United States: Blood for Money Scheme

17 December 2009
by HRM Deborah

US Federal officials visited the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Illinois, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Chicago on the 16 November 2009. The Obama administration officials are considering the now minimum security Illinois prison as a possible location to house alleged foreign terrorism suspects moved from the Guantanamo Bay Concentration Camp in Cuba.

The plan being considered for the Thomson Correctional Center, pitched by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn in a recent meeting with US President Barack Obama, calls for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to operate it as a maximum-security “prison” and lease a portion to the US Defense Department to house an estimated 200 Guantanamo detainees. The plans could include a purchase of the facility by the federal government, Quinn said.

Which this comes at a time when the small economic depressed town of about 600 people seems excited towards a minute opportunity to work at the facility if it does comes into reality for the contention that the US military as in Guantanamo Bay will still be the overseers, which such as this on US soil brings once again into International legal focus of not just an actual populated concentration camp there and not a normal prison setting; but the continued noncompliance of the majority of innocent political hostages being held not just currently on Cuban soil; but now possibly within the US itself.

It also stands into question of the same practices of torture, religious discrimination, murder and other human rights violations will be initiated at Thompson and when will the US Concentration Camp system cease.

Keeping the Faith

A downloaded and printed Muslim prayer schedule sits next to a prayer rug, inside a cell at Guantanamo's Concentration Camp 5 (detention center) at the U.S. Naval Base, on 21 January 2009; in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Guantanamo Bay war crimes court came to an abrupt halt yesterday as military judges granted U.S. President Barack Obama's request to suspend proceedings while he reviews his ‘predecessor's strategy for prosecuting terrorists.’

As it is a known fact that the majority of Muslim’s in Guantanamo's Concentration Camp are innocent and while many have became Martyr’s do to the horror’s of torture and camp life, it is a hope they stay strong in there faith and holding tight to the Quran.

As it is said Obama plans to close Guantanamo Bay within a year, while it is not being published so much in the forefront, that he has planned to move these men to other camps; which has not set well with the whole Islamophobic Concentration Camp system among not just Muslims, but the global community.

As to the heart break of this type of mistreatment towards another human being is ongoing; Nevertheless, the Concentration Camp system has always been an outrage since the Jewish Holocaust.

No one with true humanity within the heart should rest, until the Concentration Camp system is abolished forever and the innocent can smell the sweetness of the fresh air with their freedom. For this type of maltreatment is unacceptable, to subject anyone that is innocent too; for the memories and heartache while it maybe buried it should not be a shroud one must bare.

Finally, as to being brought to one’s attention of the U.S. accusations of saying someone is a known suspect of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda to continue these atrocities, has became a watershed word to create what they consider justification without in the majority of cases; honesty.

Pop stars tell the U.S. military to stop using their songs to torture detainees

Guantanamo Bay Concentration Camp: One of the Concentration Camps (detention centres) where the US has been using popular American music to torture detainees. Song under the photograph is Bruce Springsteen’s, "Born in the USA;" which is on the US torture music list.

10 December 2008
By Daily Mail Foreign Service

Musicians and pop stars are joining forces with British human rights activists to stop U.S. military interrogators from using their songs to torture detainees.

The campaign has brought together groups including Massive Attack and musicians such as Tom Morello, who played with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.

It will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals, said Chloe Davies of the law group Reprieve, which represents dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Military contractor Donald Vance told how he was subjected to blaring rock music for 20 hours a day when he was held in Iraq.

The auditory assault went on for days, then weeks, then months at the U.S. military detention centre in Baghdad.

At least Vance, who says he was jailed for reporting illegal arms sales, was used to rock music.

For many detainees who grew up in Afghanistan - where music was prohibited under Taliban rule - interrogations by U.S. forces marked their first exposure to the pounding rhythms, played at top volume. The experience was overwhelming for many.

Binyam Mohammed, now a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, said men held with him at the CIA's 'Dark Prison' in Afghanistan wound up screaming and smashing their heads against walls, unable to endure more.

'There was loud music, (Eminem's) 'Slim Shady' and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over,' he told his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith.

'The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night for the months before I left. Plenty lost their minds.'

Rear Adm. David Thomas, the commander of Guantanamo's detention centre, said the music treatment is not currently used at Guantanamo but added that he could not rule out its use in the future.

'I couldn't speculate and I wouldn't speculate but I can tell you it doesn't happen here at Guantanamo and it hasn't happened since I've been here,' Thomas, who has been at Guantanamo for a half-year.

The spokeswoman for Guantanamo's detention centre, Navy Cmdr Pauline Storum, wouldn't give details of when and how music has been used at the prison.

FBI agents stationed at Guantanamo Bay reported numerous instances in which music was blasted at detainees, saying they were 'told such tactics were common there.'

(Click to Enlarge)

According to an FBI memo, one interrogator at Guantanamo Bay bragged he needed only four days to 'break' someone by alternating 16 hours of music and lights with four hours of silence and darkness.

Ruhal Ahmed, a Briton who was captured in Afghanistan, describes excruciating sessions at Guantanamo Bay.

He said his hands were shackled to his feet, which were shackled to the floor, forcing him into a painful squat for periods of up to two days.

'You're in agony,' Ahmed, who was released without charge in 2004, told Reprieve.

He said the agony was compounded when music was introduced, because 'before you could actually concentrate on something else, try to make yourself focus on some other things in your life that you did before and take that pain away.

'It makes you feel like you are going mad,' he said.

Not all of the music is hard rock. Christopher Cerf, who wrote music for 'Sesame Street,' said he was horrified to learn songs from the children's TV show were used in interrogations.

'I wouldn't want my music to be a party to that,' he said.

Bob Singleton, whose song 'I Love You' is beloved by legions of Barney fans, wrote in a newspaper opinion column that any music can become unbearable if played loudly for long stretches.

'It's absolutely ludicrous,' he wrote in the Los Angeles Times. 'A song that was designed to make little children feel safe and loved was somehow going to threaten the mental state of adults and drive them to the emotional breaking point?'

Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, has been especially forceful in denouncing the practice. During a recent concert in San Francisco, he proposed taking revenge on President George W. Bush.

'I suggest that they level Guantanamo Bay, but they keep one small cell and they put Bush in there ... and they blast some Rage Against the Machine,' he said to whoops and cheers.

Some musicians, however, say they're proud that their music is used in interrogations. Those include bassist Stevie Benton, whose group Drowning Pool has performed in Iraq and recorded one of the interrogators' favorites, 'Bodies.'

'People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military thinks our song is annoying enough that played over and over it can psychologically break someone down,' he told Spin magazine.

'I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that.'

The band's record label said Benton did not want to comment further.

Instead, the band issued a statement reading: 'Drowning Pool is committed to supporting the lives and rights of our troops stationed around the world.'

Vance, in a telephone interview from Chicago, said the tactic can make innocent men go mad. According to a lawsuit he has filed, his jailers said he was being held because his employer was suspected of selling weapons to terrorists and insurgents.

The U.S. military confirms Vance was jailed but won't elaborate because of the lawsuit.

He said he was locked in an overcooled 9ft by 9ft cell that had a speaker with a metal grate over it. Two large speakers stood in the hallway outside. The music was almost constant, mostly hard rock, he said.

'There was a lot of Nine Inch Nails, including 'March of the Pigs,'' he said. 'I couldn't tell you how many times I heard Queen's 'We Will Rock You.''

He wore only a jumpsuit and flip-flops and had no protection from the cold.

'I had no blanket or sheet. If I had, I would probably have tried suicide,' he said. 'I got to a few points toward the end where I thought, 'How can I do this?' Actively plotting, 'How can I get away with it so they don't stop it?''

Asked to describe the experience, Vance said: 'It sort of removes you from you. You can no longer formulate your own thoughts when you're in an environment like that.'

He was released after 97 days. Two years later, he says, 'I keep my home very quiet.'

Further Information

The Tipton Three, a trio of British Muslims who were held and tortured in Guantanamo Bay for two years:

One of the methods of torture that was recounted in interviews and the movie by the Tipton Three was the use of loud music and being put in contortion type positions, while being handcuffed to the floor; to further having to defecate in there jumpsuit style clothing, while being in this position for extreme amount of hours at a time.

Interview with Ruhal Ahmed

The Road To Guantanamo (A movie about the Tipton Three)

Oppression: Standing Behind the Fence

Guantanamo Bay (Detention) Concentration Camp

by HRM Deborah

As a valuable resource of history shadowed into modern times is the accusations of Nazism being accused by those who are actuality guilty of this act of barbarism towards certain facets of humanity, which did started before the Jewish Holocaust of the 1930’s and 1940’which is still occurring to this very day; the only difference which is not much, is the more wide spread attacks on the Islamic community or as before, anyone who opposing the Nazi ideology.

It is a well known fact the U.S. President George W. Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush, along with certain other financers where the major contributors of funding to Adolph Hitler and with Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ what thought to be throttled as of 1945; one truly need’s to understand this is not the case, but something that is a more sinister continuation within US.

All the US secret camps, the ones that have been built within the US and especially for example the most famous Guantanamo Bay Detention Center; which in all reality has all the earmarks of a Concentration Camp right down to what may never be fully known of as the numbers of dead that are mysteriously buried there.

People speak of AIPAC and people within the US being Pro-Israel which in actuality it is being found to actually be a cover for US Nazism and while one may ask if Nazism occurred after World War 2 the answer is actually, NO. One may find reference to this with the American Nazi Bunds’ which while some will say they where executed for Nazism, this is actually not quite the case.
Pro-Nazi German American Bund rally at Madison Square Garden. New York, United States, 20 February 1939. It is estimated that 50,000 American’s attended this rally and not necessarily of German descendent; but to support the Nazi ideology. It is said that one of the attendee’s at this rally was then US President Franklin D. Roosevelt* (FDR [1933 to 1945 ]), which may be a further understanding of why Roosevelt was not so quick to enter into the European war and help the Holocaust detainee’s.

Up until this year, with the ending of the war in Palestine the Jewish people where slaves with the extension of the ‘Final Solution’ by the US’s part during World War 2 and what may not be readily known accept for references I have made previously that the true Palestinians have always been with the Jewish people as apart of this extermination solution.

Who may very well be behind this very old ‘Final Solution’ fence, anyone! But the main target’s have been true Palestinians and the Jewish people along into our more modern times, is anyone that is Muslim; which came with the ideological birth of Islamophobia.

Within Palestine itself the US collaborators towards aiding in this 'Final Solution,’ is global terrorist Interpol fugitive Mahmoud Abbas and his organization; on the outside is the main bulk of the US itself towards the whole of the global community to finalize this goal and to remove anyone as in World War 2 for example that get’s in the way. This is why some dignitaries for example have received death threats or other types of illegal attacks from something that may seem small to court litigation in some cases stemming from the US, with front men such as the case that occurred towards Jewish PM Ehud Olmert and that Olmert was never guilty of the charges posed against him; but it was an attempt to remove him from office because of him helping all those within Palestine and helping to end the war. Which there been references within previous writing of mine, that I too have been maltreated because of trying to do good for everyone, especially within my country; not withstanding of my part in ending the war.

