A Cruel and Unusual Record
By JIMMY CARTER
Published: June 24, 2012
,,,
THE United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.
Revelations
that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad,
including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof
of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended. This
development began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has
been sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative
actions, without dissent from the general public. As a result, our
country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical
issues.
While the country has made mistakes in the past, the widespread abuse of
human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the
past. With leadership from the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
was adopted in 1948 as “the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in
the world.” This was a bold and clear commitment that power would no
longer serve as a cover to oppress or injure people, and it established
equal rights of all people to life, liberty, security of person, equal
protection of the law and freedom from torture, arbitrary detention or
forced exile.
The declaration has been invoked by human rights activists and the
international community to replace most of the world’s dictatorships
with democracies and to promote the rule of law in domestic and global
affairs. It is disturbing that, instead of strengthening these
principles, our government’s counterterrorism policies are now clearly
violating at least 10 of the declaration’s 30 articles, including the
prohibition against “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.”
Recent legislation has made legal the president’s right to detain a
person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist
organizations or “associated forces,” a broad, vague power that can be
abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress (the law
is currently being blocked by a federal judge). This law violates the
right to freedom of expression and to be presumed innocent until proved
guilty, two other rights enshrined in the declaration.
In addition to American citizens’ being targeted for assassination or indefinite detention, recent laws have canceled the restraints
in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to allow
unprecedented violations of our rights to privacy through warrantless
wiretapping and government mining of our electronic communications.
Popular state laws permit detaining individuals because of their
appearance, where they worship or with whom they associate.
Despite an arbitrary rule that any man killed by drones is declared an
enemy terrorist, the death of nearby innocent women and children is
accepted as inevitable. After more than 30 airstrikes on civilian homes
this year in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has demanded that such
attacks end, but the practice continues in areas of Pakistan, Somalia
and Yemen that are not in any war zone. We don’t know how many hundreds
of innocent civilians have been killed in these attacks, each one
approved by the highest authorities in Washington. This would have been
unthinkable in previous times.
These policies clearly affect American foreign policy. Top intelligence
and military officials, as well as rights defenders in targeted areas,
affirm that the great escalation in drone attacks has turned aggrieved
families toward terrorist organizations, aroused civilian populations
against us and permitted repressive governments to cite such actions to
justify their own despotic behavior.
Meanwhile, the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, now houses 169 prisoners. About half have been cleared for
release, yet have little prospect of ever obtaining their freedom.
American authorities have revealed that, in order to obtain confessions,
some of the few being tried (only in military courts) have been
tortured by waterboarding more than 100 times or intimidated with
semiautomatic weapons, power drills or threats to sexually assault their
mothers. Astoundingly, these facts cannot be used as a defense by the
accused, because the government claims they occurred under the cover of
“national security.” Most of the other prisoners have no prospect of
ever being charged or tried either.
At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United
States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and
principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of
international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends.
As concerned citizens, we must persuade Washington to reverse course and
regain moral leadership according to international human rights norms
that we had officially adopted as our own and cherished throughout the
years.
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, is the founder of the Carter Center and the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
NY Times: A Cruel and Unusual Record
June 25, 2012 by cillamccain
Photo Credit: ABC News
Please take note. This is not a Partisan issue, and although he barely mentions that American’s are targeted, it is an American Human Rights issue.
- The RSN Team
+41
#
2012-06-26 12:58
The US has always pretended to be the protector of Human Rights and then sold other countries out to dictatorships!
+33
#
2012-06-26 14:31
John -
I assume neither you nor epmorgan are arguing that the trend isn't substantially worse now -- both in magnitude and the fact that high-level officials can now openly admit to war crimes and other human rights abuses without the slightest fear of being held accountable.
I assume neither you nor epmorgan are arguing that the trend isn't substantially worse now -- both in magnitude and the fact that high-level officials can now openly admit to war crimes and other human rights abuses without the slightest fear of being held accountable.
+18
#
2012-06-26 16:13
Mr. Locke, is anyone
aware of what's going on in Latin America since Obama took office? Your
statement that the U.S. has sold other countries out to dictatorships is
exactly what happened in Paraguay.
