Bush wants torture

Bush has now put in his veto against a law banning torture methods that has been used in interrogation of suspected terrorists in US prison camps. Examples of methods in use include drowning of prisoners as a part of interrogation. Bush claims this is a vital part of the war on terror and refuses to ban it.

Yet again Bush has shown no respect to human right and international conventions. Hopefully the next president will stop this. If McCaine wins, a pro-war republican, I am however not confident this will be stopped. But if a democrat wins this law is very likely to be imposed.

[Torture] [Terrorism] [Human rights] [Bush] [USA]

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The US Inquisition

Torture as a means of getting a confession was widely used during medieval times, for example the spanish inquisition or the witch trials going on until around 1700. After a time of torture the victims are often happy to confess to anything just to end it, often by being executed. This is a barbaric practise and taking torture to an even worse level.

How come then the country perceiving itself as the world's foremost democracy are using this horrible methods. Apparently fighting terror is viewed as more important than human right, democracy or fair trials. The problem is just that a confession under torture is more or less worthless. Thus, this creates no value for the war on terror. Adding to the atrociousness of these actions carried out by the US army is the fact that these "confessions" will be used trying condemn these men to death.

It is time for the rest of the world, first and foremost the European Union and United Nations to stand up for democracy and codemn the US treatment of prisoners and lack of respect for fair trials.

[Torture] [Terrorism] [Democracy] [USA]
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Prisoners of War?

The United States has repeatedly been exposed violating human rights for prisoners of war. It has happened in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and in prisons in Egypt and Eastern Europe. How can the world's most powerful nation and one of the largest democracies do this repeatedly?

The prisoners in Guantanamo are not officially prisoners of war and therefore, according to the US, the Geneva Convention does not apply. Is it this easy to strip a person of his human rights? It is unbelievable that there is not more diplomatic pressure on the US government to stop the illtreatment of prisoners.


The prisoners in Guantanamo are not informed of where they are or why they are being hold captive. They are inprisoned under inhumane conditions and are subject to torture. This is carried out in a very elaborate way, and always outside of the US. The Guantanamo prison camp is not the only place this goes on, another exampless are the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Also several reports tells stories of suspected terrorists being arrested under suspicious circumstances and flown to prisons in Eastern Europe and Egypt to be tortured in a search for information.

The prisoners are held without being told what they are being accused of and without a trial or even a trial date. The only trials being held are closed military trials, which are not in line with democratic ideals.

My personal hope is that the next elected president will be a democrat with a willingness to clean up after the previous regime and hold them responsible for their actions.

A couple of links:
Tortured Logic
Life in a Guantanamo Cell

[Guantanamo] [Human Rights] [Prisoners of War] [Torture] [War on terror]