As to in many cases the US Nazi party that works heatedly in the field of media propaganda, to out right pointing fingers at innocent people, the bird will eventually fly over and lay a cake on the US’s clean hair.

But the major problem is after this many years, when will these type of heinous crimes be over and everyone can breath again without standing behind the fence of oppression and death?

Further Reading

Guantanamo Bay (Detention) and Concentration Camp's:

Concentration Camps in America?

The Children in Guantánamo

U.S. war prisons legal vacuum for 14,000

Note:

*There where a handful in the US military during this time period that wanted to enter the European war for two years to help the Holocaust detainee’s, but where told to stand down and where refused to go by Roosevelt. This was explained by a first hand account of one of the former US military veterans, many years ago. It is further thought by the one that gave the first hand account, that many people in the concentration/extermination camps could have been saved if they had been allowed to go in; within this two year period.

It should be further understood, that not all American’s at this time knew Nazism was on US soil, but some of these same men later joined this ideology to further initiate the same tactic’s on US and foreign soil that occurred during the 1930’s Holocaust as is seen today. Some of the method’s of torture for example, I understand that has been used on myself and was explained in the above article.

To not further forget the untold extensive numbers of Islamic, Jewish martyrs and Christian (Helpers) that many are also martyrs for trying to save Muslims and Jews, which one was a very pious old Church of Christ minister (when I was four years old, he was murdered for saving the life of my mother and myself); since 1945, that is still occurring to this very day.

For example, the American Commandos not of Indian nationality; who stormed across Mumbai, India murdering Jews in there wake, reported today and apparently including also the murders of 22 foreigners — two of them happened to be Americans (A former Brooklyn Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi and his wife). Which the Jewish people where not allowed to render aid to the victims nor stop the American Commandos from there further killing spree, it was further reported; in this further extent of the Holocaust and not to ever forget these new martyrs along with those who came before.

Nevertheless, what comes to mind and I understand about respecting the laws of other countries, but I contend I do not understand why the Jewish people or any true Palestinian citizen (excluding the criminal illegal Canaanites)could not help those who where being slaughtered in India or to help capture the perpetrators of this heinous crime? Hopefully in the very near future, this type of situation can be rectified; as is allowed of those from other countries when there people are in trouble especially this type and I am very adamant on this and should be set right immediately.

Update:

The estimated count of the victim’s of the Mumbai, India American commando terrorist attack (not people from Pakistan as claimed by the Americans) are those killed at least 195 people, with 610 people rescued from the two hotels and also Nariman House. The main targets of this attack, where people who where of the Jewish religion.

HRM Deborah of Palestine at the History Cafe

Visiting the History Café, is HRM Deborah of Palestine appearing as lady liberty with truth VS the US afraid that history has caught up with there lies, to shaking in fear by former US President George W. Bush as Uncle Sam; who doesn’t know how apologize to lady liberty nor confess Bush lost the country in International Court.

Too furthermore, lady liberty was given the country with the blessing’s of the American people and courtesy of the global community.

Nevertheless, by International law the current US elections are illegal; as of now, the US as no Presidency nor is the US a Democracy.

All US military will immediately leave Iraq and Afghanistan, both these wars to be declared as over and the closing of Guantanamo Bay.

Update:
At this time, Barack Obama is in violation of International Law as to my understanding, as well as Joe Biden.

It was reported to me yesterday, International Courts decision regarding the holder and forfeiture of the USA, because of noncompliance and criminal action on the part of US President George W. Bush and the forgoing actions required for US noncompliance by the global community and myself.

Iran: Supreme Leader: Rule of money in West over

13 October 2008

Tehran-Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that the rule of money in the western world has come to an end and their outcries are heard.

Highlighting the current status of liberal democracy in the West, the Supreme Leader said as the school of Marxism has collapsed, sounds of the decline of the West's liberal democracy are now heard.

The Islamic movement is spreading day by day and the Islamic Revolution as the driving force of such a great ideological movement should strengthen the factors behind its progress, the Supreme Leader said in a meeting with Friday prayer leaders from throughout the country.

The secret of the Islamic Revolutions lies in its spirit of resistance, underlined Ayatollah Khamenei.

The Iranian nation has renewed its allegiance to Islam, the Islamic Revolution and late Imam Khomeini, said the Supreme Leader, adding that the Iranian people have kept their promises to this effect resulting in the supremacy of religious power in Iran.

The Islamic Revolution became victorious at a time when the world was dominated by two schools of thought namely Marxism and Liberalism, said Ayatollah Khamenei.

"Iran strongly stood up to the plots masterminded by global arrogance and by relying on the Almighty God overcame all difficulties. Now there is no sign of Marxism in the world and even Liberalism is on the decline," pointed out the Supreme Leader.

Referring to scandalous collapse of Marxism, the Supreme Leader said they lost their strongholds one by one and finally turned into a spider web and were wiped up completely.

After fall of Marxism, liberalism was tempted to promote the idea of unipolar world, assuming that the whole world was under its influence it had no rival, pointed out Ayatollah Khamenei.

Highlighting the current status of liberalism in the western democracy, the Supreme Leader said that "Political claims and fabricated mottos of this school about human rights and democracy were revealed in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib prison, invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombardment of various parts of the world. And today, the rule of money in the West has been broken and their outcries are heard."

The current problems facing the West show to what extent the economic claims of Liberal Democracy was false, said the Supreme Leader, adding that the western analysts have now confessed to inefficiency of their economic theories.

They themselves claim that the era of America's absolute domination of the world is now over, underlined the Supreme Leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that some people try to resort to any means to disappoint the Iranian people and deviate them from their right path.

The Islamic Revolution will continue treading its path vigorously despite some minor shortcomings, the Supreme Leader made it clear.

Bush on the 9/11 Anniversary 2008

On the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist acts, events big and small are planned nationwide to remember the more than 2,751 people who were killed in the Twin Towers attacks, not including Pennsylvania and the Pentagon.

While 11 September 2001 is still so fresh in some people’s minds and this just doesn’t include the Americans, but people throughout the globe; of such a heinous perpetrated act upon any countries soil. But what makes it more of a heinous situation is because this terrorist act was actually home grown.

It has become common knowledge, among many in the global community that the mastermind behind 9/11 was none other then U.S. President George W. Bush and as for Al-Qaeda, the leader in the background for this group; is Bush.

Just like another terrorist organization in my country of Palestine, under global terrorist, Interpol fugitive Mahmoud Abbas with his organization of collaborates and they take order’s from Bush.

If Bush plans to preside over any of the memorial event’s today it makes for a man without a conscience to do so, for the sake of not just the American people, but the other’s who died because of 9/11 and the outcome across the globe of terrorist attacks through Bush, to war, occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, other terrorist attacks on American soil, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Internet terrorism to name a few.

Nevertheless, it is hoped that one day the wounds will heal and the reminder that the Islamic nations or people where never guilty, but are so very saddened by these event's, also; because Muslims across the globe are still shedding tears.

U.S. general barred from another Guantanamo trial

A photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, shows the Sept. 11 attacks co-conspirator suspects (L) during their court hearing inside a U.S. military war crimes court at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, on 5 June 2008.

14 August 2008

By Jane Sutton

A military judge barred a U.S. general on Thursday from further involvement in the war crimes trial of a young Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, the second time the legal advisor has been blocked from a case.

The judge also ordered that the attempted murder charges against defendant Mohammed Jawad, 23, be sent back to the overseer of the tribunals for revalidation.

But the judge denied a defense request to dismiss all charges against Jawad, who is accused of throwing a grenade into a U.S. military jeep at a bazaar in Kabul in December 2002, wounding two U.S. soldiers and their Afghan interpreter.

Jawad's military lawyers said the charges should be thrown out because they were tainted by unlawful influence from Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the officer appointed to give impartial legal advice to the Pentagon appointee overseeing the war crimes tribunals at the U.S. military base in Cuba.

The judge said there was evidence Hartmann "desired to control the entire operation" but that the decision to charge Jawad was made independently by an acting chief prosecutor.

Still, he said Hartmann's public statements aligning himself with the prosecution had compromised his ability to act impartially in an appeals process if Jawad is convicted.

The barring of Hartmann from Jawad's case highlights some of the fractures within the U.S. military regarding a tribunal process condemned by human rights advocates as unfair and corrupted by politics.

Hartmann had earlier been barred from the case against Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, who was convicted last week at Guantanamo of providing support for terrorism.

Hamdan's case was the first full trial since the United States began sending hundreds of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners to Guantanamo in January 2002. The Pentagon plans to try as many as 80 of the detainees.

Defense lawyers said Hartmann failed to turn over certain defense documents to Susan Crawford, the Pentagon appointee who oversees the trials and validates charges for prosecution. They said those documents outlined mitigating circumstances that might have altered her decision to endorse the charges.

The judge ordered the documents to be sent to Crawford and that she again review the charges against Jawad.

Doctors Claim Torture of Detainees

18 June 2008

By PAMELA HESS

WASHINGTON- Medical examinations of former terrorism suspects held by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, found evidence of torture and other abuse that resulted in serious injuries and mental disorders, according to a human rights group.

For the most extensive medical study of former U.S. detainees published so far, Physicians for Human Rights had doctors and mental health professionals examine 11 former prisoners. The group alleges finding evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes and accuses U.S. military health professionals of allowing the abuse of detainees, denying them medical care and providing confidential medical information to interrogators that they then exploited.

"Some of these men really are, several years later, very severely scarred," said Barry Rosenfeld, a psychology professor at Fordham University who conducted psychological tests on six of the 11 detainees covered by the study. "It's a testimony to how bad those conditions were and how personal the abuse was."

One Iraqi prisoner, identified only as Yasser, reported being subjected to electric shocks three times and being sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press. He would not allow a full rectal exam.

Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated by being forced to wear women's underwear, stripped naked and paraded in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had sexual problems related to his humiliation, the report said.

The report came as the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed documents showing military lawyers warned the Pentagon that methods it was using post-9/11 violated military, U.S. and international law. Those objections were overruled by the top Pentagon lawyer.

President Bush said in 2004, when the prison abuse was revealed, that it was the work of "a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values." Bush and other U.S. officials have consistently denied that the U.S. tortures its detainees.

Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group based in Cambridge, Mass., that investigates abuse around the world and advocates for global health and human rights, did not identify the 11 former prisoners to protect their privacy. Seven were held in Abu Ghraib between late 2003 and summer of 2004, a period that coincides with the known abuse of prisoners at the hands of some of their American jailers. Four of the prisoners were held at Guantanamo beginning in 2002 for one to almost five years. All 11 were released without criminal charges.

Those examined alleged that they were tortured or abused, including sexually, and described being shocked with electrodes, beaten, shackled, stripped of their clothes, deprived of food and sleep, and spit and urinated on.

