17 Quotes by Michael Ratner

I find it extremely hypocritical that Washington is investigating this group for the 'crime' of traveling to Cuba. The U.S. government is flagrantly violating even the most basic norms of human rights - such as indefinite detention without charges, denial of fair trials and, most importantly, torture. There are far greater crimes at play here than Witness Against Torture's travel logistics.

It is not debatable whether the president can order electronic eavesdropping once Congress has passed a law making it criminal to do so. It is impeachable. The fact that we are sitting in 21st century America debating the issue of presidential power is ridiculous to me.

It is an outrage that the U.S. government put him before a tribunal that is essentially a court of conviction not of justice.

The President decided that he was no longer running the country as a civilian President. He issued a military order giving himself the power to run the country as a general.

The fact that there are underground CIA facilities somewhere where people are being tortured has been known for a while.

The president thinks the war on terror gives him carte blanche to go outside of the law.

This vigilantism demonstrates the utter breakdown of the government. These private security forces have behaved brutally, with impunity, in Iraq. To have them now on the streets of New Orleans is frightening and possibly illegal.

The Supreme Court has not closed the doors of justice to the detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. This is a major victory for the rule of law and affirms the right of every person, citizen or non-citizen, detained by the United States to test the legality of his or her detention in a U.S. Court.

This could be a big break if Pappas testifies as to why those dogs were used and who ordered the dogs to be used. It's a steppingstone going up the chain of command, and that's positive. It might demonstrate that it wasn't just a few rotten apples.