Conyers Calls For Hearings on Gitmo and Other Abuses

Via Rep. John Conyers' diary at Kos We have of course all known for some time about the documented evidence of torture, mistreatment and worse in Abu Ghraib. Having read about the break down in the Army investigation of the death of two prisoners at Bagram, the International Committee of the Red Cross passing along "multiple" reports of mistreatment of the Koran, Amnesty International report on Guantanamo Bay as the "gulag of our times," and FBI documents released by the ACLU included a dozen reports of mistreatment of the Koran by the military at Guantanamo, I was forced to make an urgent plea to the Judiciary Committee for hearings. Will it make a difference? Obviously, Democrats are not in control, but we would not be doing our jobs in the Minority if we did not at least put the onus on the Majority to accept responsibility if they fail to act. As you can see Rep. Conyers is again showing the courage and integrity we should expect from leaders in Washington. What a wonderful choice he would be as a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate. Excerpts..... I am calling on hearings now for a number of reasons. As you know, just yesterday, the international human rights group Amnesty International issued a devastating report decrying our human rights record. Among other things, the report labeled our prison at Guantanamo Bay the "gulag of our times," and described our nation as "a leading purveyor and practitioner" of torture and mistreatment of prisoners. Amnesty International warned that "when the most powerful country in the world thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights, it grants a license to others to commit abuse with impunity and audacity." ~~SNIP~~ I have previously sought the appointment of an independent commission to examine the myriad charges of human rights abuses by our government, but this request has been ignored by the Republican Leadership. Similarly, my repeated requests for the appointment of a special legal counsel to review these charges have also been rejected or ignored. Moreover, my requests to the Committee for investigations, for example into the rendition and subsequent of Maher Arar, have also been ignored. ~~SNIP~~ Under such circumstances, it becomes infinitely more difficult for our nation to credibly advocate for democracy and human rights abroad. I therefore believe it is incumbent upon us to conduct an investigation which can either rebut the growing cascade of allegations, or root out the wrongdoing and hold the ultimate parties responsible, no matter where the investigation takes us. You can read the entire letter that Conyers sent to James Sensenbrenner, Jr. the Chairman of the House judiciary Committee HERE