As much as I hated GWB & Dick Cheney, in the 8 years that we all had to endure GWB as dictator, not one Latin American country was overthrown by a coup, not one. The Bush admin left Latin America alone.
Since Obama took office in Jan of 2009, we've so far had two successful coups in Latin America in which dictatorships have replaced a democratically-elected leader, & an attempt at a 3rd coup is now being made in Bolivia to overthrow Evo Morales.
It's my contention that the Obama admin is behind these coups, having full knowledge of them before they actually take place & giving whatever support it can towards their fruition. It's my contention that the successful coup that took place in Honduras was fully known & supported by the Obama admin before it actually was carried out, that the theatrics by the Obama admin that took place immediately following the Honduran coup, initially condemning it, was strictly for public consumption.
Now we have DEA agents in Honduras murdering innocent people, a situation that never would've existed under Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected leader that was overthrown. If Evo Morales is overthrown, the U.S. will have control of our lithium deposits under Bolivia's soil.
As much as I hated GWB & Dick Cheney, in the 8 years that we all had to endure GWB as dictator, not one Latin American country was overthrown by a coup, not one. The Bush admin left Latin America alone.
Since Obama took office in Jan of 2009, we've so far had two successful coups in Latin America in which dictatorships have replaced a democratically-elected leader, & an attempt at a 3rd coup is now being made in Bolivia to overthrow Evo Morales.
It's my contention that the Obama admin is behind these coups, having full knowledge of them before they actually take place & giving whatever support it can towards their fruition. It's my contention that the successful coup that took place in Honduras was fully known & supported by the Obama admin before it actually was carried out, that the theatrics by the Obama admin that took place immediately following the Honduran coup, initially condemning it, was strictly for public consumption.
Now we have DEA agents in Honduras murdering innocent people, a situation that never would've existed under Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected leader that was overthrown. If Evo Morales is overthrown, the U.S. will have control of our lithium deposits under Bolivia's soil.
+6
#
2012-06-26 18:30
the 0 is culpable for
sure. There is NOTHING political or financial that goes on in the OAS
contries that the US does not okay, orchestrate, rubberstamp, facilitate
and know fully about.
Ruthless elimination of the opposition has been going on south of the US border for over a century...in all countries.
0 is a criminal and head of a criminal organization...without doubt.
Ruthless elimination of the opposition has been going on south of the US border for over a century...in all countries.
0 is a criminal and head of a criminal organization...without doubt.
+1
#
2012-06-26 23:12
Mr. Mencher,
I don't know if U.S. involvement in the coup attempt against Hugo Chavez was ever proven, but at the very least the Bush administration likely knew about it and approved of it.
I don't know if U.S. involvement in the coup attempt against Hugo Chavez was ever proven, but at the very least the Bush administration likely knew about it and approved of it.
0
#
2012-06-27 04:18
"It is my contention"
That means the same as "I believe" doesn't it? A person so worried
about injustices certainly wouldn't make such outlandish comments
without any proof. But, you seem to have ommited those very important
items from your comments. I'm certainly glad you are not a judge. Maybe
you might make a seat on the supreme court though.
0
#
2012-06-27 07:06
Evidence did come out
after the coup in Honduras that the Obama administration knew that it
was going to happen before it happened. It came out on news programs
that are not considered part of the mainstream news media, programs like
Democracy Now as well as news articles that Hillary Clinton was part of
a meeting well before the coup occurred in which this planned coup was
discussed.
What I find very interesting is that whenever a coup occurs in a nation that is not in our so-called hip pocket, and Honduras wasn't in our hip pocket when Manuel Zelaya was president of Honduras, the U.S. either doesn't condemn the coup or acts in a completely lukewarm manner to it as occurred after the Honduran coup. If, by chance, a coup occurs in a country that we do have in our hip pocket, Godforbid, the U.S. will make the biggest stink about it and do everything in its power to undo it, at times even threatening to send in U.S. (or U.N.) forces.
The people in Honduras have the legal right to overthrow the current illegal government running their country, but, if they do, watch the difference in how the U.S. reacts.
In any case, what happened in Honduras was not only illegal by international law, but by agreement of all the OAS member countries. The U.S. should've never recognized the new government, but we did. Why?
