Martelen 82

Deze foto nam ik zomer 2006 in het zuiden van Arizona.

November 2006 schreef ik dit:

'Deze zomer was ik in het zuiden van Arizona en passeerde bij toeval Fort Huachuca, het hoofdkwartier van de Army Intelligence Training. Van bewoners in het nabijgelegen voormalige kopermijnstadje Bisbee hoorde ik dat militairen daar getraind worden in het martelen. 19 november 2006, morgen dus, zou er een grote demonstratie worden gehouden tegen het bestaan van dit martelcentrum. Op een affiche (zie foto) las ik: 'The Army Intelligence Training Center at fort Huachuca educates military personnel in torture and these students go on to train people in torture in countries all across the globe.' Nu zeg ik niet dat Nederlandse militairen daar, in dat centrum, getraind zijn in marteltechnieken, maar bekend is dat de trainingen van de NAVO-militairen gestandaardiseerd zijn. NAVO-soldaten en officieren leren nagenoeg hetzelfde, dezelfde gevechtstechnieken, dezelfde verhoortechnieken, ze gebruiken dezelfde wapens. Het verbaast me dan ook geenszins dat Nederlandse militairen verhoortechnieken leren die in strijd zijn met de Geneefse Conventies. De regels van de standaardisering zijn opgesteld door het machtigste lid van de bondgenootschap, de VS, een natie die na 2001 nog minder respect heeft voor de mensenrechten.'

Zie: http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2006/11/nederlandse-leger-martelt-6.html

Dit bericht kreeg ik enkele dagen geleden:

'Priests Protesting Torture Jailed

By Bill Quigley

Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing. Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the U.S. and the place where military and civilian interrogators are taught how to extract information from prisoners. The priests attempted to deliver their letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander of Fort Huachuca. Fast was previously the head of all military intelligence in Iraq during the atrocities of Abu Ghraib.The priests were arrested while kneeling in prayer halfway up the driveway to Fort Huachuca in November 2006. Both priests were charged with trespass on a military base and resisting orders of an officer to stop. In a pre-trial heating, the priests attempted to introduce evidence of torture, murder, and gross violations of human rights in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and at Guantanamo. The priests offered investigative reports from the FBI, the US Army, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Social Responsibility documenting hundreds of incidents of human rights violations. Despite increasing evidence of the use of torture by U.S. forces sanctioned by President Bush and others, the federal court in Tucson refused to allow any evidence of torture, the legality of the invasion of Iraq, or international law to be a part of the trial.Outside the courthouse, before the judge ordered them to prison, the priests explained their actions: “The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world. We tried to deliver a letter asking that the teaching of torture be stopped and were arrested. We tried to put the evidence of torture on full and honest display in the courthouse and were denied. We were prepared to put on evidence about the widespread use of torture and human rights abuses committed during interrogations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in Iraq and Afhganistan. This evidence was gathered by the military itself and by governmental and human rights investigations.”'

Lees verder: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18584.htm

De Nederlandse regering steunt de martelpraktijken van het Amerikaanse leger door het verstrekken van troepen in Afghanistan, die vermeende Taliban strijders in feite overdragen aan de Amerikanen. Daarvoor kunnen de Nederlandse politiek verantwoordelijken juridisch vervolgd worden.