In an absolutely vile miscarriage of justice, Frank Wuterich, the Marine sergeant who instructed his soldiers to massacre civilian Iraqis, could receive the maximum sentence of three months of “confinement” for the 24 he and henchmen slaughtered.

Is this really how this country treats war crimes? But then again, look at how the Obama administration failed to prosecute members of the Bush administration for their war crimes…

More on this war criminal here.

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate at Human Rights First’s Law and Security Program, reports how the Obama administration has “continued the Bush policy of interfering in other countries’ attempts to apply the rule of law.”

More on the Obama’s administration and how much “rule of law” has become more of a rhetorical flourish than a substantive principle here.

Project Censored’s list of must-read news stories should alarm and incite readers to action. Each link below provides a summary of several news sources on a topic. Just start reading one by one.

25. Prisoners Still Brutalized at Gitmo

24. War Crimes of General Stanley McChrystal

23. Afghan War: Largest Military Coalition in History

22. 1.2 Billion People in India to be Given Biometric ID Cards

21. Western Lifestyle Continues Environmental Footprint

20. Obama’s Charter School Policies Spread Segregation and Undermine Unions

19. Obama Administration Assures World Bank and International Monetary Fund a Free Reign of Abuse

18. The True Cost of Chevron

17. Nanotech Particles Pose Serious DNA Risks to Humans and the Environment

16. US Presidents Charged with Crimes Against Humanity as Universal Jurisdiction Dies in Spain

15. Bhopal Water Still Toxic Twenty-five Years After Deadly Gas Leak

14. Increased Tensions with Unresolved 9/11 Issues

13. Obama Cuts Domestic Spending and Increases Military Corporate Welfare

12. Cuba Provided the Greatest Medical Aid to Haiti after the Earthquake

11. The H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic: Manipulating Data to Enrich Drug Companies

10. US Funds and Supports the Taliban

9. Human Rights Abuses Continue in Palestine

8. Massacre in Peruvian Amazon over US Free Trade Agreement

7. External Capitalist Forces Wreak Havoc in Africa

6. Health Care Restrictions Cost Thousands of Lives in US

5. Blackwater (Xe): The Secret US War in Pakistan

4. ICE Operates Secret Detention and Courts

3. Internet Privacy and Personal Access at Risk

2. US Department of Defense is the Worst Polluter on the Planet

1. Global Plans to Replace the Dollar

Jordanian reporter Lima Nabil told The Independent’s foreign correspondent Robert Fisk that “In Abu Ghraib, women were tortured by the Americans much more than the men. One woman said she witnessed five girls being raped. Most of the women in the prison were raped – some of them left prison pregnant. Families killed some of these women – because of the shame.”

Supporting Nabil is a “‘very accurate source in Washington’ in close contact with military personnel has confirmed ‘terrible stories of gang rape’ by US forces at the now-notorious prison. The unnamed source told Fisk that images of women being raped were behind the Obama administration’s decision not to release any more pictures of abuses at Abu Ghraib,” writes Daniel Tencer at The Raw Story.

+ on US government abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib here

Curtis M. Wong at HuffPo reports on the alleged crimes against humanity by five United States soldiers part of a secret “kill team.” He details:

The most serious accusations involve five soldiers — Calvin Gibbs, Adam Winfield, Jeremy Mortlock, Andrew Holmes and Michael Wagnon II — who are said to have slain three Afghans earlier this year. According to reports, those men would likely be charged with premeditated murder, but may face additional charges relating to obstructing justice, possessing human body parts and retaining mortar rounds for personal use.

Authorities allege that Gibbs kept finger bones, leg bones and a tooth from the Afghan corpses, while Wagnon is said to have kept a skull. The remaining seven soldiers are charged with participating in the cover-up, which included smoking hashish stolen from the civilians, taking photos of the corpses and lying to investigators about their deaths.

Understanding less and less how this war is in any way “just” or why Obama still received a Nobel Peace Price while escalating our presence there.

Extraordinary Rendition by Andrew Becraft

Dear President Obama,

Let’s try delivering on that campaign promise to close Guantánamo Bay.

Cheers,
daniel extra

[via:legoexpress]

Check out this slide presentation by MotherJones.com on Obama’s record at Gitmo, which is deplorable. Rule of law? Habeas corpus? Treated fundamentally the same during the Dubya regime.

Yesterday’s Glenn Greenwald column “Rules of America’s rule of law” on Salon.com makes so clear with the follow list how the disparities of application have served political ideologies contrary to rule of law and have enabled war crimes, undermined human and civil rights, rewarded the criminally rich, and made a mockery of justice. He writes:

• If you torture people or eavesdrop on Americans without the warrants required by the criminal law, you receive Look-Forward Imperial Immunity.

• If you shoot and kill unarmed rescuers of the wounded while occupying their country and severely wound their unarmed children sitting in a van — or if you authorize that conduct — your actions are commended.

• If you help wreck the world economy with fraud and cause hundreds of millions of people untold suffering, you collect tens of millions of dollars in bonuses.

• If you disclose to the world evidence of war crimes, government lawbreaking, or serious corruption, or otherwise embarrass the U.S., you will be swiftly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and face decades in prison.

+ here

by Daniel WK Lee

While attending The Nation Institute’s “Blueprint for Accountability” event last night at NYU (which was absolutely terrific), I was incensed to tears to learn from guest panelist Dr. Allen Keller of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture and co-author of a report released yesterday by Physicians for Human Rights called Experiments in Torture: Evidence of Human Subject Research and Experimentation in the “Enhanced” Interrogation Program. I agree with Dr. Keller in declaring that human experiments done by CIA doctors on detainees is an utter abomination, and a direct violation of The Nuremberg Code which articulates the right of individuals to choose not be subjected to human experimentation as a result of the atrocities of that occurred during Nazi Germany. The reports says:

Investigation and analysis of US government documents
by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) provides evidence indicating
that the Bush administration, in the period after Sept.
11, conducted human research and experimentation on prisoners
in US custody as part of this monitoring role. Health
professionals working for and on behalf of the CIA monitored
the interrogations of detainees, collected and analyzed the
results of those interrogations, and sought to derive generalizable
inferences to be applied to subsequent interrogations.
Such acts may be seen as the conduct of research and experimentation
by health professionals on prisoners, which could
violate accepted standards of medical ethics, as well as domestic
and international law. These practices could, in some
cases, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Obama administration can no longer shield the Bush regime from investigation and prosecution at this juncture. “Looking forward” or “moving forward” dishonorable and morally bankrupt. If the administration doesn’t have the guts to confront the excesses of executive and military power of the previous government, it has a duty to defer to the International Criminal Court to hold the Bush administration accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Get more information and download the report here.