Cover-ups, Coups, and Drones - A Holiday Sampler of What Wikileaks Reveals
about the US
By Bill Quigley
December 19, 2010 "ICH" -- Human rights advocates have significant new
sources of information to hold the United States accountable. The
transparency, which Wikileaks has brought about, unveils many cover-ups of
injustices in US relations with Honduras, Spain, Thailand, UK and Yemen over
issues of torture at Guantanamo, civilian casualties from drones, and the
war in Iraq.
US Government is Two Faced over Wikileaks
The US government has twisted itself into knots over Wikileaks. It routinely
disregards the privacy of citizens while at the same time trying to avoid
transparency for itself.
The US claims broad authority to secretly snoop on the lives of individuals
inside and outside of the US. It also works tirelessly to prevent citizens
from knowing what is going on by expansively naming basic government
information "state secrets." The government says it has to have the right to
keep things secret in order to prevent crime.
But when it comes to revealing evidence of illegal acts by the US government
it seeks the most severe sanctions against any transparency.
The most glaring example of the twisted logic is on display within the US
Department of Justice. DOJ is searching for creative ways to criminally
sanction Wikileaks for publishing US secrets. But the same Department of
Justice solemnly decided it should not prosecute the government officials
who brazenly destroyed dozens of tapes of water-boarding and torture by US
officials. So, DOJ, destruction of evidence of crimes is OK and revealing
the evidence of crimes is bad?
Holiday Sampler from Wikileaks
Here is a Holiday Sampler of what Wikileaks has published revealing the US
role in cover-ups, drones, and coups.
Cover-ups
Spain
The US worked with high-ranking officials in Spain to try to derail legal
accountability for torture by US officials.
Spain has opened two judicial inquiries into torture allegations against US
officials at Guantanamo.
A series of cables details secret meetings and communications between
officials of the two countries. An April 1, 2009 cable (Reference ID
09MADRID347) describes a meeting between the main Spanish prosecutor and US
officials. The prosecutor promises to proceed slowly and to try to make sure
the case is not assigned to the most pro-human rights judge in Spain, Judge
Garzon. An April 19, 2009 cable (Reference 09MADRID392) tells of numerous
meetings between US officials and Spanish officials, including the Attorney
General of Spain, who promises not to support the case. A cable dated May 5,
2009 (Reference ID 09MADRID440) describes further meetings between US
officials and the prosecutor who promises to "embarrass" the Judge into
dropping the case.
It is noteworthy that the pro-human rights judge, Baltasar Garzon, was later
indicted in April 2010 for probing into Spanish civil war atrocities in a
way that Spanish government said was an abuse of power.
UK
The UK promised to protect US interests in the UK review of Iraq war. In a
September 22, 2009 cable (Reference ID 09LONDON2198) UK officials "promised
that the UK had put measures into place to protect your interest during the
inquiry into the causes of the Iraq war. He noted that Iraq no longer seems
to be a major issue in the US, but he said it would become a big issue - a
feeding frenzy - in the UK when the inquiry takes off."
Drones and Cover-ups
Amnesty International released pictures of a US manufactured cruise missile
that carried cluster bombs used in December 17, 2009 attack on a community
in Abyan, Yemen which killed 14 alleged members of Al Qaeda and 41 local
residents - including 14 women and 21 children. At the time of the AI
report, June 6, 2010, Yemeni officials said that its forces had carried out
that attack. AI asked the US to explain its role but the US did not. After
Wikileaks disclosures, it is clear that the US carried out the attack and
both countries were lying.
A January 4, 2010 cable, (ID Reference 10SANAA4), noted Yemen officials
expressed concerns about the killings of civilians in Yemen by US drone
attacks. The US has been bombing Yemen with drones and other missiles for
over a year, often trying to assassinate US citizen and accused Al Qaeda
leader Anwar Awlaki and others. In this cable, US officials said "the only
civilians killed were the wife and children an [al Qaeda] operative at the
site." Yemen officials complained that US cruise missiles are "not very
accurate" and reportedly welcomed the use of aircraft-deployed
precision-guided bombs instead. "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours,
not yours," said the Yemen leader, prompting a Deputy Minister to joke that
he had just "lied" by telling the Yemen Parliament that the bombs in Arhab,
Abyan, and Shebwa were American-made but deployed by the Yemen military.
Coups and Cover-ups
When is a coup not a coup?
Wikileaks documents show the US knew in advance about the 2006 military coup
in Thailand and changed its definition of the 2009 coup in Honduras within a
30 day period.
In a September 19, 2006 cable, (ID Reference 06BANGKOK5811) written just
after a military coup deposed the elected government in Thailand while the
Premier was at the UN, the US reminded Thai military coup leaders of an
earlier conversation that promised US aid would be cutoff if there was a
coup. The cable makes it clear that the US knew of the planning for the coup
in advance. The cable goes on to observe that "a coup is a coup is a
coup..."
In a July 23, 2009 cable (ID Reference 09TEGUCIGALPA645) written after "the
June 28 forced removal of President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya" from Honduras, "the
Embassy perspective is that there is no doubt that the military, Supreme
Court, and national congress conspired on June 28 in what constitutes an
illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch, while
accepting there may be a prima facie case that Zelaya may have committed
illegalities and may have even violated the constitution. There is equally
no doubt from our perspective that Roberto Micheletti's assumption of power
was illegitimate."
Yet, a month later, in a August 25, 2009 Special Briefing by US State
Department included this exchange with journalist Sergio Davila.
Davila: "If this is a coup - the State Department considers this a coup,
what's the next step? And I mean, there is a legal framework on the U.S.
laws dealing with countries that are under coup d'état? I mean, what's
holding you guys to take other measures according - the law?"
The State Department official responded: "I think what you're referring to,
Mr. Davila, is whether or not this is - has been determined to be a military
coup. And you're correct that there are provisions in our law that have to
be applied if it is determined that this is a military coup. And frankly,
our lawyers are looking at that exact question. And when we get the answer
to that, you are right, there will be things that - if it is determined that
this was a military coup, there will be things that will kick in.
"As you know, on the ground, there's a lot of discussion about who did what
to whom and what things were constitutional or not, which is why our lawyers
are really looking at the event as we understand them in order to come out
with the accurate determination."
The US backpedaling on the coup in Honduras continues to this day.
Wikileaks has revealed evidence of US human rights abuses around the world.
Now the question is what are human rights activists going to do with this
information?
Full Disclosure: The Center for Constitutional Rights is representing
detainees in Guantanamo, is supporting the investigation into US human
rights abuses conducted by Spain, is looking into the coup in Honduras, is
challenging the use of drones in Yemen to target and kill US citizen Anwar
Awlaki, and has repeatedly condemned the US war in Iraq.
Bill is Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law
professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and
has been active in human rights in Haiti for years with the Institute for
Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Quigley77@gmail.com
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