An All-Clear for Bush’s Torturers

[marmar]

from Consortium News:


An All-Clear for Bush’s Torturers
September 3, 2012

Even as Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu urges a war-crimes trial for George Bush and Tony Blair for invading Iraq, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder gives an all-clear to Bush’s subordinates for homicides that resulted from torture in Afghanistan and Iraq, a repudiation of U.S. law and principles, says Marjorie Cohn.

By Marjorie Cohn


The Obama administration has closed the books on prosecutions of those who violated U.S. and international laws by authorizing and conducting the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody.

Last year, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that his office would investigate only two incidents, in which CIA interrogations ended in deaths. He said the Justice Department “has determined that an expanded criminal investigation of the remaining matters is not warranted.” With that decision, Holder conferred amnesty on countless Bush officials, lawyers and interrogators who set and carried out a policy of cruel treatment.

Now the attorney general has given a free pass to those responsible for the deaths of Gul Rahman and Manadel al-Jamadi. Rahman froze to death in 2002 after being stripped and shackled to a cold cement floor in the secret Afghan prison known as the Salt Pit. Al-Jamadi died after he was suspended from the ceiling by his wrists which were bound behind his back.

MP Tony Diaz, who witnessed al-Jamadi’s torture, said that blood gushed from his mouth like “a faucet had turned on” when he was lowered to the ground. A military autopsy concluded that al-Jamadi’s death was a homicide. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/09/03/an-all-clear-for-bushs-torturers/

[Mnemosyne]

1. Despicable. nt

[kenny blankenship]

2. As yesterday's torturers get their wink,

tomorrow's torturers receive their nod. Today's torturers are more careful no doubt where and how they work, always employing surrogates. A vote for this crap is a vote for Bush.

[truth2power]

3. I'd like to direct your attention to the first comment, by F.G. Sanford

under that article. I think it speaks concisely to the concerns people have about the torture issue.

This is what concerns me most about Pres. Obama - the torture, the renditions and black sites around the world, the assassination lists, the murder of a sixteen year old boy by drone attack in some desert on the other side of the world.

When I lie awake in bed at night I ask myself how I'm supposed to find congruence between acceptance of Obama's actions and my own moral stance. Should I dismiss things that my own conscience tells me are a sin? I'll await an answer to that.

Yesterday there was a frightening video on the front page of DU. I'm sure most here saw it. It was all the baggers and other assorted hangers-on; the rage and insanity was absolutely sickening.

In that video one guy, practically frothing at the mouth, states baldly that even if Bush barbecued a baby on the white house lawn, he would still support him. Are we supposed to be shocked by this?

If so, then what do I tell myself when the question comes to me in the middle of the night, what would Obama have to do that would be a bridge too far, as it were, that would cause Democrats to withdraw support from him?

I suspect the answer is, "Nothing". So then, how can we take umbrage with what the insane bagger said in the video regarding GWB? And how are we different from him? I hope I'm permitted to ask that question. Or are we expected to check our consciences at the door when we login to DU?

[OnyxCollie]

4. When the Obama administration turns its back

on the war crimes committed by the Bush administration, can we really expect that they're looking out for our best interest?

They gave a pass to torturers, for chrissakes. Plus, they came up with a few things that even Bush hadn't tried (assassination of US citizens based on suspicion of terrorism; the NDAA.)

These crimes against humanity came through serving the economic interest of Big Oil, which now demands (and is receiving) opportunities to commit heinous crimes against the environment (Arctic drilling, Keystone XL.)

Partisan blindness affects both sides, sadly, and prohibits people from understanding that "their team" operates within a structure whereby the government serves corporate interests first, last, and always before the public (who are manipulated by propaganda to keep the illusion going.)