Ending Torture: Wrong Agency, Mr. President
Today marks the anniversary of the Convention Against Torture. In support of the anniversary, our President wrote the following:
Today, on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the United States declares its strong solidarity with torture victims across the world. Torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere. We are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law.
Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, ratified by the United States and more than 130 other countries since 1984, forbids governments from deliberately inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering on those within their custody or control. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes whose cruel methods match their determination to crush the human spirit.
[snip]
The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy. I further urge governments to join America and others in supporting torture victims’ treatment centers, contributing to the UN Fund for the Victims of Torture, and supporting the efforts of non-governmental organizations to end torture and assist its victims.
No people, no matter where they reside, should have to live in fear of their own government. Nowhere should the midnight knock foreshadow a nightmare of state-commissioned crime. The suffering of torture victims must end, and the United States calls on all governments to assume this great mission. [my emphasis]
Those bold words–that promise to prosecute all acts of torture–came not from President Obama. The promise came from George W Bush, just weeks before he signed the first written policy approval for our own torture program.
As scandalous as that fact is, take a look at what our current President had to say today.
Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention Against Torture, and twenty-two years ago this very day, the Convention entered into force. The United States’ leading role in the negotiation of the Convention and its subsequent ratification and implementation enjoyed strong bipartisan support. Today, we join the international community in reaffirming unequivocally the principles behind that Convention, including the core principle that torture is never justified.
Torture violates United States and international law as well as human dignity. Torture is contrary to the founding documents of our country, and the fundamental values of our people. It diminishes the security of those who carry it out, and surrenders the moral authority that must form the basis for just leadership. That is why the United States must never engage in torture, and must stand against torture wherever it takes place.
My administration is committed to taking concrete actions against torture and to address the needs of its victims. On my third day in office, I issued an executive order that prohibits torture by the United States. My budget request for fiscal year 2010 includes continued support for international and domestic groups working to rehabilitate torture victims.
The United States will continue to cooperate with governments and civil society organizations throughout the international community in the fight to end torture. To this end, I have requested today that the Department of State solicit information from all of our diplomatic missions around the world about effective policies and programs for stopping torture and assisting its victims so that we and our civil society partners can learn from what others have done. I applaud the courage, compassion and commitment of the many people and organizations doing this vitally important work. [my emphasis]
With all due respect, why the hell does he think the Department of State is the agency that should be taking the lead on this? And why do no more than "solicit information … about effective policies and programs for stopping torture"?
Mr. President, the agency that must take the lead in stopping torture is the Department of Justice. The effective policies for stopping torture you’re looking for? They start with prosecuting torture.
We cannot, at this stage in our history, look to other countries to stop torture. We must start right here at home, by eradicating and punishing it.
George Bush’s promises to prosecute all acts of torture were horribly empty words. But Obama’s solution to look outward, to the Department of State rather than the Department of Justice, is even emptier.
Obama not willing to hold the previous administration accountable for operating “above the law”. Not willing to release the photos that confirm even more torture.
His words sound hollow.
Obama, Holder, Whitehouse, Leahy, Feingold, Pelosi “no one is above the law”
Clearly the Bush administration has been
BREAKING: 2004 CIA Inspector General Torture Report’s Release Is Delayed AGAIN
http://washingtonindependent.c…..ayed-again
Obama “no one is above the law” Horseshit
Obama “transparency and change” right
US wants to delay release of CIA report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..ogations_1
The U.S. government wants to wait until next week to give the American Civil Liberties Union a 5-year old internal CIA report that criticizes its harsh interrogation program.
On Friday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to allow the release of the report to be delayed until Wednesday — two weeks since it was first expected. The government is struggling over how much of the classified CIA inspector general’s report should be made public.
A version of the 150-page report was released last year but it was almost entirely blacked out. The promised release of the report is part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU for all documents related to the Bush-era detention and interrogation program.
What – no report on US torture as a backdrop for Obama’s pontificating?