The abuse of some prisoners by their American captors is well documented by the government's own reports. Once-secret documents show that the Pentagon and Justice Department allowed, at least for a time, forced nakedness, isolation, sleep deprivation and humiliation at both Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and at Abu Ghraib.

Because the medical examiners did not have access to the 11 patients' medical histories prior to their imprisonment, it was not possible to know whether any of the prisoners' ailments, disabilities and scars pre-dated their confinement. The U.S. military says an al-Qaida training manual instructs members, if captured, to assert they were tortured during interrogation.

However, doctors and mental health professionals stated they could link the prisoners' claims of abuse while in U.S. detention to injuries documented by X-rays, medical exams and psychological tests.

"The level of the time, thoroughness and rigor of the exams left me personally without question about the credibility of the individuals," said Dr. Allen Keller, one of the doctors who conducted the exams, in an interview with the AP. "The findings on the physical and psychological exams were consistent with what they reported."

All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:

_Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.

_Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.

_Extreme heat or cold. _Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.

Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks. Nine said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. At least six said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while naked. Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or threatened with rape.

The patients underwent intensive, two-day long exams following standards and methods used worldwide to document torture.

"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," he said.

Keller, who directs the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture, said the treatment the detainees reported were "eerily familiar" to stories from other torture survivors around the world. He said the sexual humiliation of the prisoners was often the most traumatic experience.

Most former detainees are out of reach of Western doctors because they are either in Iraq or have been returned to their home countries from Guantanamo.

On the Net:

The report: http://www.brokenlives.info

The innocents of Guantanamo

How did the United States come to hold so many farmers and goat herders among the real terrorists at Guantanamo?

Actually that is a good question, because it is coming more forewords these days, that many of the men at Guantanamo Bay had little or no ties to terrorism and to think they were described by the Bush administration as “the worst of the worst.”

It is being more reported, how some men from Afghanistan for example, where dragged from their homes by U.S. troops and charged as insurgents; who where actually guiltless of the charges, as well as where enemies to no one.

While it appears the Bush administration is now hedging to this fact and making there usual runaround excuses as a cover-up, it still stands for the innocents in Guantanamo.

It is also becoming a growing question for the detainee’s of who is and who is not a terrorist among the U.S. government officials, especially since the Bush Administration set up a special situation originally with the idea to hold these men indefently.

Court backs Gitmo detainees

12 June 2008

Video

by James Oliphant

In a body-blow to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that prisoners held at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have a constitutional right to challenge their detentions in civilian federal courts.

The administration had argued that the military commission system set up by the Pentagon to try suspected terrorists provided enough to satisfy constitutional requirements. The court Thursday disagreed, introducing an element of uncertainty into what happens next regarding the 270 or so remaining detainees held at Guantanamo.

The 5-4 decision was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was always believed to be the crucial swing vote in the case. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented on behalf of the conservative members of the court, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times," Kennedy wrote.

The rebuke of the administration was its third loss before the court on issues relating to the detainees, some of whom have been held in the prisons since 2002 without charges, and this time, the court seemed to emphatically say enough was enough. The court first ruled in 2004 that detainees had the right of habeas corpus--the ability to challenge the basis for an extended detention beyond the normal criminal appeals process--by finding that the federal habeas statute granted them those rights.

Congress responded by passing an act that stripped away those statutory rights. The cases decided Thursday reviewed that act and found that Congress' act was invalid for constitutional reasons, saying that Congress can only suspend habeas in incidences of rebellion or invasion.

"The Supreme Court has finally brought an end to one of our nation's most egregious injustices," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the public interest group that brought suit on behalf of 37 detainees in the case. "It has finally given the men held at Guantánamo the justice that they have long deserved. By granting the writ of habeas corpus, the Supreme Court recognizes a rule of law established hundreds of years ago and essential to American jurisprudence since our nation's founding. This six-year-long nightmare is a lesson in how fragile our constitutional protections truly are in the hands of an overzealous executive."

Said Kathryn Kolbert, president of the liberal advocacy group People For the American Way: "The Supreme Court has rebuked President Bush's vision of the presidency as an office of limitless power, and declared that the president of a free nation cannot simply lock people up and throw away the key like some third-world dictator. This is a stinging blow to the administration's lawless policies and its allies in Congress."

The court also said that the appeals system set up by the congressional act, which gave detainees the right to a limited appeal to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., was an inadequate substitute for habeas corpus rights.

Roberts in dissent embraced the government's argument in the case, saying the detainees had been given "the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants."

-----------------
Bush disagrees with court's Guantanamo ruling

By DEB RIECHMANN

President Bush on Thursday strongly disagreed with a Supreme Court ruling that clears foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts. Bush suggested new legislation may now be needed to keep the American people safe.

"We'll abide by the court's decision," Bush said during a news conference in Rome. "That doesn't mean I have to agree with it." The court's decision was sure to be popular in Europe, where many leaders have called for the closing of Guantanamo.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

"It was a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented," Bush said. "And that dissent was based upon their serious concerns about U.S. national security."

Bush said his administration will study the ruling. "We'll do this with this in mind — to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate so we can safely say to the American people, 'We're doing everything we can to protect you.'"

The president, meeting with allies in a farewell tour of Europe, was reminded again that his time in office is fleeting. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was asked which U.S. president he would like to see next — Sen. John McCain of Arizona or Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

"I suppose I could express my own personal preference for one of the candidates, the Republican candidate," Berlusconi said. "And this is for a very selfish reason, and that is that I would no longer be the oldest person at the upcoming G-8 (meeting) because McCain is a month older than me." McCain is 71.

On soaring oil prices, the president made clear that the United States would send a high-level official to a summit recently announced by Saudi Arabia. The upcoming meeting is designed to gather oil producing countries and consumer nations. Bush made clear he would not be the one attending.

The Saudis are concerned that sustained high oil prices will eventually slacken the world's appetite for oil, affecting them in the long run. Saudi Arabia holds the world's largest oil reserve.

"The prices of gas are high and the American people don't like it and I can understand why they don't like it," Bush said.

"I said it's an interesting idea, I need to get home and study it," Bush said of the oil summit. "We'll send someone high-level here."

Bush's trip, which stretches from Slovenia to Northern Ireland, has largely been dominated by the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. He has also confronted matters of climate change, Mideast peace and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But he made a point to show those watching and listening in the U.S. that he was not overlooking the devastating weather that has hit back home.

In an opening statement at the news conference, Bush said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the terrible tornadoes and flooding, especially those who've lost loved ones. We've been inspired by the stories of heroism, neighbors helping neighbors and communities coming together. It's a really tough time for the people in the midwestern part of the United States and they'll have the prayers of the American people."

Bush praised Italy for committing troops to trouble spots around the world, including more than 2,000 Italian troops toward the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Italy, along with Germany, France and Spain, have restricted their troops to less dangerous areas in northern Afghanistan — and that has caused a rift because other NATO members are deployed in the more violent regions of the nation.

Berlusconi said during the news conference that he and Bush had discussed his government's willingness to lift some restrictions, and in fact his government is taking steps to give Italian forces more flexibility that could mean temporary deployments in more volatile areas. Based on assurances from the Italians, Bush stated flatly that he was pleased to learn that "the caveats that have restricted your forces in Afghanistan have been removed."

Unlike other European leaders, such as former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former French President Jacques Chirac, Berlusconi supported Bush on Iraq from the start. The 71-year-old media mogul defied domestic opposition and dispatched about 3,000 troops to Iraq after the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Those troops came home, and Berlusconi, recently elected to his third stint in power since 1994, has pledged not to send any back.

Gitmo Lawyers Say U.S. is Rushing Cases

Broken

Defense For Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Object To Trial Starting So Close To U.S. Elections

29 May 2008

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico-Defense lawyers say the government is rushing 9/11 defendants to trial at Guantanamo to influence the U.S. presidential elections, and are asking the military judge to dismiss the case.

Military lawyers for alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other defendants say the prosecution is politically motivated. A copy of their filing with the war-crimes tribunal was said, to have been obtained by AP news agency on Thursday.

The defense notes that the prosecution proposes the trial begin on Sept. 15, less than two months before the presidential elections. The lawyers have said the military is pressuring prosecutors to try the Sept. 11 defendants soon to capture the attention of the American public.

FBI Wrestling a ‘Good News, Bad News’ Predicament

26 May 2008

by Barbara Ferguson

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is battling a real “good news — bad news” situation within their ranks.

Bad news first: The FBI’s highest-ranking Arab-American agent told a congressional panel this week that he is not being allowed to work on important counterterrorism assignments, despite a shortage of agents who speak Arabic.

The good news — for the FBI, not the nation — is that senior Bush Administration officials apparently ignored warnings from the FBI over interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new US government report.

Bassem Youssef, chief of the communications analysis unit of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said the bureau’s International Terrorism Operations Sections (ITOS) — which include those that track Al-Qaeda terrorists — are “inexcusably understaffed.”

Egyptian-born Youssef, who has been an agent with the FBI since 1988, said only 62 percent of posts were filled in the counterterrorism unit. In other words, more than one out of every three positions in an elite FBI division that tracks Al-Qaeda terrorists is vacant.

This was confirmed this week by another source, when an internal FBI document was leaked to the press. The FBI’s counterterrorism section is too badly organized and too understaffed to be able to protect the United States effectively against attack, Youssef told lawmakers.

This chronic staff shortage forced the FBI to recruit staff with no relevant experience, specifically with Middle Eastern counterterrorism, possibly lacking pertinent language skills and cultural understanding.

Without cultural knowledge skills, it is difficult to understand how the agents could successfully understand the region.

This reporter has personally known FBI agents over the years, and has been appalled at their ignorance and lack of intellectual curiosity regarding Middle East issues. This reporter asked one agent - whom she learned was specifically dealing with the region - why the agent never asked her any questions about the culture, religion or history of the region, subjects this reporter regularly trains deploying Marines.

The agent’s response: “I didn’t want to have to lie when I took my polygraph.”

In other words, it is better for that agent to remain ignorant, that risk a hassle with the lie detector test about where the agent gained knowledge. Now, efforts are under way at the FBI to canvass for “volunteers” to fill what the agency said is a “critical” need in its counterterrorism efforts.

Inexperience means new operatives take even the slightest threat seriously, and “this happens just about every weekend,” running the staff on the ground ragged.

“If the executives themselves who are managing the entire section or the division are not where they should be... you’re going to see agents, analysts and other folks working in that division that are overworked, because they’re over-assigned,” he said. The FBI has been sanguine over these accusations: “While we appreciate any employee’s views on the state and direction of the FBI, those assessments may be very limited in scope,” John Miller, an FBI spokesman, told reporters.

“It is cynical to write off the work of so many dedicated FBI employees or the accomplishments of the bureau by suggesting that these efforts are failing, especially when they are not.”

Fortunately, the FBI has proof it’s doing some things right, according to recently released documents.

