http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com/
http://www.conyersblog.us/

The US Media has refused to publish anything on the Downing Street
Memo/Minutes

which showed that Bush plotted with Tony Blair to find reasons for an
unprovoked war

against Iraq. Conyers wants a real Congressional investigation into
this treason. Please

sign the petition!My Speech Before Amnesty International on Torture,
the Patriot Act, and the War Against Terror

As my regular readers know, about one month ago, I traveled to Yale
University in New Haven to speak at an Amnesty International event
regarding torture. I laid out what I thought to be a comprehensive
case against the way our nation has conducted the so-called "war
against terror," the Patriot Act, and of course, our government's
indifference, if not outright sanctioning of torture.

Of course this was before the latest disclosures about new abuses in
Guantanamo and Afghanistan, and Amnesty International's recent
report, which has drawn unjustified and unsubstantiated criticism
from both Bush and Cheney. When both the president and vice-president
level their propaganda machine against you, to me that can mean only
one thing – Amnesty International's criticism are on target and have
hit a sore point. Amnesty International is a group of great
credibility and integrity and they deserve our collective thanks, not
politically motivated criticism.

Anyway, Amnesty International has published my written speech. As I
stated at the outset of my remarks:

"If you would have told me four years ago, that our nation was not
only condoning, but actually engaging in torture and inhuman
treatment, both abroad and at home, I wouldn't have believed you. If
you would have told me that our own Justice Department had developed
the legal justification for these acts, I would have found you to be
not credible.

If you would have told me that we had deported a Canadian Citizen to
Syria for ten months of torture and imprisonment, I would have said
you must be thinking of a repressive dictatorship, such as Iran or
Iraq, not the United States.

But that is where we are today. In many respects, the threat to our
liberties today is more grave than previous overreactions to foreign
threats to our country. However, unlike the crackdowns we experienced
after the Civil War, World War I and II and the Vietnam War, today''s
war on terror has no likely or foreseeable end point."

If you have a chance, please read the full text of my remarks, and
let me know of your comments and thoughts.

6/1/05 @ 9:35pm ET...

Excellent Work Again, Congressman!
Could you get your site administrator to put up a letter writing
campaign, so we can back you in your efforts to get truth out of
government?

1. Downing Street Minutes Letter to Bush
2. Gonzales War Crimes Inquiry
3. Newsweek Fiasco
4. RAF USAF Bombings -- Creating the Conditions to Go to War
5. Amnesty Report Not "Absurd"

Did I miss any?

**********

here ya go no name, skinner, nvanm
psycho... if you have a problem with Amnesty International picking on
your boy then take it to them.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: AMR 51/087/2005 (Public)
News Service No: 149
31 May 2005

USA: Response to President Bush
President Bush again failed to address longstanding concerns
regarding US detention policies and practices in the context of
the "war on terror", Amnesty International said in response to his
comments today.

At Guantánamo, the US has operated an isolated prison camp in which
people are confined arbitrarily, held virtually incommunicado,
without charge, trial or access to due process. Not a single
Guantánamo detainee has had the legality of their detention reviewed
by a court, despite the Supreme Court ruling of last year.

"Guantánamo is only the visible part of the story. Evidence continues
to mount that the US operates a network of detention centres where
people are held in secret or outside any proper legal framework -–
from Afghanistan to Iraq and beyond," said Amnesty International.

US interrogation and detention policies and practices during the "war
on terror", have deliberately and systematically breached the
absolute prohibition of torture and Ill-treatment. Individuals held
in US custody have been transferred for interrogation to countries
known to practice torture.

"If President Bush and his administration are serious about freedom
and human dignity they should recommit to the rule of law and human
rights."

Amnesty International continues to call on the US administration to:
end all secret and incommunicado detentions;
grant the International Committee of the Red Cross full access to all
detainees including those held in secret locations; ensure recourse
to the law for all detainees; establish a full independent commission
of inquiry into all allegations of torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary
detentions and "disappearances"; bring to justice anyone responsible
for authorizing or committing human rights violations

Background Information

When asked to comment about Amnesty International's report during a
White House Briefing President Bush said: "I'm aware of the Amnesty
International report, and it's absurd. (…) The United States is a
country that promotes freedom around the world.

When there's accusations made about certain actions by our people,
they're fully investigated in a transparent way."

For more information, please see:

"Guantánamo and beyond: The continuing pursuit of unchecked executive
power":

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR510632005

"USA: Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the 'war on
terror' ":

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR511452004

Public Document

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office
in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566

Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web:

http://www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org

***
DemocraticUnderground.com

6/2/05 @ 12:08am ET...

Chris Matthew just interview Amnesty International President William
Schultz on Hardball, and it was a sad sight to see. He and his
expected right-wing no name counter-spin guest, treated Amnesty's
recent report as if it were just a set of scurilous rumours, without
any evidence to backup their doubting-Thomas claims what-so-ever.

Mr Schultz on the other hand presented multiple sources, the
detainees who've been released which logic indicates are NOT al-
Qaeda, or else why are they being released?), as well as information
for the FBI and Department of Defense which the ACLU has aquired via
the Freedom of Information Act and posted for all to see, and are the
key sources for their suit against Donald Rumsfeld and others -- yet,
Matthews and sit there with a straight face and as "Where are you
getting yourinformation">! We can do far better than this - we must
do better than this.

Vyan

6/2/05 @ 2:13am ET...

You can see some other photo's of torture at http://www.infowars.com
They're probably the same one's. Did the ACLU ever release those
other's they got through the Freedom of

Information act? I think all this is so disgusting and heartbreaking.
Last night on Mike

Malloy's show on Air America Radio he was talking about prison abuse
and how they would torture and have sex with children in front of
parents to get them to talk, how they'd rape and abuse women, how
they'd burn and beat people so much. This one guy was quoted saying
he was innocent and locked up and they beat him so much he can't
control his bladder anymore and pee's uncontrollably and he
can't "be" with his wife anymore (if you know what I mean). He also
can't use one of his hands anymore since they beat it so much so he
can't do any work. :( These people are so ruined.

At informationclearinghouse.info there is a doc from a Australian
reporter who follows about Guntanamo and Abu Grhaib and it's so
heartbreaking. It's called "Losing Hearts & Minds." Definite must
see.