------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 20, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
TORTURE NOW OFFICIAL POLICY By Heather Cottin We saw the photographs. The images are burned into our memories. Men tied to the floor of a cargo plane, blindfolded and duct-taped. Shackled men kneeling, their heads covered in black hoods. Then, barely able to walk, being led from outdoor cages to interrogation in Guan tan amo Naval Base. And now comes word that the United States has murdered prisoners of war. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have reported the death of two prisoners being interrogated at the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. A U.S. military doctor confirmed that the official cause of death was homicide. "Dilawar, 22, from Afghanistan's Khost region, died from 'blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease' while another captive, Mullah Habibullah, 30, suffered from a blood clot in the lung that was exacerbated by a 'blunt force injury,'" reported Andrew Gumbel in the Independent of London on March 7. George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address in January, bragged that alleged al-Qaeda members captured by the U.S. were meeting "a different fate." "Let's put it this way, they are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies. "Bush joins a host of officials who are flouting international treaties that forbid torture. His flippant remarks encourage these brutal techniques in the Pentagon's colonial outposts. This comes after human rights groups have criticized the U.S. policy of handing suspects over to countries where torture techniques are an established part of the security apparatus. Human Rights Watch has said, "There is no distinction between using torture directly and subcontracting it out." For years, the U.S. military, through infamous institutions like the School of the Americas, taught these techniques to officers from countries under right-wing dictatorships in Latin America-- regimes that used the most brutal methods to repress workers and peasants challenging the oligarchies and U.S. businesses behind them. But now Washington is using torture directly. The policy is backfiring. Awareness of Washington's reliance on ruthless cruelty is growing. International solidarity is growing against imperialism in all its savage forms. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