FBI agents repeatedly complained that harsh interrogation techniques used on detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo might violate the law and jeopardize future criminal trials, but administration officials did little to address the concerns, a government watchdog concluded in a recent report.

At one point in 2003, several top Justice Department officials took the concerns about interrogation practices used by the military at Guantanamo to the National Security Council, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine said in his report.However, Fine said the complaints did not appear to trigger any response from the National Security Council, which includes President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and was chaired at the time by then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Although the FBI’s concerns were previously known, Fine’s report details how top law enforcement and military officials were slow to respond and how, in some instances, administration officials appear to have disregarded them. The 370-page report took four years to complete, with its release delayed by the Pentagon’s attempt to keep a larger portion of the report classified, according to Fine.

The report describes how FBI agents beginning in 2002 became deeply troubled by some of the interrogations they witnessed and details frequent clashes between agents and their military counterparts over the military’s and CIA’s use of harsh techniques that one agent described as “borderline torture.”

President Bush claimed harsh interrogations produced invaluable intelligence, but the FBI agents said the abuse was ineffective. They also predicted, accurately, that it would be impossible to prosecute abused prisoners.

________

Commentary

Possibly, I am a bit naive on this point, but I could never actually see the United States having a real terrorism problem, unless it is because of certain elements of their domestic or foreign policies and this is an idea just thrown out into the wind only.

Otherwise, in my opinion, I cannot actually see the United States having any foreseeable problem towards being victims of terrorism even in the future.

Personally, I am against any of the facets of terrorism and abhor anyone that would wish to commit such acts, towards any people or country.

US: 500 youths detained in Iraq; 10 in Afghanistan

19 May 2008

By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN

The U.S. military is holding about 500 juveniles suspected of being "unlawful enemy combatants" in detention centers in Iraq and has about 10 detained in Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations.

A total of 2,500 youths under the age of 18 have been detained, almost all in Iraq, for periods up to a year or more in President Bush's anti-terrorism campaign since 2002, the United States reported last week to the U.N.'s Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Civil liberties groups such as the International Justice Network and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced the detentions as abhorrent, and a violation of U.S. treaty obligations.

In the periodic report to the United Nations on U.S. compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United States confirmed that "as of April 2008, the United States held about 500 juveniles in Iraq."

"The juveniles that the United States has detained have been captured engaging in anti-coalition activity, such as planting Improvised Explosive Devices, operating as lookouts for insurgents, or actively engaged in fighting against U.S. and Coalition forces," the U.S. report said.

The majority are believed to be 16 or 17 years old. In the United States a 17-year-old can enlist in the U.S. army, with parental consent.

The report said that of the total of 2,500 juveniles jailed since 2002, all but 100 had been picked up in Iraq. Of the remainder, most were swept up in Afghanistan.

A total of eight juveniles have been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but all were released from 2004 to 2006.

"It remains uncertain the exact age of these individuals, as most of them did not know their date of birth or even the year they were born," the report says. But U.S. military doctors who evaluated them believed that three were under age 16.

In Afghanistan, "as of April 2008, there are approximately 10 juveniles being held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility as unlawful enemy combatants," the report said.

In Bagram, a U.S. military spokesman, Marine 1st Lt. Richard K. Ulsh, told the AP on Sunday: "At any time there are up to 625 detainees being held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. There are no detainees being held under the age of 16 and, without getting into specifics due to the frequent fluctuation in the number of detainees being held, we can tell you that there are currently less than 10 detainees being held under the age of 18."

Civil liberties groups were outraged.

"It's shocking to me that the U.S. government has not figured out a way to keep children out of adult prisons. It's outrageous, and it is not making us any safer, I can say that about Afghanistan from personal experience," Tina M. Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, said Sunday.

Her group brought lawsuits on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees in 2006, and has taken on the cases of adult detainees in Bagram. She said the U.S. military does not release the names of juveniles it is holding in Bagram, so her group is trying to learn who they are by finding Afghan relatives.

"It is shocking to know that the U.S. is holding hundreds of juveniles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even more disturbing that there is no comprehensive policy in place that will protect their rights as children," Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said in a statement. "Juveniles and former child soldiers should be treated first and foremost as candidates for rehabilitation and reintegration into society, not subjected to further victimization."

According to the ACLU, the lack of protections and consideration for the juvenile status of detainees violates the obligations of the U.S. under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that the U.S. ratified in 2002, as well as universally accepted international norms.

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child is scheduled to question the U.S. delegation on its compliance with its obligations on May 22 in Geneva.

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, with backing at the time from the U.S. government of President Bill Clinton, and with strong lobbying from then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who now is competing for the Democratic Party presidential nomination with Barack Obama.
___

On the Web:

International Justice Network

American Civil Liberties Union

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child questions and U.S. responses

Counterterrorism, Laws and the Constitution

6 April 2008

Oct. 23, 2001 An Office of Legal Counsel memo titled "Re Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States" states that domestic military operations involving terrorism are not regulated by the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil.

Jan. 25, 2002 An Office of Legal Counsel memo concludes that the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the treatment and interrogation of al-Qaeda prisoners.

Aug. 1, 2002 An Office of Legal Counsel memo narrowly defines what constitutes illegal torture, saying it must "be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

March 14, 2003 An Office of Legal Counsel memo states that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes do not apply to military interrogators of al-Qaeda detainees. It also says that if an interrogator harmed detainees, he "could argue that the executive branch's constitutional authority to protect the nation from attack justified his actions."

April 16, 2003 The Pentagon formally lists 24 interrogation methods that can be used at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including isolation and what it calls "fear up harsh," which means "significantly increasing the fear level in a detainee."

December 2003 Jack Goldsmith, the new chief of the Office of Legal Counsel, decides that both the August 2002 and the March 2003 opinions must be rescinded. But he states that the Defense Department can still rely on the 24 approved interrogation techniques.

April 28, 2004 The Abu Ghraib prison scandal breaks.

June 14, 2004 Goldsmith tells Attorney General John D. Ashcroft that the August 2002 OLC memo on interrogation techniques needs to be withdrawn.

December 2004 A new Office of Legal Counsel memo concludes that torture is "abhorrent," but it adopts a legal definition similar to the one spelled out in the August 2002 OLC memo.


-- Julie Tate

Full Text of Human Rights Record of United States in 2007

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-13 13:56

BEIJING - The Information Office of the State Council published a report titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007" here on Thursday. Following is the full text:

The State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 on March 11, 2008. As in previous years, the reports are full of accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China but mention nothing of the widespread human rights abuses on its own territory. The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007 is prepared to help people around the world understand the real situation of human rights in the United States and as a reminder for the United States to reflect upon its own issues.

I. On Life, Property and Personal Security

The increase of violent crimes in the United States poses a serious threat to its people's lives, liberty and personal security.

According to a FBI report on crime statistics released in September 2007, 1.41 million violent crimes were reported nationwide in 2006, an increase of 1.9 percent over 2005. Of the violent crimes, the estimated number of murders and nonnegligent manslaughters increased 1.8 percent, and that of robberies increased 7.2 percent (FBI Release its 2006 Crime Statistics,FBI,www.fbi.gov/pressre1/pressre107/cius092407.htm). Throughout 2006, US residents age 12 or above experienced an estimated 25 million crimes of violence and theft. The violent crime rate was 24.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, for property crimes it was 159.5 per 1,000 households. Males experienced 26 violent victimizations per 1,000 males age 12 or older; females, 23 per 1,000 females age 12 or older. Blacks experienced 33 violent victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, higher than 23 for whites (Criminal Victimization 2006, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). In the United States, one violent crime was committed in every 22.2 seconds, one murder committed in every 30.9 minutes, one rape in every 5.7 minutes, one robbery in every 1.2 minutes and one aggravated assault in every 36.6 seconds (FBI Release its 2006 Crime Statistics, FBI, www.fbi.gov/pressre1/pressre107/cius092407.htm).

A survey by the Police Executive Research Forum in 163 US cities shows that 65 percent of them reported increases or no changes in homicides during the first half of 2007, 41.9 percent of cities reported increases or no changes in aggravated assaults, 55.6 percent reported increases or no changes in robberies (Survey Shows Shift in Violence, USA Today, October 12, 2007). In New Orleans, 209 homicides were recorded in 2007, a 30 percent increase over that of 2006 (New Orleans Homicides up 30% Over '06 Level, USA Today, January 3, 2008). Washington D.C. recorded 181 killings in 2007, jumping 7 percent over 2006 (Killings in D.C. up After Long Dip, The Washington Post, January 1, 2008). Baltimore recorded 282 homicides last year (City Marks First '08 Slaying. The Baltimore Sun, January 2, 2008) and 428 killings were logged in New York by the end of November (City Homicides Still Dropping, to Under 500, The New York Times, November 23, 2007). From January to September, Chicago recorded 119,553 criminal offences including 341 murders and 11,097 robberies (Chicago Police Department, http://egov.cityofchicago.org). From January to November, 737 people were murdered in Los Angeles, namely two were killed every day (World Daily, December 4, 2007). In Detroit, rampant violent crimes have forced many residents to find new homes elsewhere, and the city's population has declined by nearly 1 million since 1950, according to the Census Bureau (Study: Detroit Most Dangerous City, the Associated Press, November 18, 2007).

The United States has the largest number of privately-owned guns in the world. Frequent gun violence poses a serious threat to people’s life and property security. There are an estimated 250 million privately-owned firearms in the United States. Almost every American, even ex-criminals with felony records and minors, has firearms. The Associated Press reported on January 29, 2007 that about 410,000 Floridians were licensed to carry hidden guns, including 1,400 who had pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies, thanks to loopholes, errors and miscommunication of authorities.

In the United States, about 30,000 people die from gun wounds every year (Update 2-Senate Passes Gun Bill in Response to Rampage, Reuters, December 19, 2007). The USA Today reported on December 5,2007 that gun killings have climbed 13 percent overall since 2002. An estimated 25 percent of all violent crime incidents were committed by an armed offender. The presence of a firearm was involved in 9 percent of these incidents (Criminal Victimization 2006, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). According to a report by the US Department of Justice on December 2007, among students ages 12-18, there were about 1.5 million victims of nonfatal crimes at school in 2005. In the same year, 8 percent of students in grades 9-12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon in the previous 12 months. From July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006, among youth ages 5-18, there were 17 school-associated violent deaths (Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2007, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). On April 16, 2007, the Virginia Tech University witnessed the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history with 33 killed and more than 30 others injured (AFP, April17, 2007). On February 12, 2007, two separate gun killings in the Salt Lake City and Philadelphia claimed eight lives and injured several other people (The Associated Press, February 13, 2007). On June 9, in Delevan, Wisconsin, a gunman killed four adults and two infants (Chicago Tribune, June 11, 2007). On October 31, a 38-year-old pregnant woman was caught in gang gunfire while returning home after trick-or-treating with her children on Halloween night. She was shot in head and killed (Chicago Tribune, November 2, 2007). On December 5, a man opened fire at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, killing eight people and injuring five others. The man then killed himself (The Associated Press, December 5, 2007). On December 7, three separate gun killings took place in San Jose, the acclaimed "safest city" in the United States. Four people were killed by guns in the city in less than one month. (Ming Pao, December 9, 2007). On December 9, two separate gun killings in churches killed five people and injured other five in Colorado (Reuters, December 9, 2007). On December 24 and 25, at least nine people were killed in several gun killings in New York City (www.chinesenewsnet.com, December 26, 2007). On December 26, bodies of six people died from gun wounds were discovered at a residential building in eastern Seattle (www.chinesenewsnet.com, December 27, 2007).

