Wednesday, May 06, 2009

The Torturer’s Apprentice

Australia’s role in the American Inquisition.

By Richard Neville

May 05, 2009 "Homepage Daily" -- The revelations of a once secret 2006 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the use of torture and "cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment" on prisoners at Guantánamo and secret CIA jails came as a shock to many.

This is odd, because anyone with a keyboard, modem and half a brain, quickly discovered that in the panicky aftermath of 9/11, the West had forged a pact with the Devil.

It was not only Dick Cheney who felt the call of the dark side - it was virtually the entire governing class of America, Britain and Australia.

Yes, even Australia, a former penal colony that started life as Britain’s Guantanamo.

You might think this grim past would sharpen the desire of our institutions to root out injustice and comfort the afflicted. Well, we go through the motions.

Australia signed the Convention against Torture (CAT) and, unlike the US, ratified it.
But now we have trashed it.
How come?
Let’s take a swift trip into the heart of darkness.....

What is the Government hiding?
The awful truth, perhaps.
That some authorities have aided and abetted multiple acts of torture and kidnap of an Australian citizen.

In January 2006, the Sydney Morning Herald obtained documents confirming that the Howard government and its intelligence agencies were “deeply implicated in the illegal rendition and imprisonment” of Habib. Following the recent US torture scandals, President Obama wants the investigation to focus on the lawyers, which is also a pretty good place to start in Australia.

Former Prime Minister John Howard is a lawyer, as is the former Attorney General Philip Ruddock. The former head of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, will need to face scrutiny, as well as legal officers, public servants and others who violated local and international laws.

It has emerged that the US Government told ASIO heads it planned to send Habib to Egypt for “questioning” several weeks before his illegal rendition. Other agencies are tainted. Last December, Natalie O'Brien of The Australian reported that the Defence Department holds over 85,000 pages of documents relating to the rendition of Habib to Egypt, “despite having assured federal parliament it had no involvement in the matter”.

It is Australia’s rock solid obligation under Article 5 of CAT to make torture offences “punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature”.


While the official hand of the Australia Government signed and ratified CAT, its covert hand fed human flesh to the torturers.


Prime Minster Rudd has no other choice but to set up a Royal Commission with sweeping powers.

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Post Script: The endemic infliction of torture and abuse on prisoners by coalition forces has long been documented by bloggers and independent journalists. In 2005, this account of the CIA's World Torture Tour was widely circulated on the web. It took another four years for the New York Times to wake up.


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