Who could have ever imagined …
Imagine being one of the lawyers signing off on that request for an extension – knowing what they have, knowing even it is a watered down pale and self-protective version of what was happening, looking at the spoutings and spewings of Obama and Bush, and taking a part in the whole conspiracy to cover it up. They’re like Gacy with the bodies buried in the basement and it is way too creepy.
I haven’t gone through all the comments yet, but Wednesday would be I believe July 2. That would put stories on it on July 3 meaning that the goal here may be to bury it in the news deadzone of the 4th of July.
You want national security secrets revealed exactly, why? Because you want to salaciously grin over alleged misconduct the way you do over Gov. Sanford? Hmmmm…you must not want America to be very safe….
how in the hell could anybody answer a question like that if you have enough gall to even ask?
It’s a reasonable question….
obama is either lost or has corrupted himself, I do not believe he is lost, I believe he is far to capable for that description
I am therefore left with the sorry conclusion that he has corrupted himself
hugh has started an obama scandals list
let’s make sure we hold obama to the standards we had elected him and make sure he is a one term president…we need to run a real progressive 4 years from now
Add this to the list, perris: I got e-mail alert from WAPO on article published today at 6:52p.m. stating that Obama is drafting an Executive Order authorizing extended detention for detainees who can’t be tried. There are some denials that this is so…think they’re sending up a trial baloon to see what public’s response is. Let’s oblige ‘em!
Very good piece EW. Thank you.
Apparently the President dropped a part of his sentence, though.
Today, we join the international community in reaffirming unequivocally the principles behind that Convention, including the core principle that torture is never justified unless you have an OLC legal opinion authorizing it.
Because “torture” is something only little brown people do to each other and to good white people – and it’s always done somewhere “over there”.
This Harvard lawyer’s sleight-of-law will come to naught, but he’s as committed to it as he is to “post-partisanship”.
This post really should be everywhere. Thanks again.
Oh, the humanity! Due respect? What for? Obama’s statement is little more than an insult to anyone with more than three functioning synapses. It’s as hollow as an isolation cell at Bagram, or New Gitmo, as it should be called.
I seriously doubt anyone outside the US is going to swallow this pap of his. Indeed, they are probably laughing, albeit quite nervously.
The hubris of his statement shows that if Obama has a moral compass, it’s undoubtedly been smashed under the heel of someone’s jack boot.
How do we put pressure on Clinton to list the US as one of the top offenders on torture when she reports back? Sounds like she can suggest programs for stopping countries that torture. She should ask for prosecutions of US torturers and enablers. Prosecutions are the only way to stop what the US is doing. Great catch on that statement, Marcy.
As for another delay on the CIA IG report, I knew when they announced the last delay that there would be another because there was no way this report would come out on the International Day Against Torture.
Not to mention pushing it further and further toward the Fourth holiday where it can be *properly* ignored by the media. Also.
Seems counterintuitive that not prosecuting would preserve diplomatic relations and business interests–unless those nations and their businesses benefited. Who else, afterall, would want to deal with the US if it is a pariah allowing torture –and doing it to innocent imprisoned people among others?
I cannot remember whether it was Rita Katz (author of Terrorist Hunter) or Sibel Edmonds (or maybe both) who said that the State Department routinely told the DoJ not to pursue investigations.
Hilary Clinton is Secretary of State. She attended (attends?) Fellowship meetings. Good thing news of her husband’s emails being accessed by unauthorized (?) NSA workers surfaced. Maybe this prevents her and Bill from any unwanted intrusion of their privacy going forward, or was it a warning? I assume having NSA transcripts would come in very handy during C Street sessions for cross checking the accuracy of confessions.