II. On Human Rights Violations by Law Enforcement and Judicial Departments

The abuse of their power by law enforcement and judicial departments in the United States has seriously violated the freedom and rights of its citizens.

Cases in which US law enforcement authorities allegedly violated victims' civil rights increased by 25 percent from fiscal year 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years, according to statistics from US Department of Justice (Police Brutality Casesup 25%; Union Worried Over Dip in Hiring Standards, USA Today, December 18, 2007). The national average among large police departments for excessive-force complaints was 9.5 per 100 full-time officers (The New York Times, November 14, 2007). But the majority of law enforcement officers accused of brutality were not prosecuted in the end. From May 2001 to June 2006, 2,451 police officers in Chicago received four to 10 complaints each, 662 of them received more than 10 complaints each, but only 22 were punished. Furthermore, there were officers who had amassed more than 50 abuse complaints but were never disciplined in any fashion (The Chicago Police Department's Broken System, University of Chicago, www.law.chicago.edu). On August 17, 2006, a 52-year-old Chicago woman named Dolores Robare was nearly struck by a speeding police car when she was crossing the road. The officer stopped and asked her to produce her identification. She was brutally beaten by the police when she asked them why it was taking so long (The Chicago Tribune, May 1, 2007). On December 15,2006, four businessmen were beaten by six off-duty officers at a bar for no apparent reasons (The Chicago Tribune, June 9, 2007). On August 3, 42-year-old African American Geffrey Johnson was killed at his home by the police using a taser gun. On August 6, 18-year-old black youth Aaron Harrison was shot in the back and killed by police pursuing him (The Chicago Tribune, August 9, 2007). On May 1 when Latino immigrants were campaigning for the rights of illegal immigrants at MacArthur Park in downtown Los Angeles, police officers abused their power by clubbing demonstrators and journalists and shooting them with rubber bullets (The Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2007). On November 12, five police officers fired 20 bullets at 18-year-old youth Khiel Coppin, eight hitting him, in front of his mother's house, after mistaking a comb he was brandishing as a gun (The China Press, New York, November 19, 2007). According to a report released by the US Department of Justice in October 2007, 47 states and the District of Columbia reported 2,002 arrest-related deaths between 2003 and 2005. Among these, 1,095, or 55 percent, were killed by gunfire of state or local police (Death in Custody Statistical Tables, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs).

The United States of America is the world's largest prison and has the highest inmates/population ratio in the world. A December 5, 2007 report by EFE news agency quoted statistics of US Department of Justice as saying that the number of inmates in US prisons has increased by 500 percent over the last 30 years. By the end of 2006, there were 2.26 million inmates in US prisons, up 2.8 percent from a year ago. The number is the highest over the last six years. The US population only accounted for 5 percent of the world total, but its inmates made up 25 percent of the world total. There were 751 inmates in every 100,000 US citizens, far higher than the rates in other Western countries (EFE news agency, December 5, 2007). Among the inmates, 96 percent were serving sentences of more than one year, which equaled about one in every 200 US citizens serving a sentence of more than a year (Prisoners In 2006, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). Since the September 11 attacks, reincarceration rate has been rising in the United States. According to statistics, about two thirds of the inmates would commit a second crime within three years after releasing. Two out of three inmates would be caught again after their release and 40 percent would be put behind bars again.

Abusing the inmates is commonplace in US prisons. According to a report released by US Department of Justice in December 2007, an estimated 60,500 inmates, or 4.5 percent of State and Federal inmates, experienced one or more incidents of sexual victimization, 2.9 percent of the inmates reported an incident involving prison staff, 0.5 percent said they had been sexually victimized by both other inmates and staff, 0.8 percent of the inmates were injured as a result of sexual victimization (Sexual Victimization in State and Federal Prisons Reported by Inmates, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). The US government acknowledged in a January 16, 2007 report that suspected illegal immigrants were mistreated in five prisons, breaching the principle of humane custody (The Washington Post, January 17, 2007). The Washington Post reported on December 17, 2007 that juvenile inmates in a West Texas youth prison were sexually assaulted or beaten and denied medical care. Those who reported the crime got revenged upon and the situation remained unimproved months after the scandal was brought to light. (Dad Dismissed Prison Reform, The Washington Times, December 17, 2007).In January 2008, seven prisoners in Georgia State filed a class-action lawsuit accusing guards and other corrections officers of abusing and torturing them between October 2005 and August 2007, including beating them with batons and special black leather "beating gloves" and ramming inmates' heads against the wall. Media reports said some 40 inmates in other Georgia prisons complained of similar cases, in which guards strapped nude inmates to iron beds or iron chairs, denying them of food, water or access to bathroom for as long as 48 hours, and causing the death of two inmates (International Herald Tribune, January 8, 2008). Guards in American prisons regularly use taser guns. According to a 2007 report from Amnesty International, 230 Americans have died from taser guns since 2001. In July 2006, a prison in Garfield County, Colorado was accused of regularly using taser guns or pepper sprayers on inmates, and then tying them to chairs in awkward positions for hours. In August, prison guards in Arapahoe County of Colorado strapped inmate Raul Gallegos-Reyes to a restraint chair for yelling and knocking on his cell door. He died after being repeatedly stunned with a taser gun.

US prisoners often die from HIV/AIDS infection or inadequate medical service. A report released by the US Department of Justice in September 2007 said there were 22,480 state and federal inmates who were HIV infected or had confirmed AIDS at yearend 2005, 5,620 inmates had confirmed AIDS. During 2005 an estimated 176 state and 27 federal inmates died from AIDS-related causes (HIV in prisons 2005, US Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). According to a report by the Los Angeles Times on September 20, 2007, 426 death cases took place in California prisons in 2006 due to belated treatment. Among them, 18 deaths were found to be "preventable" and an additional 48 were found to be "possibly preventable". On April 14, 2007, 41-year-old diabetic prisoner Rodolfo Ramos died after being left alone and covered in his own feces for a week. Prison officials failed to get medical treatment for him despite knowing of his condition (The Associated Press, April 27, 2007).

The justice of US judicial system was increasingly put in question. Survey finds that since the first DNA exoneration in 1989, there have been 209 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. The average length of time served by exonerees is 12 years. The average age of exonerees at the time of their wrongful convictions was 26, and 15 of the 209 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row (Facts on Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations, Innocence Project, www.innocenceproject.com). The Associated Press reported on January 3, 2008 that Charles Chatman of Texas was proved innocent by DNA evidence after spending 26 years in prison. In 1981, he was sentenced to 99 years in prison after convicted of committing serious sexual assaults. He was the 15th inmate exonerated by DNA evidence in Dalas since 2001 (Texas Man Exonerated by DNA After 26 Years, the Associated Press, January 3, 2008).

III. On Civil and Political Rights

The freedom and rights of individual citizens are being increasingly marginalized in the United States.

The House of Representatives and the Senate of the US Congress passed the Protect America Act of 2007 on August 3, and August 4, 2007, respectively. The act enables the US administration to eavesdrop terrorist suspects in the United States without court approval. It also permits intelligence services to conduct electronic surveillance on digital communications between terrorist suspects outside the United States if the communications are routed through the country (The so-called Protect America Act, http://public.findlaw.com, August 10, 2007). According to a report by the Washington Post on March 10, 2007, the FBI improperly obtained personal information on more than 52,000 people without court oversight through the use of national security letters (NSLs) from 2003 to 2005. Verizon Communications, the second largest telecom company in the United States, disclosed that the FBI sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but all the people that customer called, as well as the people those people called. From January 2005 to September 2007, Verizon provided data to federal authorities "on an emergency basis" 720 times. The records included Internet protocol addresses as well as phone data. In that period, Verizon turned over information a total of 94,000 times to federal authorities armed with a subpoena or court order. The information was mainly used for a range of criminal investigations including counter-terrorism investigations (The Washington Post, October 16, 2007). In August 2007, the United States' National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell revealed that fewer than 100 people inside the United States are monitored under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants. However, he said, thousands of people overseas are monitored (The Associated Press, August 23, 2007). The FBI is embarking on a 1 billion US dollars effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, called Next Generation Identification, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny (FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics, The Washington Post, December 22, 2007). Statistics show that the government's illegal dragnet electronic surveillance has put sensitive personal information from millions of people at risk. 477 breaches into government databases were found in 2006 alone. More than 162 million records were reported lost or stolen in 2007, triple the 49.7 million that went missing in 2006 (USA Today website, December 10, 2007). In July 2007, the Homeland Security Department granted more than 4 million US dollars to install 175 video cameras on the streets of cities including St. Paul, Madison (Wisconsin State) and Pittsburgh. The Boston Globe estimated that up to hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent by the department to install new surveillance systems around the country, accelerating the rise of a "surveillance society" (The Boston Globe, August 12, 2007).

Workers' right to unionize has been restricted in the United States. It was reported that union membership fell by 326,000 in 2006, bringing the percentage of employees in unions to 12 percent, down from 20 percent in 1983. Employer resistance stopped 53 percent of nonunion workers from joining a union (Sharp Decline in Union Members in '06, The New York Times, January 26, 2007). According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, when Wal-Mart stores faced unionization drives, the company often broke the law by, for example, eavesdropping on workers, training surveillance cameras on them and firing those who favored unions (Report Assails Wal-Mart Over Unions, The New York Times, May 1, 2007).

In the United States, money is "mother's milk" for politics while elections are "games" for the wealthy, highlighting the hypocrisy of the US democracy, which has been fully borne out by the 2008 presidential election. The "financial threshold" for participating in the US presidential election is becoming higher and higher. At least 10 of the 20-strong major party candidates who are seeking the US presidency in general elections in 2008 are millionaires, according to a report by Spanish news agency EFE on May 18, 2007. The French news agency AFP reported on January 15,2007 that the 2008 presidential election will be the most expensive race in history. The cost of the last presidential campaign in 2004, considered a peak for its time, was 693 million US dollars. Common estimates of this year's total outlay have tended to come in at around 1 billion U.S dollars, and Fortune magazine recently upped its overall cost projection to 3 billion US dollars. An important presidential candidate of the Democratic Party raised a total of 115 million US dollars in 2007, and another important candidate of the Party raised 103 million US dollars. A Republican candidate said his campaign has 12.7 million US dollars, and another Republican White House hopeful, a wealthy businessman, has already dished out 17 million US dollars of his own. The New York Times said on November 26, 2007 that confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials were aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who could spend large sums of their own money to finance their campaigns. Some wealthy Republicans had each already invested 100,000 to 1 million US dollars of their own money to finance their campaigns. In New York's 20th Congressional District, it was estimated that each candidate would spend at least 3 million US dollars.

