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Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent

Marjorie Cohn Truthout
Julian Assange “In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time...

Abu Zubaydah: Torture’s ‘Poster Child’

Marjorie Cohn Consortiumnews.com
The ugly legacy of George W. Bush’s torture program continues to haunt U.S. foreign policy as the “poster child” for waterboarding, Abu Zubaydah, makes an appeal for his release from Guantanamo, writes Marjorie Cohn.

The CIA's Torturers and the Leaders Who Approved Their Actions Must Face the Law

Chelsea Manning The Guardian UK
Torture and the mistreatment of detainees in the custody of intelligence personnel is, was and shall continue to be unethical and morally wrong. Under US law, torture and mistreatment of detainees is also very illegal. Even the most junior level intelligence officials know that this is, and has been, the case for decades. US torture programs were authorized at the highest levels of government knowingly violating US law.

New York Times Editorial: Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses

The Editorial Board, New York Times New York Times
The New York Times editorial - in the paper of record - demanded that those responsible for the vicious torture policies be brought to trial. Any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington; the former CIA director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos. There are many more names that could be considered.

How Ronald Reagan Made Genocide Possible in Guatemala

Benjy Hansen-Bundy, Robert Parry
Efrain Rios Montt, who ruthlessly ruled Guatemala in the early 1980s, is currently standing trial for genocide. The burden of justice and nation healing falls on the Guatemalan people: it is their dictator who stands trial and their people who suffered under him. But Americans (and Guatemalans) ought to remember that Rios Montt had big friends in Washington. President Bill Clinton apologized in 1999, saying that the U.S. support for the death squads "was wrong."
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