fire in wire
the official blog of amnesty international at the university of nebraska-lincoln
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Peter's Letter in the Omaha World Herald, Amy's letter in the Lincoln Journal Star
Abuse at Abu GhraibAI-UNL Public Relations Officer Amy Vaughn also had a letter printed today, this one in the Lincoln Journal Star. Her letter follows here:
Being born to a German mother and an American father in Germany has instilled in me love and understanding of both nations. However, I also bear the guilt and sorrow that Germans carry over their dark, monstrous past.
I have lived in Europe and have seen the suffering that occurred in places like Auschwitz. I also have experienced the new Europe that enjoys liberty and freedom.
I have always proudly associated this cause with Americanism. But my love for our nation's accomplishments and values has been robbed.
I call on all readers to go online to watch the videos and view the latest photos of prisoner abuse from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Guilty or not, this is not what any human deserves. We all should feel disgusted to think that more than 2,200 Americans have died to free Iraq only to have this heinous torture be committed in America's name.
These are war crimes. Whoever is responsible, for both the acts and the policy allowing them, should be held liable under international law.
We must hold our elected officials accountable and demand an independent commission to investigate these crimes and render justice.
Peter Gengler, Lincoln
U.S. must stop renditionGreat work, Peter and Amy. These are great letters, and just add to the important conversations we've begun and sustained in these newspapers in the past few weeks. Be sure to look for responses in these papers, as well as more letters and opinions in the Daily Nebraskan.
During the State of the Union Address, the president never mentioned "extraordinary rendition" (the practice of transferring a detainee from U.S. custody to the custody of a foreign state) or "black sites" (covert prisons run by the CIA in foreign countries). These issues were left out despite compelling evidence of their existence. Take, for example, the story of Maher Arar.
In September 2002, while changing planes in New York, Arar, a former Syrian national who became a Canadian citizen in 1991, was detained by the U.S. INS and held in New York for 13 days before being flown to Jordan, where he was interrogated and beaten. He was then sent to Syria, where he was again interrogated, beaten with cables and threatened with electric shocks. He was detained alone in a dark, tiny cell, which he refers to as "the grave" for more than 10 months. Maher was finally released without charge one year later, in October 2003.
The unlawful detention and torture of innocent men like Arar by U.S. agents is unacceptable. If the United States wants, as the president said, to "secure the peace... by our leadership" and "strive to be a compassionate, decent, hopeful society," then we must come clean on our involvement with torture and work towards ending its practice once and for all.
Amy Vaughn, Lincoln