The "cash race" has permeated various kinds of elections in the United States. According to figures from relevant institutions, from 2005 to 2006, candidates for state high courts collected more than 34 million US dollars in campaign donations. In a contest in Pennsylvania to elect two new members of the state Supreme Court, judicial candidates have broken state fundraising records, pulling down 6.8 million US dollars (USA Today, November 5, 2007). Having been elected, some Congress members sought to secure interests for their campaign donors. According to a report by the Washington Post on December 10, 2007, the amount of 10 biggest earmarks that House Majority Leader sponsored in 2008 congressional spending bills, either solo or in conjunction with other legislators, worth of 96 million US dollars. One earmark alone cost 9.8 million U.S dollars. The earmarks included many that would benefit his campaign donors. When the 471 billion US dollar Pentagon spending bill passed in November 2007, a legislator from Pennsylvania State said in a news release that he helped secure 8 million U.S dollars in funding for seven companies in his Pittsburgh-area district, including companies that contributed to his campaign. In addition, 20 freshman members of Congress secured earmarks for special-interest groups. The funding ranges from 8 million US dollars to more than 18 million US dollars ("Earmarks" Analysis Shows Money Follows Power, USA Today, December 12, 2007).

To seek more interests, some companies have paid for trips for some important political figures and other government employees. Records show lawmakers accepted free trips worth nearly 1.9 million US dollars during the first eight months of 2007, more than in all of 2006 (Limits Don't Slow Trip Perks for US Lawmakers, USA Today, October 24, 2007). According to a report by the USA Today on August 23, 2007, an examination of more than 600 travel reports on executive-branch officials over a 12-month period has found that more than 200 trips were funded by relevant companies or trade groups. The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken nearly 30 trips since 2002 that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products. The expenses totaled nearly 60,000 US dollars.

The US administration manipulated the press. On October 23, 2007, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staged a news conference on California wildfires. A half-dozen questions were asked within 15 minutes at the event by FEMA staff members posing as reporters. The news was aired by U.S-based television stations. After the Washington Post disclosed the farce, FEMA tried to defend itself for staging the fake briefing (FEMA Official Apologizes for Staged Briefing With Fake Reporters, The Washington Post, October 27, 2007). When Private Jessica Lynch and brother of late Army Ranger Pat Tillman were testifying to Congress on April 24, they decried the Pentagon's "deceit" in turning her and Tillman's disastrous experiences into false tales of heroism and lambasted the US Administration for lying about the incident (The Times, April 25, 2007).

IV. On Economic, Social and Cultural rights

The deserved economic, social and cultural rights of American citizens have not been properly protected.

Poor population in the United States is constantly increasing. According to statistics released by the US Census Bureau in August 2007, the official poverty rate in 2006 was 12.3 percent. There were 36.5 million people, or 7.7 million families living in poverty in 2006. In another word, almost one out of eight American citizens lives in poverty. The poverty rate in Mississippi was as high as 21.1 percent (Poverty Drops as Nation's Income Hits 5-years High, USA Today, August 29, 2007). The poverty rate of major American cities was 16.1 percent. The rate was 15.2 percent in suburban areas and 13.8 percent in the South. The poverty rate in the Washington D.C. was 19.8 percent, which meant nearly one-fifths of its citizens were living in poverty (DC's "Two Economies" Headed in Different Directions, Report Finds, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, October 24, 2007).

The wealth of the richest group in the United States has rapidly expanded in recent year, widening the earning gap between the rich and the poor. The earnings of the highest one percent of the population accounted for 21.2 percent of American total national income in 2005, compared with 19 percent in 2004. The earnings of the lowest 50 percent of the population accounted for 12.8 percent of the total national income in 2005, down from 13.4 percent in 2004 (Reuters, October 12, 2007). The number of "ultra-high-net worth" US households, that is, those with a net worth of 5 million US Dollars or more, excluding the value of their primary homes, reached 1.14 million in 2006, a 23 percent rise from 930,000 in 2005 (Richest Households Pass 1 Million Mark, CNNmoney.com, April 17, 2007). The number of billionaires increased from 13 in 1985 to more than 1,000 in 2006 (The Observer, July 24, 2007). Top executives of major US businesses made an average of more than 10 million US Dollars in 2006, 364 times over that of ordinary workers. They earn as much money in one day of work as ordinary workers make over the entire year (AFP, January 4, 2008).

The past five years have witnessed relatively strong growth in the US economy, but the fortunes of millions of Americans just get worse. The ratio of American wage expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) has dropped to the lowest since records began in 1947. The average income of households consisted of members at working age has seen a continuous decline in the past five years, and is 17 percent less than five years ago (US News & World Report, January 1, 2007). According to a national survey on the state of stress in America conducted in September 2007, money and work were the biggest stressors for almost three-quarters of Americans. Of the 1,848 adults polled, 51 percent worried about housing costs. Housing was a "very significant or somewhat significant" source of pressure for 61 percent of the residents in the West and 55 percent those in the East (USA Today, October 24, 2007). According to a latest report by the US government, suicide rate among Americans aged 45-54 rose by about 20 percent from 1999 to 2004, the highest since records began 25 years ago (The Associated Press, December 14, 2007).

Hungry and homeless people have increased significantly in American cities. The US Department of Agriculture said in a report released on November 14, 2007 that 35.52 million Americans, including 12.63 million children, went hungry in 2006, an increase of 390,000 from 2005. About 11 million people lived in "very low food security" (Over 30 Million Americans Faced Hunger in 2006, Reuters, November 15, 2007). Results of the 2007 Hunger and Homelessness Survey released by the US Conference of Mayors showed that 16 of the 23 polled cities reported increased requests for emergency food assistance. Among 15 cities that provided data, the average increase was 12 percent. Detroit reported an increase of 35 percent. In 13 survey cities, 15 percent of households with children were not receiving emergency food assistance they requested. In 20 survey cities, 193,183 people applied for emergency shelter or transitional housing. The number of residents applying for government rent subsidies surged by 30 percent in Baltimore County in 2007 (More Seeking US Rent Subsidy, The Baltimore Sun, December 17, 2007). It is estimated that 750,000 people are homeless on any given day in the United States (Care Critical for Homeless, The Washington Post, October 22, 2007). Los Angeles County has more than 73,000 homeless people (Dying Without Dignity: Homeless Deaths in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, December 27, 2007). Phoenix has 7,000 to 10,000 homeless people and another 3,000 who were not sheltered by the government (Rebellion, Spain, January 2, 2008). New Orleans has 12,000 homeless people (Katrina's Wrath Lingers for New Orleans Poor, USA Today, December 13, 2007). California has about 50,000 veterans living in streets (Sing Tao Daily San Francisco Edition, November 8, 2007). Health conditions of the homeless are worrying. Research shows one-third to half of the homeless have a chronic illness. The life expectancy for a homeless person ranges between 42 and 52 years (Care Critical for Homeless, The Washington Post, October 22, 2007). Among sexual offenders in many American cities, the homeless account for a high proportion. In Boston, nearly two-thirds of 136 high-risk sex offenders lack permanent addresses. In New York City, more than 100 sex offenders are registered at two homeless shelters (Many Sex Offenders Are Often Homeless, USA Today, November 19, 2007).

People without health insurance have been increasing in the United States. A Reuters report on September 20, 2007 quoted the US Census Bureau as saying that 47 million people in the United States were not covered by health insurance. A US family organization said nearly 90 million people below the age of 65 were not covered by health insurance at one point or throughout the period from 2006 to 2007. The number accounted for 34.7 percent of the population falling in that age (Reuters, September 20, 2007). More than 10 million young people age 19-29 were not covered either (Reuters, August 8, 2007). In Texas, the rate of uninsured people is 23.8 percent. In Arizona it is 20.6 percent. Florida 19.7 percent and Georgia 19 percent (Ming Pao San Francisco Edition, June 26, 2007). In 2006, health insurance premiums rose 7.7 percent from a year ago, hitting 11,480 US dollars for a typical US family plan offered by employers. The percentage of people covered by job-based health insurance fell 0.3 percentage points to 59.7 percent (Census: Health Benefits Scarcer, USA Today, August 28, 2007). Meanwhile, the number of people whose household incomes were above the poverty line but were unable to afford medical services rose from 4.2 percent of the total population in 1998 to 5.8 percent in 2006 (Ming Pao San Francisco Edition, June 26, 2007).

V. On Racial Discrimination

Racial discrimination is a deep-rooted social illness in the United States.

Black people and other minor ethnic groups live in the bottom of the American society. According to statistics released by the US Census Bureau in August 2007, median income of black households was 31,969 US dollars in 2006, or 61 percent of that for non-Hispanic white households. Median income for Hispanic households stood at 37,781 US dollars, 72 percent of that for non-Hispanic white households. The rates of blacks and Hispanics living in poverty and without health insurance are much higher than non-Hispanic whites. Poverty rate for blacks was 24.3 percent in 2006, while that for non-Hispanic Whites was 8.2 percent. The rate for Hispanics was 20.6 percent. In 2006, the percentage of blacks without health insurance rose to 20.5 percent, from 19 percent in 2005. The number and rate of uninsured Hispanics increased to 15.3 million and 34.1 percent, respectively. The rate was 10.8 percent for whites (Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006, see Census Bureau website: www.census.gov). The prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS and other diseases are higher among blacks and Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites. According to a Washington Post report, 80.7 percent of the 3,269 HIV/AIDS cases identified between 2001 and 2006 were among Blacks (Study Calls HIV in DC. A "Modern Epidemic", The Washington Post, November 26, 2007). The possibility for blacks to be infected of HIV/AIDS was seven times higher than that of whites (National Urban League: The State of Black America 2007,www.nul.org). A report issued by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank on minorities studies, indicated that white households that have reported higher social and economic status were twice that of black households, while black households that have reported lower income were twice that of white households (Washington Observer Weekly, November 30, 2006).

