Re: Sirhan Sirhan: I was brainwashed' into killing
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:49 am
I agree. But the law is dry.
The closest I got with this was my application for asylum in Canada, I regret to say that the government legal rep claimed that my participation (and I did not kill...) is intentional for his purposes (war crimes) and I was assisting crimes of state. In fact, I think politically there was a wide consensus around the issue of seeing an Israeli MK slave (of the USA, which is the gist of it I think), as "willing actor" even with the knowledge that this was torture from young age PLUS it was far from killing someone but mostly being raped here and there in variuos larger schemes (these are political decisions so this is going to be handled under international human rights law and not local law, usually, but not always ofcourse). The fact was and is, that it is "enlightened" circles that do the obscuring, in order to gain points against Israel and the USA (which I didnt think made any sense, yet that's arguably a political call). If your case comes up in the context of international tribunal to examine the USA gov crimes and torture, you might find yourself in the side of the...accused, no matter what evidence you have that YOU , PW, personally was a victim of same.
Therefore, it appears that only political considerations will lead to examining this affair as is, and those political circumstances may not be what we would wish for (for instance, Israeli right wingers bringing it apropos pollard case to gain leverage in their settlement projects and so forth.). c'est la vie. Especially when one deals with the strongest country in the world for now.
However, I think you over there have the key, and should make this a local case of gov abuse. That will be the best locus, IMHO, for justice to happen. You have the tools, the law, and the administration most favorable for that to happen again, as was in the 70's and the 90's.
The closest I got with this was my application for asylum in Canada, I regret to say that the government legal rep claimed that my participation (and I did not kill...) is intentional for his purposes (war crimes) and I was assisting crimes of state. In fact, I think politically there was a wide consensus around the issue of seeing an Israeli MK slave (of the USA, which is the gist of it I think), as "willing actor" even with the knowledge that this was torture from young age PLUS it was far from killing someone but mostly being raped here and there in variuos larger schemes (these are political decisions so this is going to be handled under international human rights law and not local law, usually, but not always ofcourse). The fact was and is, that it is "enlightened" circles that do the obscuring, in order to gain points against Israel and the USA (which I didnt think made any sense, yet that's arguably a political call). If your case comes up in the context of international tribunal to examine the USA gov crimes and torture, you might find yourself in the side of the...accused, no matter what evidence you have that YOU , PW, personally was a victim of same.
Therefore, it appears that only political considerations will lead to examining this affair as is, and those political circumstances may not be what we would wish for (for instance, Israeli right wingers bringing it apropos pollard case to gain leverage in their settlement projects and so forth.). c'est la vie. Especially when one deals with the strongest country in the world for now.
However, I think you over there have the key, and should make this a local case of gov abuse. That will be the best locus, IMHO, for justice to happen. You have the tools, the law, and the administration most favorable for that to happen again, as was in the 70's and the 90's.