A Pipeline of Atrocity

Posted on May 18, 2004 in Appeals and Goodwill Atrocity Occupation of Iraq

Update: Moveon is calling on people to demand the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Call your Senator and Congressional Representatives.

For what it is worth, Amnesty International has posted the text of a canned letter that you can send to Donald Rumsfeld and other overseers of Coalition Forces in Iraq. The letter calls on the Secretary

to support an independent investigation into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment and public disclosure of the findings, and to cooperate with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and others as they gather information on these abuses. Such investigations should not just cover the direct perpetrators, but must include the higher chain of command responsibility.

As Randy of Beautiful Horizons pointed out two weeks ago, Amnesty has come under a lot of flak from conservative apologists for torture who accuse this excellent organization of “focusing solely on the US to the detriment of other vital issues”. As Randy forcefully demonstrates time and again in his use of Amnesty materials to campaign against Latin American dictatorships of all stripes, Amnesty sets an even standard which it applies to everyone — including terrorist organizations and revolutionary fronts.

When Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch say torture is happening, you can rest assured that they’ve done considerable research and verfication of the facts. Their recent report concerning attacks on civilians in Basra and al-Amara definitively shows systematic use of violent reprisal against individuals.

I continue to support Amnesty International’s efforts to get at the truth. I stand by Human Rights Watch’s call to bring the killers of Nick Berg to justice. If an organization like Amnesty International raises concerns about the treatment of civilians, then the people to watch are those who try to shift the definitions to exculpate themselves. Those who have supported AI through the years have seen these scenarios play out many times in many places: people are tortured or killed; Amnesty documents matters; and then the perpetrators and their apologists say that Amnesty is picking on them. The Soviet Union did it in its worst age of repression. That Amnesty has cause to chide the U.S. and Great Britain is not a good sign concerning the state of respect for life in those countries.

Your letter may bring reform. Telling others what you did may bring the kind of awareness that insitigates change for the better.

The Berlin Wall fell. Now let us drain the pipeline of atrocity stemming out of Iraq.