Hell, he could start by actually making an effort, any fucking effort at all, to get Dawn Johnsen confirmed. But, of course, he was always more concerned with getting the progressive street cred from appointing her than he was with actually having her serve. Might be inconvenient for Obama’s do-nothingism for Johnsen to actually be confirmed and allowed to serve. We are now treated to excited utterances that “she was seen in Washington recently”. What a bunch of pathetic crap. My wife has been seen in the DC area recently too, and she isn’t getting confirmed for anything either. Our government and news gatherers are so totally out of it that it is depressing.
Even Harold Koh was approved to be State’s top lawyer. Guess Hilary wanted it more than Eric. No king or prince wants a biblical prophet on his doorstep; too much grief. That there are laws to interpret and enforce seems to be what they most want to avoid, not do.
And of course, the irony of Koh’s confirmation yesterday is that his portfolio would cover precisely things like CAT.
Because we all know you fix torture in the State Department.
I was wondering about the CIA IG report – I guess the only upside is that it won’t get crowded out by Michael Jackson coverage – it’ll just be largely ignored by the MSM for the usual reasons.
No point in releasing a controversial report except on a holiday weekend, when the trade med reporters will be vacationing on the Bay, the Shore and the Vineyard. Who knew the Obama administration would be as good at placing bad news on bad news days – and have as much at stake – as Bush II?
Marcy, perhaps you misunderstood the President.
The “so that” in bold above could be read as a plea for help. “Attention, friends around the world: We’ve got this torture problem in Gitmo and elsewhere, and we just don’t know how to stop it. Could you give us some suggestions that have worked for you? Thanks!”
/s
You got it all wrong. Obama’s having State solicit advice for the DOJ, cuz DOJ clearly has no clue about stop torture. /snark
Great minds . . .
Indeed…
Maybe one of the nice diplomats can translate what the Spanish are saying:
I guess the Brookings Institute doesn’t count as an “agency”, except when it comes to mongering for war and illegal detentions. As Christy’s post points out, Benjamin Wittes at Brookings is working on a plan to institutionalize Bush’s worst detention excesses – permanent preventive detention without trial or the actual commission of a crime. No point in bringing the Dawn of Light to this discussion until, as did Cheney, how it’s gonna be has all been sorted out.
Threats, perceived subjectively, not rationally, are just sooo popular these days. Why would a Harvard lawyer and constitutional scholar President bother with those laws and procedures? As Dr. Szell kept asking Dustin Hoffman’s character in Marathon Man, the important, the only question, is “Is it safe?”
Benjamin Wittes is an execreble
humanbeing. His latest blather is here.[Side note: The internet filter here at work prevented me from accessing ew’s Amy Speace link, claiming it was porn, but it doesn’t block the link to the document above. That’s just wrong.]
Earl, in ref to permanent preventive detentions without trial for detainees, please see my comment and link at #59. Obama is reported to be drafting an EO to do just that! We need some real hard-hitting diaries on this, since the article at WAPO suggested that this leak may be a trial balloon to test public opinion/response.
If the preventive detention scheme, with Wittes as an outside-the-government point man on it (who can therefore do more while staying hidden), is the legacy Mr. Obama wants to leave as his constitutional mark, Ms. Johnsen should seriously rethink her willingness to head the OLC. Her work will have been so circumscribed, she’ll be playing Christine Todd Whitman to several administration Dick Cheneys. Not where she or we want to be.
For example, we’re sending 200 mill to Palau.
Yeah, that’s pretty good Mary.
LOLOL
Nice one, Mary.
Over 100 State Bar Complaints Filed This Week Against Torture Lawyer William Haynes
Hundreds More Expected Demanding Accountability From Cal Bar
SAN FRANCISCO – June 26 -” The National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (NLGSF) delivered over 100 complaints against former Department of Defense General Counsel William Haynes to the California State Bar offices Thursday in San Francisco. The complaints came from ordinary Americans demanding that the state bar “conduct a thorough investigation of Mr. Haynes’ actions and omissions while General Counsel at the Department of Defense. The complaints further demand a written formal decision on the outcome of the investigation.”