Ethnic minorities have been subject to racial discrimination in employment and workplace. According to the US Department of Labor, in November 2007, the unemployment rate for Black Americans was 8.4 percent, twice that of non-Hispanic whites (4.2 percent). The unemployment rate for Hispanics was 5.7 percent. The jobless rates among blacks and Hispanics were much higher than that for non-Hispanic whites (The Employment Situation: November 2007, issued by the US Department of Labor on December 7, 2007, see www.bls.gov). A poll conducted in 2007 by the Pew Research Center shows that 67 percent of black respondents believe that blacks still face discrimination when applying for a job (As Black Middle Class Rises, Underclass Falls Still Further, The Baltimore Sun, December 3, 2007). According to statistics issued by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, among the 75,768 charges it received in 2006, 27,328, or 35.9 percent of the total, were related to racial discrimination (Charges Statistics FY 1997 Through FY 2006, www.eeoc.gov/stats/charges.html). In 2007, US sports wear company Nike reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit, in which four former black employees of Nike's Chicago Niketown store filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company, on behalf of the 400 current black employees, accusing a Niketown manager of using racial slurs to refer to black workers and customers, segregating them into low-pay jobs, making unfounded accusations of theft against black workers and directing store security to watch black employees and customers (ABC News, July 31, 2007). In March 2007, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Walgreen, the largest drugstore chain in the United States, alleging widespread racial bias against thousands of black employees. The company was accused of making decisions about employee assignment and promotion based on race (CBS, http://cbs2chicago.com).

There is serious racial discrimination in the education sector of the United States. According to a media report, public schools tend to take tougher discipline sanctions on black students, and the rate of black students disciplined is much higher than that of white students. In New Jersey, African-American students are almost 60 times as likely as white students to be expelled for serious disciplinary infractions. In Minnesota, black students are suspended six times as often as whites. In Iowa, blacks make up just five percent of the total students in public schools, but account for 22 percent of those who get suspended (Chicago Tribune, September 25, 2007). On August 2, 2006, a black student at the Jena High School in Louisiana asked a school administrator if Blacks could sit under a tree that was traditionally reserved for the whites. He received a positive reply. But three white students hung nooses -- the notorious symbol of lynching in the racist south -- from the tree's branches the following day (The Associated Press, Jena, Louisiana State, September 20, 2007). According to a New York Times report on October 23, 2007, the black principal of a Brooklyn high school received a noose along with a letter containing racist words like "white power forever". A noose was also hung on the office door of a black professor in Columbia University. Macalester College, Trinity College and Whitman College all reported incidents in which students showed up at parties in racially offensive costumes. At one party in Macalester College, a student wore a blackface with a noose around his neck (The Associated Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota, February 11,2007). Nazi symbol swastika was also found on the campus of the Columbia University in 2007, apparently targeting American Jews, according to a report by the World Daily.

Racial discrimination in the US judicial system is shocking. According to the 2007 annual report on the state of black America issued by the National Urban League (NUL), African Americans (especially males) are more likely than whites to be convicted and sentenced to longer terms. Blacks are seven times more likely than whites to be incarcerated (National Urban League: The State of Black America 2007, www.nul.org). Blacks are 10 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug offences as whites, even though both groups use and sell drugs at the same rate (Study Finds Racial Divide Across US in Drug Arrests, The Washington Post, December 5, 2007). Statistics from the US Census Bureau shows that as at yearend 2006, 815 of every 100,000 blacks were behind the bars. The rate was 283 per 100,000 for Hispanics and 170 for whites. Figures released by the US Department of Justice in December 2007 shows that as at yearend 2006, there were 560,000 blacks in state and federal prisons, accounting for 37.5 percent of the total. Hispanics and Latinos totaled 308,000, accounting for 20.5 percent. Black men had an incarceration rate of 3,042 per 100,000, six times over that for the entire US population (501 per 100,000). The incarceration rate for Hispanics was 1,261 per 100,000. Nearly eight percent of black men aged 30 to 34 were incarcerated as sentenced prisoners, compared with only 1.2 percent for white men of the same age group (Prisoners in 2006, issued by the US Department of Justice on December 5, 2007, see www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). In the United States, the percentage for young people serving life sentence is quite different for groups of different colors. The rate for young blacks sentenced to life imprisonment without parole was 10 times as young whites. It was 20 times in California (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2007).

American justice system practices double standards on blacks and whites. The Associated Press reported that in the "Jena Six" case, six black youths were arrested for beating a white classmate and five of them were indicted on charges of attempted murder, which aroused a 2,000-student protest in the town which has merely 3,000 residents (The Associated Press, Jena, Louisiana on September 20, 2007). Meanwhile, the two women teachers accused of having sex with six black male students were released on bail (The Associated Press, March 28, 2007).

In the United States, minorities are the main victims of hate and violent crimes and murders. According to a FBI report published in November 2007, there were 7,722 hate crimes in the country in 2006, up eight percent. Among them, 51.8 percent were motivated by racial bias. Hate crimes against Muslims increased 22 percent. Hate crimes against Hispanics went up 10 percent (FBI: Hate Crimes Escalate 8% in 2006, USA Today, November 20, 2007). In New York City, hate crimes increased by 20.9 percent year-on-year in 2007. Of the 512 hate crimes that occurred in Los Angeles County in 2006, 68 percent were caused by racial problems (The China Press, June 8, 2007). According to a report issued by the US Department of Justice in August 2007, Blacks account for 13 percent of the US population, but were victims in 15 percent of all nonfatal violent crimes and 49 percent of all homicides in 2005 (Black Victims of Violent Crime, http://www.ojb.usdoj.gov/bjs).

VI. On the Rights of Women and Children

The conditions of women and children in the United States are worrisome.

Women account for 51 percent of the US population, but there are only 86 women serving in the 110th US Congress. Women hold 16, or 16 percent of the 100 seats in the Senate and 70, or 16.1 percent of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In December 2007, there were 76 women serving in statewide elective executive offices, accounting for 24.1 percent of the total. The proportion of women in state legislature is 23.5 percent. As of September 2007, of the 1,145 mayors of US cities with populations over 30,000, 185, or 16.2 percent, were women (Women Serving in the 110th Congress 2007-09. Center For American Women and Politics, www.cawp.rutgers.edu ).

Discrimination against women is pervasive in US job market and workplaces. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it received 23,247 charges on sex-based discrimination in 2006, accounting for 30.7 percent of the total discrimination charges (Charge Statistics FY 1997 Through FY 2006, www.eeoc.gov/stats/charges.html). According to media reports, as many as 1.6 million women could have joined the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in the US history, in which retailer giant Wal-Mart is accused of discrimination against women in pay and promotions (Reuters, Los Angeles, February 6, 2007). The average income of women is less than that of men in America. Figures released by the US Census Bureau in August 2007 shows that the median earnings of women aged 15 and older was 32,515 US dollars in 2006, 77 percent of men's 42,261 US dollars (Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006, issued by the US Census Bureau, see www.census.gov).

The poverty rate of women is higher. Statistics show that at the year end of 2006, more than 5.58 million single women above the age of 18 were living in poverty, accounting for 22.2 percent of women in that group. Some 4.1 million, or 28.3 percent of female-householder-with-no-husband-present families were living in poverty in 2006, much higher than the national family poverty rate of 9.8 percent (Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006, the US Census Bureau). Colored women are more likely to fall prey to poverty and misery. A report issued by the American Center for Reproductive Rights shows the maternal death rate of the United States ranks the 30th in the world. The maternal death rate for black women is four times that of white women. The proportion of black women infected with AIDS and venereal diseases is 23 times and 18 times that of white women, respectively. Among all the impoverished women in America, African, Hispanic, Indian and Asian women account for 27 percent, 26 percent, 21 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared to nine percent for white women.

American women are victims of domestic violence. According to information from the National Organization for Women, about 1,400 women are beaten to death every year by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States. It is estimated that two to four million women are battered each year. Women are 10 times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate. Women who are separated, divorced or single, low-income women and African-American women are disproportionately victims of assault and rape. Domestic violence rates are five times higher among families below poverty levels. Statistics show that 37 percent of the women in the United States received emergency medical treatments because of domestic violence for at least once; 30 percent of pregnant women suffer attacks from their partners; 50 percent of American men frequently attack their women and children; 74 percent of career women suffer violence from their colleagues. According to a report by the Associated Press, domestic violence in the United States is spreading to workplaces. Yvette Cade was set on fire by her estranged husband at her job. She suffered third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body (The Associated Press, Washington, April 18, 2007).

Women are frequently victims of sexual harassment at their workplaces and military barracks. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it received 12,025 charges on sexual harassment in 2006, 84.6 percent of which were filed by women (Sexual Harassment Charges EEOC & FEPAs Combined: FY 1997-FY 2006, see www.eeoc.gov). The National Organization for Women said every year approximately 132,000 women reported that they had been victims of rape or attempted rape, and that two to six times that many women were raped, but did not report it. The US department investigating military crimes received about 1,700 sexual harassment charges in 2004, including 1,305 rape charges. A survey by the University of California among 3,000 retired female soldiers shows 25 of them suffer from sequelae of sexual harassment experiences in the barracks (Latin American News Agency, Havana, February 10, 2007). The New York Times said in a report that many American women soldiers stationed in Iraq faced the dual strikes of trauma from sexual abuses by their own ranks and that from enemy fire in the battle field. Suzanne Swift was repeatedly sexually harassed and abused by her chain of commanders. As she tried to charge them, she received an order for redeployment together with the perpetrators (Latin American News Agency, Havana, February 10, 2007). Maricela Guzman was attacked and raped while on night watch duty during her Navy boot camp training. She tried to report the incident for four times, but no one paid attention, and the command even ordered her to do push-ups as punishment for her wrongfully treating the boss (Latin American News Agency, Havana, February 10, 2007). Abbie Pickett was just 19 years old when she was sexually assaulted during a humanitarian deployment to Nicaragua. She said she was too afraid to report the incident then because the perpetrator was an officer who ranked above her (New York Times, March 18, 2007).

Women inmates are increasing in American prisons and they are often subject to grave conditions. Figures released by the Department of Justice in December 2007 show that the number of female inmates in federal and state prisons increased by 4,872, or 4.5 percent in 2006 to reach 112,498. This is faster than the average growth rate of 2.9 percent from 2000 to 2005 (Prisoners in 2006, issued by the Department of Justice on December 5, 2007, see www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). Amnesty International said in a 2007 report that in American prisons, male watchers can do full body searches on female prisoners and watch them washing and changing clothes. In most states, male watchers are allowed to enter female cells without supervision.

The living conditions of American children are of great concern. Houston Chronicle reported that a survey by the United Nations on 21 rich countries showed that though the United States was among the world's richest nations, it ranked only the 20th in the overall well-being of children. In the dimension of health and security, the United States was at the very bottom of the ranking. Statistics show that by the end of 2006, there were 12.8 million children under the age of 18 living in poverty in the United States, accounting for 17.4 percent of the country's children population. Children account for 35.2 percent of the impoverished population in the United States. The rate of impoverished children in female households with no husbands present is as high as 42.1 percent (Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006, issued by the US Census Bureau in August 2007, see www.census.gov). More children are doing without medical insurance. By the end of 2006, some 8.7 million children under the age of 18 had no medical insurance in the United States, up by 11.7 percent from 2005. The rate of children without medical insurance reached 19.3 percent (Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006, the US Census Bureau). More children are becoming homeless. According to a survey on hunger and homelessness in 23 American cities released in December 2007 by the US Conference of Mayors, members of households with children made up 23 percent of the population who took up emergency shelter in 2007. Requests for emergency shelter from households with children increased in 10 cities (Mayors Examine Causes of Hunger, Homelessness, press release by the US Conference of Mayors on December 17, 2007, www.usmayors.org). According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the infant mortality rate of the United State was seven in a thousand in 2004, and the mortality rate of black infants was 2.5 times that of whites (The Associated Press, November 10, 2007). The infant survival rate of the United States is lagging far behind other developed nations. A bill that would have expanded government-provided health insurance for children was vetoed by President George W. Bush in 2007 though 72 percent of the public supported the bill (Bush Vetoes Kids Health Insurance Bill, The Washington Post, December 13, 2007).

