Attorney General Eric Holder chose not to take the counsel of the
Republican partisans who have been campaigning in recent weeks to avert
an accountability moment with regard to the Bush-Cheney
administration's torture regime.
But that does not necessarily mean that an accountability moment will come.
For that to happen, Holder -- and, by extension, President Obama --
must stop being so cautious about laying the groundwork for the
prosecution of wrongdoings.
WASHINGTON - US Central Intelligence Agency
interrogators used a handgun and an electric drill to try to frighten a
captured Al-Qaeda commander into giving up information, The Washington
Post reported.
Citing
a report by the agency's inspector general and unnamed former and
current US officials, the newspaper said the tactics were used on Abd
al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
WASHINGTON - Even
as the issue of torture appears likely to burst back onto the public
agenda next week -- thanks to the much anticipated release of an
internal CIA report -- one of the most progressive voices in Congress
is arguing that the Obama White House has a legal obligation to
investigate the Bush torture legacy.
Canada
must seek the immediate return of Toronto-born Guantánamo captive Omar
Khadr rather than await the outcome of his U.S. military trial because
American troops mistreated the alleged teen terrorist and Canadian
officials knew about it, Canada's appeals court ruled Friday.
The Federal Court of Appeal's 2-1 ruling, issued in Ottawa, effectively
instructs the Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to
intervene in the case before Khadr is tried by military commission.
In 2003, at a meeting with a group of senior staff from the US judge advocate general's office (which deals with criminal trials of military personnel), I was told that as a result of decisions taken in the Bush White House, a long American tradition of compliance with the Geneva conventions had come to an end.
A number of disturbing statistics emerged from a recent survey commissioned by Australian Red Cross. More than 40 per cent of Australians believe it is okay to torture captured enemy soldiers.
Yet almost all of the 1030 people interviewed believe those accused of war crimes should be prosecuted, and 90 per cent think the international community needs to strengthen and enforce the rules of war. It appears we have a strong case of "it is bad when others do it but okay for us".
WASHINGTON — Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were military retirees and
psychologists, on the lookout for business opportunities. They found an
excellent customer in the Central Intelligence Agency, where in 2002 they became the architects of the most importantinterrogation program in the history of American counterterrorism.
WASHINGTON - The United States Supreme Court will hear the U.S. government's appeal on a lower court ruling requiring the release of photos showing the abuse of prisoners held in overseas facilities.
The government is appealing a 2008 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit which ruled that the government must release the photos to comply with an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.
Over the weekend, the government has identified another way to embarrass itself.
Karen Steyn is the barrister representing David Miliband, who has been arguing that we must suppress evidence of torture in the case of Binyam Mohamed. On Saturday, the high court judges sent the foreign secretary a transcript of their interrogation of Steyn for him to confirm in writing whether he really means what she says.
