The New York Times has published a blistering editorial calling upon President Barack Obama to fulfill our obligations under domestic and international law and investigate and prosecute those responsible for the torture program under the administration of President George W. Bush. The American Civil Liberties Union is also calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the program and possibly prosecute those responsible. The Obama Administration has steadfastly refused to prosecute anyone despite its admission that, to quote Obama, “we tortured some folks.” The political costs of such a prosecute were likely viewed as too high and Attorney General Eric Holder has again taken the politically expedient approach in avoiding any serious effort to hold those responsible for these crimes. In the meantime, many of those who would be prosecuted under domestic and international law have been writing books and giving interviews — casually discussing acts that are considered war crimes under international law.
The editorial, entitled “Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses,” takes the position long advocated by experts in the field and various academics, including myself. There is no question that we tortured people under this program. While there are plenty of torture deniers about, both U.S. and international law is clear. Waterboarding is torture and we have prosecuted both our own citizens and foreigners for this long recognized form of torture despite early denials from people like Ashcroft. Moreover, Obama has admitted that it was torture. Holder admitted it was torture. The United Nations has denounced it as a torture. Leading Republicans and Democratic leaders have denounced it as torture. The United States Senate denounced it as torture. However, not a single person has been prosecuted by the Obama Administration. Instead, the Administration has been threatening allies who have threatened to start their own torture investigation under international treaties.
I have previously written about the cynical calculation that led to Obama blocking the prosecution for those responsible for the torture program. He knew such prosecutions would be unpopular, and with so many constitutional principles since that time, he just did not see the value in adhering to principle (even those embodied within binding treaty obligations). Since Obama ran on a civil liberties platform, many expected an independent torture investigation as soon as he took office. After all, waterboarding is one of the oldest forms of torture, pre-dating the Spanish Inquisition (when it was called tortura del agua). It has long been defined as torture by both U.S. and international law, and by Obama himself. Torture, in turn, has long been defined as a war crime, and the United States is under treaty obligation to investigate and prosecute such crimes.
However, such a principle did not make for good politics. Accordingly, as soon as he was elected, Obama set out to dampen talk of prosecution. Various intelligence officials and politicians went public with accounts of the Obama administration making promises to protect Bush officials and CIA employees from prosecution. Though the White House denied the stories, Obama later gave his controversial speech at the CIA headquarters and did precisely that. In the speech, he effectively embraced the defense of befehl ist befehl (“an order is an order”). As I have written before (here and here), the Obama Administration has destroyed some of the core Nuremburg principles, particularly in its revisal of the “superior orders defense” to excuse U.S. officials.
The board notes that such an investigation would clearly include “former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; the former C.I.A. director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos,” the editorial reads. “There are many more names that could be considered, including Jose Rodriguez Jr., the C.I.A. official who ordered the destruction of the videotapes; the psychologists who devised the torture regimen; and the C.I.A. employees who carried out that regimen.”
The New York Times asks whether the Obama Administration has “the political courage” to order an investigation. That question unfortunately has been loudly and repeatedly answered in the negative.
Al O’Heem, excellent point. We also have a constitution that says back people are slaves, and only men can vote.
And I also love the point so many make. Our non torture is nothing compared to what “they” did. Does that make what we did right? So lets change our criminal justice system. If you are convicted of rape, the punishment is to be naked for your entire confinement in prison. If you are convicted of murder, we cut off the hand that held the weapon (both hands if both hands were used). Hey, at least we aren’t as bad as “them”.
Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
Be careful about determining truth by relying on what the majority believes. We once believed that indigenous people should be moved/killed, human beings should be enslaved, women should not vote, that the earth is flat and a host of other matters. Belief does not confer truth.
davidm2575
You make very good arguments that waterboarding is not torture and that those tortured did not not suffer. Somehow, I suspect that those tortured would disagree with you (and with those who tortured them).
(I also suspect that those who claim that it was not torture would pee in their pants at the thought of experiencing that “non-torture”.)
But we disagree on the main point; I believe that torture is wrong (regardless of who does it).
I bitterly resent those who degrade our country by making torture an American practice.
Look at John Yoo’s legal justifications for torture – brilliant legally, but morally repugnant. Mindless flag wavers aside, ordinary people know the difference between right and wrong.
I am reminded of the German jurists shown in “Judgment at Nuremberg”; brilliant legal minds, but complicit in the degradation of their country.
Steve Fleischer, I too am against torture. I also am against enhanced interrogation. Prisoners should have the right to remain silent and be treated with dignity. I don’t agree with waterboarding prisoners. Nevertheless, I also am against labeling waterboarding as torture. It stretches the legal definition of torture to mean something other than what it is defined to mean.
I am all for having a debate and rule of law on policy, but criminalization of politics is a bad bad idea.
Yeah, they should go for that. Guess who would also be facing political fallout from that? Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. They were also involved in many of these same things (especially Bill Clinton).
I am no fan of water boarding, but this is a hill Democrats would be wise not to charge. If you want to persuade why torture-enhanced interrogation techniques are bad go for it. But to say what the CIA did was the same as what (say) ISIS is doing now is simply not true.
We should start torturing with comfy chairs, because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
The UN has no credibility.
I’d sooner listen to Stalin or Mao, and they’re both dead.
Kubos to the New York Times for taking a stand against torture!
Inga,
The UN is in no position to criticize anyone, least of all the US.
I think the primary reason Mr. O has ordered no review of torture is so that he can escape the same fate when he leaves office. In my mind, we tortured people. If you don’t consider water boarding as torture, how about forced rectal hydration? How about stuffing people in coffin sized cages? And Mr O’s response to banning torture? Kill them, ask questions later. So yes, his drone policy in my mind is also a war crime. If not the first firing of a missile at a “suspected” terrorist (whatever suspected means). Then certainly the second missile strike when first responders come to help the wounded. If that is not a war crime then Mr O and Mr Cheney are not human. Oh wait, bad analogy.
Congress is too cowardly to impeach.
If Obama does proceed with such an investigation, then his impeachment will surely follow.
The usual hesitation about a backlash to impeachment will have been obviated.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49560#.VJhX2kACB
United Nations expert calls for prosecutions of those involved in torture. If we want to be able to speak with moral authority on human rights abuses, we need to hold ourselfs as a nation, responsible for our own abuses.
First Step: Simply disbarring the government attorneys that legalized torture would be a huge deterrent to current drone operations and future war crimes as well.
Government attorneys are really at the heart of all this. If Obama or a future president has their legal cover removed it will have an immediate and huge impact.
Steak tartare is paleo, if anyone wants to give it a try, or try again.
The torture program entailed FAR more than water boarding, nice try at trying to sweep that under the rug, but fail.
Haters of torture, I’ll own that. So would most DECENT people.
David, so tell us, how many times have YOU been water boarded? Water boarding IS torture. Mitchell HIMSELF water boarded a a prisoner. He is a torturer. Mitchell was involved with more than just water boarding. He created the torture program and got paid a lot of money for it. Now get your head out of dark places and stop being a torture apologist.
Inga – I do not agree that water boarding is torture. That does not make me a torture apologist. I just disagree that it qualifies as torture as done by the CIA. And apparently the majority of Americans agree with me.
One word, Mollari.
One word was all that was required of you.
It would not have mattered. It wouldn’t have changed anything!
– It would not have stopped! – You’re wrong, Mollari.
Whether it was me or my world, whether it was a total stranger…
…or your worst enemy, you were a witness!
It doesn’t matter if they’d stop!
It doesn’t matter if they’d listen!
– You had an obligation to speak out! – I couldn’t!
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/babylon5/images/9/9e/Gkartorture03.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080619220333