Well, isn’t that sweet II
[H]e laughed again and said, “The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house.”
That’s a quote from a recent Truthout article about the Iraq Commission conference in Brussels convened to begin an international investigation of war crimes committed by US and coalition forces in Iraq.
The Iraq Commission heard horrific stories of torture and killing far beyond “enhanced interrogation” techniques, beyond imagining, really, for a supposed civilized nation.
Some of you will recall the puffy editorial in the Strib welcoming former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice to the Twin Cities to speak at the Humphrey Institute and the story I wrote about it.
Jon Tevlin interviewed Dr. Steven Miles, who received a human rights award at the University on the same day Rice was in town; his honorarium was more modest that the one paid to Rice. Miles said to Tevlin:
“For 10 years, I have studied United States policies in the war on terror,” he said. “I believe that Dr. Rice had executive authority over a system of torture and rendition. I believe that she should be indicted and prosecuted for war crimes” after due process and review of suppressed CIA files.
Rice and other administration officials are already defendants in a civil suit brought in federal court in northern California.
There are dedicated people, like Dr. Miles and Dahr Jamail, the author of the linked Truthout article, who have been gathering information and evidence against former US government officials for, as Dr. Miles says, ten years.
We could, I suppose, look at the $150,000 fee paid to Sec. Rice for her brief appearance as a contribution to the Condoleezza Rice Legal Defense Fund. It appears she may need it.
Thanks for your feedback. If we like what you have to say, it may appear in a future post of reader reactions.