Is this settled law? The CIA apparently destroyed the videotapes they had of their torture sessions. They alleged that they did this to protect the identity of their torturers, but it's obvious that the main threat to their torturers is US courts and congressional hearings.
One thing the Democrats could do to atone for their barely-better-than-the-Republicans performance on civil rights post 9/11 is to push to have the Americans who carried out, ordered, or oversaw torture punished. At a minimum, those folks need to have their military/intelligence careers ended. At a maximum (my preference) we should dishonorably discharge/fire the torturers, and prosecute the higher-ups. The people who ordered torture need to spend the rest of their lives in prison. If they are pardoned by the President, then the Obama administration should at least make clear to other countries that, unable to prosecute them ourselves, we will not stand in the way of any reasonable war crimes trials held outside the US. Let Dick Cheney and Doug Feith know that they dare never leave the US again, for fear of finding themselves on a plane to The Hague.
The 2006 Military Commissions Act gave the President the following powers:
* to define what is, and is not, torture; and
* to prevent any prosecution of American officials, agents, or employees for engaging in torture.
Furthermore, federal courts have ruled that John Yoo's rulings as solicitor general in 2001-2002 on torture (i. e. that if it doesn't kill or permanently injure, it's not torture) provided American agents with the presumption that their actions were legal, and therefore they may not be prosecuted or sued for their actions during the time Yoo's rulings were in force. (They were contradicted in either 2004 or 2005, I forget exactly which.)
And not only did McCain vote for the Military Commissions Act, but he voted in 2007 to block a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using torture.
So, not only is it currently legal, but it's highly unlikely that any US torturer can ever be convicted in US court.
Ok. Given the fact that several countries (Spain, Belgium) will try people who are not citizens for crimes they committed against people who are not citizens that they did not commit in the country (Google Universal Jurisdiction and Pinochet) I wasn't sure you were joking.
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zvi and
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 11:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 04:03 pm (UTC)One thing the Democrats could do to atone for their barely-better-than-the-Republicans performance on civil rights post 9/11 is to push to have the Americans who carried out, ordered, or oversaw torture punished. At a minimum, those folks need to have their military/intelligence careers ended. At a maximum (my preference) we should dishonorably discharge/fire the torturers, and prosecute the higher-ups. The people who ordered torture need to spend the rest of their lives in prison. If they are pardoned by the President, then the Obama administration should at least make clear to other countries that, unable to prosecute them ourselves, we will not stand in the way of any reasonable war crimes trials held outside the US. Let Dick Cheney and Doug Feith know that they dare never leave the US again, for fear of finding themselves on a plane to The Hague.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-02 06:31 pm (UTC)* to define what is, and is not, torture; and
* to prevent any prosecution of American officials, agents, or employees for engaging in torture.
Furthermore, federal courts have ruled that John Yoo's rulings as solicitor general in 2001-2002 on torture (i. e. that if it doesn't kill or permanently injure, it's not torture) provided American agents with the presumption that their actions were legal, and therefore they may not be prosecuted or sued for their actions during the time Yoo's rulings were in force. (They were contradicted in either 2004 or 2005, I forget exactly which.)
And not only did McCain vote for the Military Commissions Act, but he voted in 2007 to block a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using torture.
So, not only is it currently legal, but it's highly unlikely that any US torturer can ever be convicted in US court.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 03:02 pm (UTC)