the executions of (1) Saddam Hussein and (2) his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti (whose head was [...]
1 Comment »
Filed under: Iraq, USA, United Nations