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/06/26-5
Now that is a tasty bit of news for a Friday afternoon.
Wonder how that will go over in the boardrooms at Chevron where Haynes now works, or among John Yoo’s colleagues at the Faculty Club at Boalt Hall?
Heh, dunno. But would chip in for a process server to hand deliver copies to him at Chevron and the Faculty Club.
I suspect there are some Bay Area folks who would do it pro bono.
Speaking of “pro bono”, did anyone notice it was Sonny’s widow Mary Bono who switched over to vote for the Cap&Trade bill. At least that’s what I think I heard. Maybe Rahm got to her?
Charming fellow. Interesting notions about how the law works in democracies.
And policy re detainees has changed under Obama/Holder … how?
28 – hehehe
ACLU Asks UN to Investigate Extraordinary Rendition
By DAPHNE EVIATAR 6/26/09 3:43 PM
“The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday, along with Alkarama for Human Rights, asked two U.N. special rapporteurs to investigate the “extraordinary rendition,” detention and torture of Abou Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen and one of the victims suing Jeppesen Dataplan, the subsidiary of Boeing the allegedly helped the CIA carry out the Bush administration’s torture outsourcing program.
“The last time I wrote about the case of Mohamed v. Jeppesen, the Obama Justice Department was asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear the case, after a three-judge panel of that court refused to dismiss the victims’ claims on the grounds that the lawsuit would allegedly reveal sensitive “state secrets.” (For an excellent piece about the “state secrets” privilege and its dubious origins, listen here to “The Secret Life of Secrets” from last Sunday’s NPR program, This American Life.)”
http://washingtonindependent.c…..-rendition
Hope this is not a dupe.
The Obama administration is now floating the idea of
preventive detentionestablishing an American gulag via executive order because Congress isn’t playing ball.I really thought that closing Guantanamo meant ending the illegal detention, not just moving the prisoners around. I feel like a fool.
“Closing” Gitmo is like saying we’re giving up VHS tapes. Not much of a sacrifice if you’ve already moved to DVD or solid state digital. Sounds good, though, if the electorate isn’t up to speed.
The compromise I suggest is closing the part used to hold people and leave the rest as the public wants. Personally I’d be happy to see it all closed.
It just occurred to me, I wonder if any of those special rendition airplanes coming from Afghanistan (or anywhere in Asia) brought more than their guests in orange pantsuits and hoods. I wonder if they brought some hash or seeds or other contraband, as happened when some people returned from Vietnam.
Who would have the records of all air flights in and out of Gitmo during the last 8 years?
It shouldn’t take much time to determine which flights were from that area and where they went from Gitmo.
actually.. there’s may be a legal reason for giving this responsibility for the dept of state: agencies are assigned specific responsibilities for implementing int’l treatires and implementation responsibility for the CAT sits squarely with the State Dept (and has always done so). Justice would still be responsible for prosecuting torturers for violating US law, but State has to monitor and assure compliance with the treaty.
After due consideration, I have concluded that this announcement from Obama sounds reminiscent of Baghdad Bob. Very credible.
Domestic implementation would still be for the DoJ, especially where treaties require implementing legislation – which would be wholly domestic. The point seems to be that Obama is avoiding any suggestion that there need be domestic implementation of these laws, another way of saying let’s look ahead, not behind.
This is Obama’s way of saying “Torture is a problem over there, not over here.”
I think that assessment is fair enough. I was focusing on the int’l side of course, but I think your assessment of the president’s intentions is probably correct (unfortunately). Impunity sucks.
bmaz @ 39 ,
Is there anything regarding torture prosecutions that Team Obama has done that might be considered helpful to putting any of these neocon mothertruckers in jail ?
Releasing the OLC Memos, moving to close Gitmo with at least some transfer for trial with some semblance of due process for the detainees and a few other things do move the ball forward just a little. But not enough by any scale.