American juveniles often fall victims of abuses and crimes. According to a report on school crimes in the United States released by the Department of Justice in December 2007, 57 out of 1,000 American students above the age of 12 were victims of violence and property crimes in 2005. From July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006, there were 14 school-associated homicides involving school-aged children. In 2005, 25 percent of students were tempted to buy drugs in school in the 12 months prior to the survey; 24 percent of students said there were gangs at their schools (School Crime Rates Stable Children 50 Times More Likely to Be Murdered away from School Than at School, issued by the US Department of Justice on December 2, 2007, see www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs). It is reported that in some middle schools in Baltimore many students go to school with weapons like knives. From the start of school through the end of October 2007, there were 216 incidents in city schools leading to arrests (Weapon Checks OK'd at Schools, The Baltimore Sun, December 11, 2007). Sexual violations are widespread in American schools. A national survey by the Associated Press in 2007 found that 2,570 educators were punished for sexual misconduct between 2001 and 2005. Eighty percent of the victims were students. A survey by the US Congress shows that as many as 4.5 million students, out of roughly 50 million in American schools, are subject to sexually misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade. An average of three sexual abuse cases take place in American schools every day (The Associated Press, Washington, October 21, 2007).

American juveniles are ill-treated at boot camps. A report mandated by Congress said thousands of teenagers suffered terrible abuses at boot camps, some even lost their lives. Governmental investigator said boot camp abuses took many forms, including youth being forced to eat their own vomit, denied adequate food, being forced to lie in urine or feces, being kicked or beaten. A boy was forced to clean a toilet with his toothbrush and then brush his own teeth with it. Journal left by 16-year-old Aaron Bacon, who died from an untreated perforated ulcer, shows that he spent 14 of 20 days without any food but was forced to hike 13 to 16 kilometers everyday. When he was given food, it consisted of undercooked lentils, lizards and scorpions. His father said that he had been beaten from head to toes during his month at the camp. Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died in a boot camp after guards choked him and forced him to inhale ammonia fumes (The Times, October 12,2007).

Millions of underage girls become sex slaves in the United States. Statistics from the Department of Justice show some 100,000 to three million American children under the age of 18 are involved in prostitution. A FBI report says as high as 40 percent of forced prostitutes are minors.

American children are not properly protected by the justice system. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that sentence children to death, and some states still have no age limit for death penalty. It sentences more children to life imprisonment than any other country. A joint research by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International shows that some 9,400 minors were imprisoned in the United States in 2005, including 2,225 who were sentenced to life imprisonment. Sixteen percent of them were in the age of 13 to 15 (Spain, Rebellion, April 27, 2007). There are currently 2,387 teenagers sentenced to life term without parole (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2007). In California there are 227 teenagers serving life sentences without parole. The figure for Pennsylvania is 433. Teenage criminals often receive the same punishments as adults do. The Washington Post said it was roughly estimated that about 200,000 teenage defendants were sent directly or transferred to the adult system, known as criminal court. About 7,500 juveniles are held in adult jails on any given day (States Rethink Charging Kids as Adults, The Washington Post, December 2, 2007). Colored children and those from impoverished families are more likely to suffer fate of this kind. The Suffolk University Juvenile Justice Center said in 2000 that African American children, though only accounting for 15 percent of the total children population in the United States, made up 46 percent of the inmates in American jails, and 52 percent of them were sentenced in criminal court. The number of imprisoned black children is five times that of whites. The number of imprisoned Latino and aboriginal teenagers is 2.5 times that of whites (Rebellion, April 27, 2007). Many children of six and seven are treated as criminals for trivial misdoings. It is reported that the 7-year-old Gerard Mungo Jr. was arrested for sitting on a motorcycle in front of his home. The reason of the arrestment was that that kind of motorcycles was prohibited in the city. He was handcuffed to a chair for two hours (Rebellion, April 27, 2007). In Florida more than 4,500 children under 11 were charged for crimes. A six-year-old girl Desre'e Watson was arrested and charged for attacking a teacher, disrupting school function and resisting school guards (Rebellion, April 27, 2007).

VII. On the Violation of Human Rights in Other Countries

The United States has a notorious record of trampling on the sovereignty of and violating human rights in other countries.

The invasion of Iraq by American troops has produced the biggest human rights tragedy and the greatest humanitarian disaster in modern world. It was reported that since the invasion in 2003, 660,000 Iraqis have died, of which 99 percent were civilians. That translates into a daily toll of 450. According to the Los Angeles Times, the number of civilian deaths in Iraq has exceeded one million. A report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) revealed that about one million Iraqis were homeless, half of whom were children. There were 75,000 children living in refugee camps or makeshift shelters. About 760,000 pupils could not go to school. According to media report, guards of Blackwater, a security service company with State Department background, shot dead 17 Iraqis for no reason on September 16, 2007, and it was given immunity by the State Department (The China Press, October 31, 2007). Investigation by the Iraqi government found that Blackwater guards had killed 21 Iraqis and injured 27 others before that. State Department investigation showed that Blackwater was involved in 56 shooting cases in Iraq in 2007. A US Congress report said the company was involved in nearly 200 shooting cases in Iraq since 2005, and 84 percent of them were random shooting. The Associated Press reported that an Apache gunship opened fired on October 23, 2007 at a group of people suspected of planting roadside bombs near Samarra in north Baghdad, killing at least 11 people, including 6 Iraqi civilians. But local police and eyewitnesses said the number of civilians killed was 14 (The Associated Press, Baghdad, October 23, 2007). Commanders of the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment made a baiting program to kill more insurgents, in which weapons were dropped as a bait, and if someone picked them up, the snipers would shot them. Many Iraqi civilians were killed in this way (Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2007; Washington Post, September 24, 2007).

US troops have killed many innocent civilians in the anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported on May 3, 2007 that as many as 51 civilians were killed by US soldiers in one week (Karzai Says Civilian Toll is No Longer Acceptable, The Washington Post, May 3, 2007). An Afghan human rights group said in a report that US marine unit fired indiscriminately at pedestrians, people in cars, buses and taxis along a 10-mile stretch of road in Nangahar province on March 4, 2007, killing 12 civilians, including one infant and three elders (New York Times, April 15, 2007).

The United States has many secret jails across the world, where prisoners were treated inhumanely. "Secret prison" and "torturing prisoners" have become synonymous with America. In May 2007, the UN special rapporteur on the protection of human right while countering terrorism said after his visit to the a United States that the latter has detained 700 people in Afghanistan and 18,000 in Iraq for reasons related to the fight against terrorism. The special rapporteur expressed his concern over the conditions of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other secret detention facilities, the lack of justice protection and access to fair trial for terrorist suspects, as well as the rendition of suspects. He also expressed his disappointment that the US government had refused to allow him to visit Guantanamo Bay and other places of secret detention (Preliminary Findings on Visit to United States by Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism, May 29, 2007, www.unog.ch). In addition to Guantanamo Bay where prisoners were subject to gruesome tortures, the United States also ran secret facilities in Jordan and Ethiopia, where detainees were brutally treated. Washington Post reported on December 1, 2007 that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been running a secret jail on the outskirts of Jordan capital Amman since 2000, where many non-Jordanian terrorism suspects had been detained and interrogated with severe abuse (Jordan's Spy Agency: Holding Cell for the CIA, Washington Post, December 1, 2007). According to media reports, CIA detained hundreds of AL-Qaeda suspects in a secret location in Ethiopia. The detainees came from 19 countries and included women and children as young as seven months. They were illegally deported to Ethiopia where they were held in horrific conditions in crowded jails, with a dozen detainees sharing a single 10 feet by 10 feet cell. There was little food, and abuse and torture were commonplace (The Daily Telegraph, April 5, 2007; The Associated Press, Nairobi, April 5, 2007). The Washington Times reported on December 14, 2007 that CIA often tortured detained terrorist suspects by using waterboarding and mock execution (House Approves Ban on CIA Waterboarding, The Washington Times, December 14, 2007). The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) described in a report how waterboarding is done: the prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt. The New York Times said in a report on December 7, 2007 that CIA in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al-Qaeda operatives in 2002 in the agency's custody (CIA Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations, The New York Times, December 7, 2007). It was widely believed that CIA was trying to destroy evidences of the existence of its secret detention program. Women prisoners were often subject to humiliation in Iraq. Reports said many of them became victims of Iraqi police and the occupying forces. Iraqis said there had never been so many rapes and atrocities against women in any war since the Middle Ages as witnessed in the Iraqi war (Rebellion, May 5, 2007).

The United States has always adopted double standards on human rights issues. It frequently exerts pressure on other countries to invite the UN special rapporteur to exam and report on the status of their human rights status, but itself has never done so. The United States requests others to obey the UN norms that allow special rapporteurs to visit any place and talk with any one without interference or surveillance, but itself has rejected such norms and has turned down the request for a joint visit to the military base at Guantanamo Bay from several special rapporteurs.

The United States has to date refused to acknowledge the right to development as part of the human rights. Although it signed the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1977, the United States has not yet ratified the convention. The United States claims that it attaches importance to the protection of the rights of women and children, but it has not yet ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 27 years after signing on the convention. The United States is one of the seven U.N. members that have not ratified the convention. The United States has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child 12 years after signing on it, though 193 countries have already done so. Since March 2007, the Convention on Rights of Disabled Persons has been open for signature and many countries adopt active attitude towards the convention. By the end of December 2007, 118 countries had signed the convention and seven ratified it, but the US has not yet signed nor ratified it.

To respect and safeguard human rights is an important achievement in the progressing of the human society and an important symbol of modern civilization. It is also a common goal of people of all countries and races and a key theme of the tide of progress in our time. All the countries have the obligation to make efforts to promote and protect human rights in their own territories, and to promote international cooperation in accordance with the norms of international relations. No country in the world should view itself as the incarnation of human rights, and use human rights as a tool to interfere in affairs of and exert pressure on other countries and realize its own strategic interests. The United States reigns over other countries and releases Country Reports on Human Rights Practices year after year. Its arrogant critique on the human rights of other countries are always accompanied by a deliberate ignoring of serious human rights problems on its own territory. This was not only inconsistent with universally recognized norms of international relations, but also exposed the double standards and downright hypocrisy of the United States on the human rights issue, and inevitably impaired its international image.

We hereby advise the US government to face its own human rights problems and give up the unwise practices of applying double standards on human rights issues.