There will be many more coups happening in Latin America unless the leaders in the region wake up to reality.
What I find very interesting is that whenever a coup occurs in a nation that is not in our so-called hip pocket, and Honduras wasn't in our hip pocket when Manuel Zelaya was president of Honduras, the U.S. either doesn't condemn the coup or acts in a completely lukewarm manner to it as occurred after the Honduran coup. If, by chance, a coup occurs in a country that we do have in our hip pocket, Godforbid, the U.S. will make the biggest stink about it and do everything in its power to undo it, at times even threatening to send in U.S. (or U.N.) forces.
The people in Honduras have the legal right to overthrow the current illegal government running their country, but, if they do, watch the difference in how the U.S. reacts.
In any case, what happened in Honduras was not only illegal by international law, but by agreement of all the OAS member countries. The U.S. should've never recognized the new government, but we did. Why?
There will be many more coups happening in Latin America unless the leaders in the region wake up to reality.
0
#
2012-06-27 07:10
Quoting
By the way, sandyclaws, there is hard evidence that the U.S. did make an attempt to overthrown Evo Morales via the big land owners in Bolivia and through the U.S. embassy in that country. Evo Morales ordered high ranking members of the U.S. embassy to leave his country.
I believe that this happened during the GWB administration. I forgot about that one.
"It is my contention" That means the same as "I believe" doesn't it? A person so worried about injustices certainly wouldn't make such outlandish comments without any proof. But, you seem to have ommited those very important items from your comments. I'm certainly glad you are not a judge. Maybe you might make a seat on the supreme court though.
By the way, sandyclaws, there is hard evidence that the U.S. did make an attempt to overthrown Evo Morales via the big land owners in Bolivia and through the U.S. embassy in that country. Evo Morales ordered high ranking members of the U.S. embassy to leave his country.
I believe that this happened during the GWB administration. I forgot about that one.
0
#
2012-06-27 06:20
Actually the 2002 coup against Chavez failded by sheer luck on his side.
Obama was not in the oval office at the time.
Obama was not in the oval office at the time.
0
#
2012-06-27 06:50
Actually, you're right. There was a failed coup against Chavez when Bush was president. I do have to apologize on that one.
+100
#
2012-06-26 10:51
This article is based
on the false premise that the US was ever a global champion of human
rights. It never was, and it never will be. It's one of the great myths
propagated in our culture, with full complicity from the corporate media
and our educational institutions, that somehow the US has always been
the good guy, racing to the rescue of the global underdogs. In reality,
US foreign policy has always been strictly motivated by naked economic
and political self-interest, and to suggest otherwise is to fan the
flames of self-delusion and lead us further and further from the truth.
It's time to let of these comforting myths and face the uncomfortable
truths about who we have been, and who we are. Only then can we honestly
determine who we will become.
+40
#
2012-06-26 11:38
Another false premise
is that we have strayed from respecting human rights since we were
attacked by terrorists on 9/11. We were attacked by terrorists on that
day but they were not foreigners, but there is evidence that the CIA and
the military were working with our best ally (Israel) were involved
with the controlled demolition of those buildings. Two of our Presidents
have received the Nobel Peace Prize, one of them, Carter, deserved it.
+13
#
2012-06-26 12:53
Dick Cheney was in
control of NORAD and had the planes that would have intercepted ones
attacking the WTC on some kind of exercise mission. I agree that no
foreigner would have had access to the building to plant the bombs;
their clothes would have made them look suspicious.
-25
#
2012-06-26 14:08
More conspiracy
nonsense! A superb 45 minute documentary produced by the BBC goes into
great detail to examine the design faults in the twin towers which made
their collapse under the assault of two fueled up 757s inevitable. This
was an Islamic terrorst attack - pure and simple.
+8
#
2012-06-26 16:02
I believe you are
either totally uninformed or maybe incapable of critical thought.
Perhaps you are a CIA stooge or one of the Republican Fascists
attempting to establish the royal bush family. Go read a little history,
especially a bit from our former royal friends in England. We don't
need no stinking royal bush family, no matter how many CIA stooges they
have left!
