OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Erosion of Democracy and Freedom In America

-- In violation of binding international law, it permits torture-extracted evidence to be used against the accused in a trial.

-- It allows the use of classified evidence to be used but not to be made available to be challenged by defendants.

-- It permits hearsay evidence and coerced testimony to be used.

-- It allows military commissions to impose death sentences.

-- It allows indefinite and secret detentions.

On September 21, 2001, Amnesty International faxed a letter to George Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. It urged the president to respect human rights and the rule of law in whatever response was to be undertaken. Specifically it said: "In the wake of a crime of such magnitude, principled leadership becomes crucial....We urge you to lead your government to take every necessary human rights precaution in the pursuit of justice." Five years later, Amnesty concluded "its appeal fell on deaf ears. The past five years have seen the USA engage in systematic violations of international law, with a distressing impact on thousands of detainees and their families." Amnesty cited the following violations:

-- secret detentions

-- enforced disappearances

-- the use of torture and other cruel and degrading treatment

-- outrages of personal dignity including humiliating treatment

-- denial of habeas rights

-- indefinite detentions without charges or trials

-- prolonged detentions incommunicado

-- arbitrary detention

-- unfair trial procedures

Amnesty accused the Bush administration of hypocrisy saying that while claiming the US is a "nation of laws" adhering to the "rule of law," it practices the very policies it condemns. It said this administration's "interpretation of the law has been driven by its policy choices rather than a credible postulation of its legal obligations." It cynically interprets US and international law any way it chooses and as such acts outrageously and in contempt of all legal standards and norms. Amnesty also stated that by having passed the Military Commissions Act, the Congress has allowed thousands of detainees to remain in indefinite detention without charge or trial and to be legally subjected to the worst kinds of abuses. It said "Congress has failed these detainees and their families. Those defending human rights should be prepared for a long struggle."

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