People do not change position on key issues for no reason. Either at heart he’s always been on the wrong side of this, or else he’s on the right side but is being somehow compelled to behave differently. As ever, it makes me wonder whether somebody somewhere has something over Obama, or, in the alternative, whether he’s just a creep. There isn’t a whole lot of room for other possibilities at this point.
maybe they could start up a Guantanamo game show similar to the Iraci oil game show aution next week
“Iraqi oil contracts to be auctioned in live TV ‘game show’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin…..-show.html
Hmmmm @ 45
Hope springs eternal – I believe in the end Team Obama will make us proud on torture and many other issues -I further believe that its just going to take a good while to unwind all the crap gwb 43 left us.
I repeat hope springs eternal -I for one will suspend my condemnation for Obama 44 until the mid terms elections …
Well, you must be getting a better grade of intoxicants than I am. He’s attempting to invent precrime here, is he not? And marry it with life jail terms, is he not? What could be worse?
I guess the 11-dimensional chess answer would be that he’s forcing Congress to act to head the EOs off, but insofar as I’m pretty sure a majority in Congress is on the wrong side themselves, that kind of maneuver seems unpromising at best.
Thank you for a very intelligent and right-headed comment I agree totally.
Optimism without political leverage is a lever without a fulcrum. It’s a Democratic form of “Just trust him”.
Mr. Obama has already shown that he’s a 21st century “centrist”, meaning he inherently adheres to the middle between two opposing poles, regardless of their merits. He thinks that’s compromise. It accomplishes nothing, however, when his opponents are reduced to extremes and obstruction, and his own party is split between those who have done well the way things are and those who take their public responsibility seriously.
“Yeah, where’s that change we can believe in?” she asked, as the clatter of cans being kicked down the road echoed all around.
Hmmm @ 47 ,
Would appreciate a thoughtful discussion without the unnecessary sarcasm – The way I read the WAPO article was that Obama had not yet issued that EO calling for indefinite detention -further we do not know which Republican Senator has put a hold on the Dawn Johnsen nomination -but the buzz is its Jeff Sessions -Could it be that Team Obama is trying to get Judge Sotomayer confirmed before pressing the OLC nominee process to a successful conclusion ? Furthermore there are still many moving parts that need to be played out yet – such as the Durham investigation finishing its work .
But hmmm we do agree on several issues – ie that there are congresscritters that have also been enabling war crimes – we do need a thorough airing of all the ‘going ons ” regarding the Gang of Eight as one example.
I do wonder too -if Team Obama is not trying to get health care reform passed by October -and let some of these other matters simmer . Maybe bmaz is also right when speculating that the Holder DOJ is pursuiing the strange arguments that gwb43 did knowing that Sullivan and other judges would very likely decide against all of the Mukasey dog and pony judicial proceedings.
Finally hmmm do not recall seeing you here at EW before – but you do remind me of james dd over there at TPM -flinging insults and innuendoes , more then germane points with common courtesy .
Hmmm where has Team Obama called for the inventions of precrimes -with life sentences?
Hmmm is certainly not a new commenter here; been around a long time. Everybody be copacetic now.
Downright Fonz-like in our collective coolness, yes.
Well, that would be at or near “EO directing preventative detention of arbitrary duration without trial,” would it not be? Preventative = before actual commission of any crime. Arbitrary duration = might be for life.
Well, for one thing, and without wishing to speak for any of the proprietors, unnecessary sarcasm is sort of the stock-in-trade around here, and prolonged observation should show that it doesn’t remotely preclude thoughtful discourse with this crowd. But mainly, other than my weak “intoxicants” line, obviously joke-like, you frankly lost me there — where was there objectionable sarcasm?
OMG, there’s sarcasm going on at FDL. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked!
I am more disgusted with Obama every day. So aside from nominating Sotomayor to the bench what good is this guy if he continues to condone government law breaking.
We already have laws and treaties against torture. Who will lead the charge to impeach Obama. It is so sickening that we are still having to fight to stop torturing. OMG I feel like I am living in an alternate reality.
