A Seminal Moment for the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Attorney Marjorie Cohn reminds us that despite the American Service-Members Protection Act, U.S. officials are not immune from investigation for war crimes in Afghanistan:
The doctrine of universal jurisdiction permits any country to try foreign nationals for the most egregious crimes, even without any direct relationship to the prosecuting country. That means other nations can bring U.S. leaders to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
'Enhanced Interrogation' Tactics Were No Mistake
The approval of torture on detainees must be labeled an intentional, calculated decision that resulted from post-9/11 hyper-patriotism justifying the unethical treatment and dehumanization of detainees, who at times held no relevant knowledge regarding terrorism or were completely innocent," writes Claire Oh for International Policy Digest. President Trump's attempts to bury the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture (he has ordered the return of all copies of the report to the Senate vaults) undermine the integrity of the United States' government.
How America Spreads Global Chaos
The U.S. government may pretend to respect a “rules-based” global order, but the only rule Washington seems to follow is “might makes right” — and the CIA has long served as a chief instigator and enforcer, writes Nicolas J.S. Davies.
As the recent PBS documentary on the American War in Vietnam acknowledged, few American officials ever believed that the United States could win the war, neither those advising Johnson as he committed hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops, nor those advising Nixon as he escalated a brutal aerial bombardment that had already killed millions of people.
The Building Boom at Guantanamo Bay Heralds a Rise in False Imprisonment
"Eight years ago, when I wrote a book on the first days of Guantanamo, The Least Worst Place: Guantánamo's First 100 Days, I assumed that Gitmo would prove a grim anomaly in our history," remarks Carol Rosenberg. "Today, it seems as if that 'detention facility' will have a far longer life than I ever imagined and that it, and everything it represents, will become a true, if grim, legacy of twenty-first-century America."
Afghanistan in Our Sights
Yes, Afghanistan is in our sights as people who care about humanity.
And yes, the people of Afghanistan and the whole region are in the gun sights of the most destructive military force on the globe, commanded by a regime under the rubric of "America first."
In Memoriam: M. Cherif Bassiouni
We were saddened to hear of the death of M. Cherif Bassiouni on Sept. 25. He was everything the obituaries in newspapers across the country said he was: war crimes jurist, the “godfather of international human rights law,” human rights champion. What U.S. media failed to mention was that Cherif was a tireless and eloquent opponent of the whole legal premise of the “war on terrorism” and its use as a justification of U.S. aggression and crimes of cruel and degrading treatment, torture and indefinite detention without trial. He raised his powerful voice to demand an end to those crimes on the part of the U.S. government, whether under Bush or Obama. Cherif was an advisor to World Can’t Wait whose counsel and support we valued deeply.
Hate Speech Isn't Free
World Can't Wait | September 12, 2017
Defense of white privilege costs the disadvantaged dearly. Ask someone who's been there. American "free speech" law protects people against physical harm -- and tolerates unlimited emotional harm. Victims of hate speech suffer as much as or more than victims of hate crime argues Fordham Law Professor Thane Rosenbaum.
Stop the Desperation of Refugees, Stop Bombing Their Countries
In year three of the largest world refugee crisis since WW II, the Trump/Pence regime has targeted refugees as a dangerous immigrant grouping. As was said by the presidential candidate himself: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
War on the World, Trump Style
Donald Trump brags, stating in his inauguration speech: “We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first - America first.” He says he will "fill up" Guantánamo with "bad guys" and may direct the military to openly torture. He promises HUGE increases in military spending, and expansion of the military. Since Trump has been Commander in Chief civilian casualties have spiked. And now, Trump is threatening North Korea, and the entire planet, with nuclear war. How should we respond and resist?
“War on Terror” Veterans Dialog with HS and College Students
At the Left Forum in NYC on June 3, 2017 veterans with the We Are Not Your Soldiers project of World Can’t Wait present what they do in high school and college classrooms where students have grown up under continual wars, know very little about them and may be considering joining the U.S. military with no first-hand knowledge of what it really entails.
Antonia Cedrone Presente
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| The late Sharon Pavlovich, Richie Marini, Fran Korotzer, Antonia Cedrone; unknown NYPD. (But Antonia definitely had his badge number.) |
Our friend and colleague Antonia Cedrone died last month after an illness. Our favorite photo of her is this one, doing what she did countless times on the streets of NYC as a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild. She would approach everyone in the NYPD in the same way: "I need your badge number."
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World Can't Wait | April 2018
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