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choie

(4,111 posts)
Sun Oct 26, 2014, 09:10 PM Oct 2014

Peace Prize Laureates Urge Disclosure on U.S. Torture

WASHINGTON — A dozen Nobel Peace Prize laureates are urging President Obama to make “full disclosure to the American people of the extent and use of torture” by the United States, including the release of a long-delayed Senate report about the C.I.A.’s torture of terrorism suspects after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The laureates told Mr. Obama, who was awarded the Peace Prize himself in 2009, that the report’s prospective release has brought the United States to a “crossroads,” and that he must do more to bring closure to an era when the United States set an example that “will be used to justify the use of torture by regimes around the world.”

“It remains to be seen whether the United States will turn a blind eye to the effects of its actions on its own people and on the rest of the world, or if it will take the necessary steps to recover the standards on which the country was founded, and to once again adhere to the international conventions it helped to bring into being,” they wrote.

The joint letter was organized by two of the laureates, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and former President José Ramos-Horta of East Timor, and is part of a broader online petition campaign at TheCommunity.com, whose chairman is Mr. Ramos-Horta. An advance copy was provided to The New York Times.

More at
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/us/politics/peace-prize-laureates-urge-disclosure-on-us-torture.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSumSmallMediaHigh&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

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Peace Prize Laureates Urge Disclosure on U.S. Torture (Original Post) choie Oct 2014 OP
Do you think he will? marym625 Oct 2014 #1
nope choie Oct 2014 #2
Me either. n/t marym625 Oct 2014 #4
Sadly I don't think it's up to him. There is a higher power that runs this country. nm rhett o rick Oct 2014 #11
Well if it's god marym625 Oct 2014 #12
Leon Panetta was adamant about CIA immunity from prosecution. AtomicKitten Oct 2014 #3
I agree marym625 Oct 2014 #5
It broke my heart, really. AtomicKitten Oct 2014 #6
very well said, Atomic. choie Oct 2014 #7
. AtomicKitten Oct 2014 #8
Same here. marym625 Oct 2014 #9
I believe that Pres Obama doesn't have the power to prosecute Bush/Cheney. I think rhett o rick Oct 2014 #14
I believe that's true of the CIA . AtomicKitten Oct 2014 #15
Careful, you might get a visit from the CT police. rhett o rick Oct 2014 #17
Obama's Peace Prize ranks right up there with Kissinger's for Theater of the Absurd RufusTFirefly Oct 2014 #10
Kick Luminous Animal Oct 2014 #13
"A lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots." Obama Tierra_y_Libertad Oct 2014 #16
He left off, "and were carefully recruited and trained psychopaths." rhett o rick Oct 2014 #18
K&R G_j Oct 2014 #19
K&R Solly Mack Oct 2014 #20

marym625

(17,997 posts)
12. Well if it's god
Sun Oct 26, 2014, 11:51 PM
Oct 2014

We're all screwed

I am joking, of course.

I believe that but I also believe he could do it. Or something.

 

AtomicKitten

(46,585 posts)
3. Leon Panetta was adamant about CIA immunity from prosecution.
Sun Oct 26, 2014, 09:52 PM
Oct 2014

I believe the White House's official position will be to redact the shit out of the report and hold back all they can. The effort seems odd since it's not a big secret that the Bush Admin employed widespread torture and that Bush/Cheney lied their asses off about it. In my eyes, failing to prosecute those pieces of shit was Obama's biggest mistake/moral failing. The American people and the world body deserve the unvarnished truth. Let the sun shine in and let the chips fall where they may.

marym625

(17,997 posts)
5. I agree
Sun Oct 26, 2014, 09:59 PM
Oct 2014

That failure not only was contrary to what he ran on, it pretty much showed the world we don't give a shit. We'll do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want. All international agreements be damned.

 

AtomicKitten

(46,585 posts)
6. It broke my heart, really.
Sun Oct 26, 2014, 10:19 PM
Oct 2014

I believed in him, his integrity, his goodness. He often spoke of "the arc of the Moral Universe is long but it bends towards justice," but didn't apply it to his governance. He had the world in the palm of his hand and could have effected real change, but did not. The disappointment I feel is profound.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
14. I believe that Pres Obama doesn't have the power to prosecute Bush/Cheney. I think
Mon Oct 27, 2014, 12:49 AM
Oct 2014

he answers to a higher power. The NSA/CIA have a tremendous amount of power.

 

AtomicKitten

(46,585 posts)
15. I believe that's true of the CIA .
Mon Oct 27, 2014, 01:27 AM
Oct 2014

I believe they were in on/had knowledge beforehand of the assassination of JFK.

RufusTFirefly

(8,812 posts)
10. Obama's Peace Prize ranks right up there with Kissinger's for Theater of the Absurd
Sun Oct 26, 2014, 11:33 PM
Oct 2014

I'm not expecting miracles.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
18. He left off, "and were carefully recruited and trained psychopaths."
Mon Oct 27, 2014, 10:42 AM
Oct 2014

I want to see Cheney and Rummy prosecuted, but also those that did the hands on torture. "Just following orders." isn't a legitimate defense.

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