Raw: Story: (lala_rawraw) – Domestic Torture US - Style Well Hidden

[autorank]

On Thursday the 13th, Larisa Alexandrovna published a disturbing story in Raw Story. The story outlines the discrepancies between an "official report" from the US Government and and the "shadow report" of US Non Governmental Agencies on torture in the United States. The report on domestic human rights abuses isi a quadrennial process of reporting to the UN Human Rights Committee. Differences between the official government report and that of the NGO’s show clear under reporting and minimization by the government.

This is a disquieting article but an important one.

Report: Treatment of US suspects at home mirrors that of terror suspects in military custody

Larisa Alexandrovna, 07.13.06

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Report__0713.html

One of the key sections of this report deals specifically with prisoner abuse and torture within the United States and of United States citizens by authority figures. While disturbing in and of themselves, the cases presented by the shadow report as examples of ICCPR and CAT violations also show troubling similarities between detainee abuse allegations in US military prisons around the world and US domestic prisons.

snip

According to New York City civil rights attorney Andrea Ritchie, who has worked with Incite! Woman of Color Against Violence and authored the prisoner abuse section of the NGO shadow report, the Burge torture claims are prime examples of the extent of the alleged human rights violations and police brutality.

Police Commander Jon Burge and homicide detectives of Areas 2 and 3 Police Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, were charged with torturing nearly 200 African American men between 1972-1991. Admissions by detectives, eye-witness accounts and other evidence have indicated that Burge and his men“systematically tortured individuals during interrogations, also proves that officers throughout the chain of command were aware of the torture and condoned its practice,” Ritchie quoted in a summary of the case she provided to RAW STORY.

Evidence provided in the Burge cases paint a picture not unlike what has emerged from the Abu Ghraib scandal, or allegations relating to abuse by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and other US detention facilities in the Middle-East.

The techniques detailed in the Chicago torture cases included “electrically shocking men’s genitals, ears and lips with a cattle prod or an electric shock box, suffocating individuals with plastic bags, mock executions, and beatings with telephone books and rubber hoses,” according to court documents.

[midnight]

1. Wasn't this guy suppose to do some work for.....

the Bush administration when this story broke. So much horror going on. I suppose they count on that. What ever became of this guy-Burge?

[Mnemosyne]

2. K and R #5! n/t

[autorank]

5. Ola vickiss...this is a rought one but we need to know the truth...

Keep up your good work.

[Mnemosyne]

16. One of the most horrifying things autorank, is how many of

these abuses/tortures are carried out on mentally ill prisoners.

Our country is warehousing the seriously mentally ill.

The report is due out the 28th. I hope it includes statistics on this.

And so we continue...:hug:

[lonestarnot]

3. I wish I could get to my posts when the story of torture first

broke. I told people the same thing was happening right here in the U.S. to American citizens, so what's the fuss all about.

[autorank]

4. I'll testify in your behalf. I remember you saying that...

...there were the requisite deniers but it made sense and it makes sense. The best way to deal with this is in an adult fashion, logically and thoroughly identify it and remove it. It's totally unacceptable and thrives only under the cover of neglect or ignorance.

:hi:

[lala_rawraw]

6. i cannot understand

why no one cares that for the first time in our history, attorneys are going out of the country, to Geneva to present human rights abuse cases against the united states... the hearings start next week... and NO ONE CARES... i could cry

[lonestarnot]

8. I fucking care. Don't be so overly broad in how you sling the

"no ones" la la

[lala_rawraw]

9. few care...

go to the blogs all over the Web and see if anyone has noticed that 142 groups are presenting at Geneva next week against US for human rights violations... you won't find it, not anywhere. frankly, it is shameful.

[lonestarnot]

10. So agree. Shameful to be a part of this human race in these times.

I frankly am ashamed. But there has not been much made of this in the MSM, Israel and Hezbolah has the spotlight, not human rights. It's just more interesting to watch people suffer and die I guess.

[ninkasi]

12. It is shameful

We have to face up to our own conduct as a nation, and stop clinging to some fantasy America that some like to think we are. Only the truth can prod us onto the path of righting wrongs, and admitting our own failures. School children study an American history that is more based on myth and wishful thinking than on facts. These fantasies only lead to knee-jerk nationalism, and tends to produce fascist regimes.

[annabanana]

15. People would care IF THEY KNEW!

This has been kept so quiet, not a whisper of it has appeared anywhere except online. It's not in the press, on TV (network or cable), No one is talking about it on the Daily Show, or on Keith Olberman..

People DON'T KNOW!

[lonestarnot]

7. Thanks for witnessing my attestment!

I think neglect and ignorance both play a part, but I also believe part of it is an intentional and willful desire to inflict human suffering with an intentional withholding of assistance to stop it.

[lonestarnot]

11. kick

[DemReadingDU]

13. Disgraceful

So many people don't read nowadays, they get news from TV. So if this isn't on TV, they aren't aware of what is going on. Very sad.

[Swamp Rat]

14. k&r

[lonestarnot]

17. Kick!