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Greens Warn that the Brutal Treatment of Al-Qaeda Prisoners by the U.S. Places Americans Captured by Iraq in Peril. |
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THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party members are warning that the brutal and humiliating treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners has put American soldiers captured by Saddam Hussein's army in grave peril. "The whole world has seen video footage of shackled and shaved men transported in plastic containers and confined to cages in Guantanamo," said Anita Rios, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "The world knows that the Pentagon has sent some captive al-Qaeda members to other nations to be interrogated under torture. In November, 2002, six al-Qaeda members were executed by a missile launched by a CIA drone in Yemen. It's possible that Saddam, a murderous dictator, will use this as a license to visit similar treatment on American soldiers taken captive. President Bush, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Attorney General Ashcroft must order an end to this kind of treatment immediately." Greens insist that torture under any circumstances is immoral, barbaric, and illegal according to the U.S. Constitution, Geneva Conventions, and Convention Against Torture. International law forbids torture of both combatants and civilians, which renders irrelevant Secretary of State Rumsfeld's change of designation for the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay from 'prisoners of war' to 'detainees' and 'unlawful combatants.' Groups like Human Rights Watch note that torture is notoriously unreliable in extracting useful information. "We support our American troops -- we want them sent home, safe and sound, not delivered on stretchers or in body bags," said Ben Manski, Wisconsin Green and co-chair of the national party. "The only way to support our troops is to end this illegal war, to stop the waste of human life -- the lives of U.S., British, and Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians. That's why we continue to protest the invasion of Iraq. Conquest and control of Middle Eastern oil resources are not worth the sacrifice of our young men and women." MORE INFORMATION search: rgt, trr, pce, irq |