11 February 2011 By Stephen
Lendman It remains so under Obama,
authorized at the highest levels of government as part
of America's bogus war on terror to instill fear and
target suspected political opponents globally,
including at home. No matter that it violates US and
international law that prohibits torture at all times
under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions. Nonetheless, on September 17,
2001, Bush issued a 12 page "memorandum of
notification" directive to CIA's director and National
Security Council members, authorizing CIA to capture
suspected terrorists and Al Qaeda members, then hold
and interrogate them in offshore detention facilities.
It launched his torture program by vesting CIA
operatives with unprecedented lawless power. It gave
them carte blanche authority to function
extra-judicially by whatever methods it chose. Numerous subsequent Bush
administration memos, Executive Orders, National and
Homeland Security Presidential Directives, findings,
and other documents explicitly or implicitly
authorized torture, including one on August 2, 2002,
written by John Yoo, then White House counsel Alberto
Gonzales, Jay Bybee (now a federal judge), and David
Addington. It argued for letting interrogators use
harsh measures amounting to torture. It said federal
and international laws don't apply when dealing with
Al Qaeda because of presidential authorization during
wartime. It "legalized" anything in the war on terror,
as well as authorizing supreme presidential power. On March 14, 2003, the same
quartet issued another memo titled: "Military
Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held
Outside the United States," now called the "Torture
Memo." It swept away all legal restraints, authorizing
military, CIA or other US interrogators to use extreme
measures amounting to torture. It also gave the
president "the fullest range of power....to protect
the nation," stating he "enjoys complete discretion in
the exercise of his authority in conducting operations
against hostile forces." Other administration documents
reflected John Yoo's views that interrogation methods
may inflict "intense pain or suffering" short of what
would cause "serious physical injury so severe that
death, organ failure, (loss of significant body
functions), or permanent damage" may result. It was inquisitional
ruthlessness, including sleep deprivation, prolonged
isolation, waterboarding, painful stress positions,
sensory deprivation or overload, beatings, electric
shocks, induced hypothermia, and other extreme
measures able to cause irreversible physical and
psychological harm, including disabilities, psychoses,
and at times deaths. International Criminal Court (ICC)
Complaint Against Bush/Cheney et al On January 20, 2010, Professor
Francis Boyle and Lawyers Against the War filed a
complaint against "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Rice
and Gonzales for: "their criminal policy and
practice of 'extraordinary rendition' perpetrated upon
about 100 human beings. This term is really their
euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons
and their consequent torture. This criminal policy and
practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against
Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing
the ICC." Though America isn't party to the
treaty, "the Accused have ordered and been responsible
for the commission of ICC statutory crimes within the
respective territories of many ICC member states,
including several in Europe. Consequently, the ICC has
jurisdiction to prosecute the Accused (under) Rome
Statute article 12(2)(a) that affords the ICC
jurisdiction to prosecute (these crimes) in ICC member
states." The complaint also requested
international arrest warrants be issued, pursuant to
Rome Statute authority. On February 7, the ninth anniversary of Bush's lawless establishment of an "unlawful combatants" classification, CCR released a Bush Torture Indictment (BTI). Earlier, Francis Boyle explained that he "resurrected a long-defunct World War II era ('unlawful enemy combatant') legal category," later superseded by the four Geneva Conventions. He described Bush's action as "creat(ing) an anti-matter of legal nihilism where human beings (including US citizens) can be disappeared, detained incommunicado, denied access to attorneys and regular courts, tried in kangaroo courts, executed, tortured, assassinated and subjected to numerous other manifestations of State Terrorism." He almost entirely negated post-WW II international and US laws, including treaties to which America is party. CCR's response, "provides a strong factual and legal basis to hold (him) accountable" in all 147 countries that ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)...." BTI "is based on two criminal complaints that were to be filed on February 7 in Switzerland on behalf of two torture victims," supported by CCR and allied groups, "in advance of Bush's planned trip to Geneva on February 12...." Including are more than 2,500 pages of material. Under Swiss law, preliminary investigations may only begin if torturers enter the country. As a result, Bush cancelled his trip to avoid possible indictment. CCR promises BTI will await him "wherever he travels next." Moreover, Amnesty International (AI) also repeatedly called for him to be investigated for torture violations, and sent Swiss authorities factual evidence of his culpability. According to Martin Scheinin, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism: "Nobody, from those who administered the practices to those at the top of the chain of command, is under a shield of absolute immunity for the practices of secret detention, extraordinary rendition and torture. Legally this case is quite clear. Bush does not enjoy immunity as a former head of state, and he has command responsibility for the decisions that were taken." All his subordinate co-conspirators are also culpable, including former vice president Cheney. Getting them in the dock makes everyone involved vulnerable, including Obama administration officials following the same policies seamlessly. No one deserves impunity, even present and past US presidents as well as others holding top administration posts. After aggressive wars and genocide, torture is the worst international crime, warranting prosecutorial justice against guilty parties.
A previous article addressed torture as official US policy under Bush, accessed through the following link: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/07/torture-as-official-us-policy.html Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/. Comments 💬 التعليقات |