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UN Human Rights Investigator in Afghanistan Ousted Under
U.S. Pressure
Iraq Through the Eyes of Unemebedded, Independent Journalist
Dahr Jamail
UN Human Rights Investigator in Afghanistan Ousted
Under U.S. Pressure
We speak with Cherif Bassiouni, a top human rights investigator
in Afghanistan who was recently forced out of the United Nations
under pressure from the U.S. just days after he released a
report criticizing the US for committing human rights abuses.
He says, "The U.S. has done an enormous disservice to
the cause of human rights in Afghanistan simply because they
wanted somebody who was going to look the other way on what
their practices were." [includes rush
transcript - partial]
Today is the first anniversary of the publication of photos
that exposed the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. 60 Minutes
first broadcast the pictures that shocked the world: Images
of Iraqis with bags over their heads, beaten, set upon by
dogs and forced into sexually humiliating acts. US soldiers
looking on and smiling. And the enduring photograph of a prisoner
cloaked in black, standing on a box with wires attached to
his outstretched arms.
Since then, it has become clear that the U.S. torture of
prisoners in Iraq was part of a larger pattern of abuse that
stretched from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and beyond. The
use of so-called "extraordinary rendition" sent
detainees to foreign countries where the use of torture was
widespread.
Now, one year after the pictures of abuse at Abu Ghraib became
public, the scandal continues.
This past week, news emerged that the U.S. forced out a top
human rights investigator at the United Nations just days
after he released a report criticizing the US for committing
human rights abuses in Afghanistan.
The Egyptian-born law professor Cherif Bassiouni had spent
a year in Afghanistan interviewing Afghans, international
agency staff and the Afghan Human Rights Commission. His official
title was "independent expert on human rights in Afghanistan."
In his new report, Bassiouni accused US troops of breaking
into homes, arbitrarily arresting residents and torturing
detainees. He estimated that around 1,000 Afghans had been
detained. Bassiouni also indicated that the US-led forces
had committed "sexual abuse, beatings, torture and use
of force resulting in death." He wrote, "When these
forces directly engage in practices that violate... international
human rights and international humanitarian law, they undermine
the national project of establishing a legal basis for the
use of force."
Last week, just days after Bassiouni released his report,
the UN Human Rights Commission ended his mandate at a meeting
in Geneva.
Cherif Bassiouni joins us on the line today from his home
in Chicago.
- Cherif Bassiouni, the former United Nations human rights
investigator in Afghanistan. He is a professor of law at
DePaul University. He is the author of 27 books on a wide
range of legal issues and president of the International
Human Rights Law Institute.
Iraq Through the Eyes of Unemebedded, Independent
Journalist Dahr Jamail
Dahr Jamail, one of the few independent, unembedded journalists
reporting in Iraq for months, joins us in our firehouse studio
to discuss the siege of Fallujah, detention of Iraqis, so-called
"reconstruction" and much more. [includes rush
transcript]
One of the most enduring images of the Abu Ghraib prisoner
abuse scandal is the photograph of a prisoner cloaked in black,
standing on a box with wires attached to his outstretched
arms.
Now, the man depicted in the photo has reportedly been identified.
He is speaking out on this week's edition of the PBS newsmagazine
"Now." His name is Haj Ali. He was a mayor of a
Baghdad suburb and a member of the ruling Baath Party, when
he was snatched off the street in late 2003 and transported
to Abu Ghraib, despite denying involvement in the insurgency.
In the interview, Ali says, "They made me stand on a
box with my hands hooked to wires and shocked me with electricity.
It felt like my eyeballs were coming out of their sockets.
I fell, and they put me back up again for more."
Today is the first anniversary of the publication of the
Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. We turn now to Iraq.
We turn now to Iraq. An article in the British newspaper
the Guardian titled "This Is Our Guernica" reads:
"In the 1930s the Spanish city of Guernica became
a symbol of wanton murder and destruction. In the 1990s
Grozny was cruelly flattened by the Russians; it still lies
in ruins. This decade"s unforgettable monument to brutality
and overkill is Falluja, a text-book case of how not to
handle an insurgency, and a reminder that unpopular occupations
will always degenerate into desperation and atrocity."
Those are the words of journalist Dahr Jamil. He spent many
months in Iraq as one of the only independent, unembedded
journalists there. He published his reports on a blog called
DahrJamailIraq.com
and was a regular guest on Democracy Now! He joins us in our
firehouse studio today.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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