Human rights group accuses PM of abetting 'unsavoury' U.S. practices

[Judi Lynn]

Human rights group accuses PM of abetting 'unsavoury' U.S. practices
at 18:47 on January 18, 2006, EST.

OTTAWA (CP) - A civil liberties group accuses Prime Minister Paul Martin of siding with the United States to undermine a draft United Nations treaty outlawing government-sponsored disappearances.

Human Rights Watch says in its annual report that Martin apparently decided to run interference for the U.S. as a way for Canada to mend strained relations with its neighbour. The group, which has offices in several countries, says disappearances occur when governments seize people without acknowledging their detention, leaving them highly vulnerable to torture or execution.

The Foreign Affairs Department said Wednesday that Canada has a solid record of opposing the practice.

"We participated actively in support of a strong and effective new treaty," said spokeswoman Kim Girtel.

Several Latin American countries backed the UN effort because they experienced a plague of disappearances in the 1970s and '80s.
(snip/...)

http://www.940news.com/nouvelles.php?cat=23&id=11851

[Judi Lynn]

1. Rights group says U.S. has deliberate torture strategy

3 23 am

Rights group says U.S. has deliberate torture strategy
1/18/2006 11:42 AM
By: Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A leading human rights group said the U.S. is alone in the world in openly claiming the power to abuse prisoners “and to pretend that it is lawful.''

Human Rights Watch said other countries clearly treat prisoners as badly or worse than the U.S., but do so secretly.

The group's yearly report said the Bush administration has a deliberate policy of abusing terror suspect during questioning. It bases the conclusions mainly on statements by top administration officials in the past year.

It said President Bush's repeated assurances that U.S. interrogators don't torture pointedly avoid mentioning that international law prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners.
(snip/...)

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=153960

[applegrove]

2. I wonder who knew Canada was running interference? And released

it 5 days before the election?

Everyone and their grandmother knows that the USA is refusing to allow itself to fall under any and all UN treaties. Criminal Court? Canada signed on. Kyoto, Canada signed on. You cannot be a colleague of the USA and not know that it refuses to participate in any treaty at this point. Interference could very well have just been to keep relations from deteriorating. Many of us who have lived with Bush - know full well he not only doesn't want to participate - he wants to scuttle.

Martin stood up when the USA was trying to scuttle the Kyoto talks in Montreal. And the press nailed him for that. So which is it? Do you stand by and see no agreement or do you try to keep the talks going. That elephant has made a passtime of trying to undo all things UN.

Did Kofi try and work with the USA? Has he ever?

[applegrove]

3. .

[MrPrax]

4. Tell me something...

How did you go from rightly criticizing Martin for being a hypocrite to using some other hypocritical stance on Kyoto to show media bias?

Stuff like this and the lack of 'ownage' by Liberal supporters who have been on auto-pilot for a decade happy to endorse an crook that they have NO information about other than the 'red parlour' annoited him, that got us into this mess..

Jeez the Liberals never cared about 'perception management'(shouts out to Bono, "we hardly knew ya") for 11 years, why worry now?

[applegrove]

5. Chretien tried to put Africa on the G8 agenda in Alberta & Halifax.

So please - just because the USA's main platform in world affairs is obfustications and scuttleling agreements - don't blame the Liberals. World trade is good for Canada. The sooner we can have more trading partners outside the USA - the better.

Fact is the USA has been not just unwilling to join any UN agreements in the last 6 years... but it has tried to undo any agreements that take place without them.

They have tried to threaten the International Criminal Court with "how ya gonna investigate these war crimes when the CIA refuses to give you any intel" to "threatening the organizers of the Montreal Kyoto conference" with all manner of threats to keep things from progressing.

So if Martin ends up making the odd "Sofie's Choice" - that is because he is dealing with sociopaths.

Koffi Annan too has to deal with them (Bolton). And tries to find a way.

Would it have been better if the Human Rights meeting was scuttled? I mean - trust me - the Liberals would like the UN to be as strong as anything.

You and I don't have to make these choices when dealing with rutting african elephants that is the GOP & the WH. In fact zoo-keepers refuse to deal with male african elephants all over the world - despite the fact they have a pharmacy of drugs to keep them calm and perhaps sexless.

The monster does exist. You cut your losses and cut them again. And try and squeeze out anything that is good. And hope they go away some day soon. And end up working in used car lots where they belong. But for now - the American public has unloaded this on the world. And trust me - trying to stop and slow down all UN agreements is the agenda of the Bush WH. They are not interested in standing out themselves - they specifically do not want these agreements to exist anywhere. Any conference or UN treaty that goes ahead is a bloody miracle at this point.