"How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?...It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment." This is how in an interview that aired on "60 Minutes" Obama responded to Cheney's ludicrous accusation that Obama's intention to close down Guantanamo was making America less safe. In one of the toughest responses to Darth Vader yet, Obama has made clear that he will break with the criminal policies of the Bush administration. This means not only shut down the Guantanamo gulag, but also process all the individuals there, release those who are innocent, and restore the right to haebas corpus to those who we suspect are dangerous.
But Obama needs to go one step further: those who are responsible for orchestrating, executing, and not preventing the campaign of torture need to be held accountable. They need to be tried either under US laws for breaches of the US Constitution, and numerous US federal statues, including the US Convention Against Torture, as well as the grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
As I finally finished reading Jane Mayer's book last night, I thought of all those innocent people who ended up being snatched by CIA black-masked commandos, "rendered" to one of CIA's "black sites" and exposed to torture we never imagined our government would be capable of committing. For example, the German citizen el-Masri was arrested by Macedonian police on the Macedonian border suspected of being a member of AL-Q. He was turned over to the CIA who under the direct instructions from Washington kidnapped him and threw him into the black hole of CIA's world. He was stripped naked, a depository inserted into his anus, wrapped in diapers, dressed in an orange suit, and huge goggles placed on his eyes while his ears were covered with headphones transmitting loud music. He was held in Afghanistan's CIA-run prisons and tortured because he was supposedly not confessing to his crimes and not naming new names. He was held in captivity for 149 days when the CIA finally realized they had caught the wrong Masri--his passport was not a forgery and the German government demanded that he be released immediately. In an effort to shut him up, he was given a suitcase full of cash, and released on the Albanian border and told "not to look back." Back in Germany he filed a lawsuit against CIA Director George Tenet.
For many others like Masri, Obama represents the America that the world has been waiting for. A kind, just, reasonable, and thoughtful America. America determined to strike back at enemies using the tools of justice which had been admired by the whole world and copied in many constitutions. It is the America in which suspects are tried in open courts no matter what the outcome might be. It is the America that understands the risks that come with having an open and democratic society in which the rule of law is above everything else. It is the America in which the victims of 9/11 hope for those who perpetrated the crimes to be brought to justice without having to violate the very principles which we live by.
It is also important to remember that not all members of the Bush administration participated in the crimes. Many FBI agents, including veteran interrogators, emerged as true defenders of the law and opponents of torture warning Bush officials on numerous occasions that they might be prosecuted one day. The former head of the Office of Legal Council Jack Goldsmith also emerges as a hero who stood up to Cheney and reversed the blank check which his predecessor Yoo had given to the CIA. Joining this group of honorable Americans is also Alberto Mora, former General Counsel for the US Navy who upon seeing the evidence of torture at the prison ordered a full investigation and tried to go up the chain of command in order to stop it. Thus it is important to remember that this is truly one of those issues which are not Republican vs. Democrat. Hopefully, Republicans like John McCain, who himself endured years of terrible torture in Vietnamese gulags, Senator Arlen Specter, Chuck Hagel among others will join Sen. Patrick Leahy in establishing "truth commissions" to investigate these horrendous crimes against our own Constitution, the international law, and humanity in general.
However, knowing that Obama has the helms of our fight against terror helps me sleep a little bit better at night.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The wars, and all the horrific pain, death, and destruction that go along with it is bad enough. But torture? It makes me sick in the pit of my stomach, and it brings tears to my eyes. This is not supposed to happen in the U.S., and when I found out about it, I found it unfathomable that the elected officials of our government...representatives of the people of this nation...allowed it to happen.
Permitting and engaging in torture, as well as allowing the erosion of our Constitutional rights, are not issues we should have to be dealing with in the United States. Sadly, we are.
While the new administration has made it clear that the U.S. does not and will not torture, is that really enough? It seems to me there needs to be legal investigations into what has occurred, and if crimes have been found to be committed, those responsible for committing crimes should be held accountable.
From what I've been reading in the news, it doesn't seem like this is happening.
While the previous administration has allegedly used torture as part of its interrogation techniques, then why is the new administration not investigating? No one should be above the law. Click here to read a blog by Jonathan Turley on this subject.
In recent news, a Spanish court is starting an investigation into "allegations of torture and mistreatment of prisoners." Click here to read a New York Times article on the subject.
My hope is that the new administration will do more than just announce a no-torture policy, but that they will investigate allegations of torture and hold anyone found guilty of torture accountable for their actions. No one is supposed to be above the law.
sheila
Sheila, thank you for your wonderful post. Yes I completely agree with you. If the Justice Department of the Obama administration truly wants to have a clean break from the Bush administration's politicizd JD, then it really has to investigate the crimes.
Also the US is obligated under the Convention Against Torture (1984) and Geneva Conventions to hold those who engage in torture accountable. And I was heartened to see the actions of the Spanish court and the fact that the investigation is being conducted by the same lawyer who prosecuted Chilean dictator Pinochet. But it is hard to see how Obama will take this case on and not commit political suicide.
"But it is hard to see how Obama will take this case on and not commit political suicide." The question that comes to my mind is how would it be committing political suicide for Obama to do what he's obligated to do under the Geneva Convention and the Convention Against Torture?
If the leader of our country commits "political suicide" by doing what's morally right, then what does that say about the humanity of those of us who would find fault with our leader who would take both the legal and moral high ground?
*sigh* sheila
Post a Comment