Juan Cole had an interesting post on Iran the other day. He said in reality would illegal protests like happened in Iran and continue to happen in Iran be allowed in the US. He reminded me of the “Protest zones” at the various events in USA and the fact that many many have been arrested in conjunction with protests.
So what does this group think, if we had a million man march to stop torture would our government even allow it?
Great post, EW. I’m so sick of our presidents saying one thing and doing another and actually having some people believe them despite all evidence to the contrary.
In response to aquarius74 @ 59. It’s up at tpm now.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..hp?ref=fpa
Thanks, fatster. I’ll check it out and see what their take is. How do we stop this?
I wish I knew. We’ll just have to keep plugging along, spreading info as far and wide as we can, hoping the courts will protect the Constitution and we will have enough time to elect more senators and reps who will provide the leadership it’s going to take to stop and undo all the damage that continues to be done. In the meantime, I keep scanning the horizon for those in the younger generations who will be the galvanizing forces to turn this mess around. I do see positive signs and that keeps me breathing and hoping.
TPM article sounds like Center for Constitutional Rights are already on it. And stronger denials from White House.
I increasingly see Obama as the person picked by the corporate oligarchy — I’m sorry, I mean the American people — to carry on as many of Bush’s policies as he can get away with. Naomi Wolf and Chalmers Johnson had it right — we’re on a glide path to fascism, it’s just that now we have a improved articulate spokesman.
you might want to check out Arthur Silbur at:
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/
he’s been writing essays along those lines for years.
and, it seems, his hypotheses are being borne out – the Democratic president is continuing the (R)’s policies in almost all respects!
most firepups prefer to avoid such essays as Arthur’s, even worse when he is proved right all the time by Obama’s actions.
and perris @ 5 – thats great! just remember a ‘progressive’ president will never come from the Democratic Party, so lets hope the coming depressionary conditions in the USA will lead to some serious Left populist organizing.
David Kurtz at TPM pegs it: “If you close Gitmo but carry on the same bad policy elsewhere, you’re playing a shell game, Mr. President.”
Must be Friday, huh?
Simply pathetic.
he is the blackbush.
and few on the progressive left want to acknowledge that they were snookered.
and if you went into the streets to protest, you would be dealt with just as protesters have been handled in london, santiago, lima, tehran, et alia.
all fascist governments preserve their power/control in the same manner.
brutality. murder.
and obombya’s usg is no different.
Anybody seen Freep lately?
Just linked this on the WaPo Omerta article, and I duplicating it here just in case. Do check it out.
Jun 26 2009, 6:02 pm by Marc Ambinder
Is Obama Moving Toward An Executive Order On Detention Policy?
“The Washington Post and Pro-Publica [ed note: collaboration!] report that the White House counsel’s office has drafted an executive order authorizing — or, rather, asserting, that the President has the inherent authority to detain certain classes of people indefinitely. (Update: Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesperson, flatly denied the report to me. “There is no executive order. There just isn’t one.”) “
http://politics.theatlantic.co….._order.php
Right on, Marcy! (If you don’t mind some good old 60s lingo.)
I want to point out one minor but telling point. Bush is quoted as saying:
Obama also mentions torture, but nothing about cruel, unusual punishment, etc. (And I agree with Leen and others, his words are awfully hollow.)
But on this day that celebrates the CAT, let us remember that this treaty was only ratified by the U.S. with a number of “reservations,” including a crucial one that tied enforcement of violations of use of “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” to the 4th, 8th and 14th amendments, thereby watering down the international meanings associated with the term. By so limiting this (a strategy dreamed up by Reagan lawyers and endorsed via non-action by the Clinton administration) to Constitutional definitions, which are interpreted by precedents in the court to those violations that “shock the conscience” (a difficult legal standard to meet), the torturers within the U.S. government sought a safe haven from prosecutions from torture or cruel, etc. treatment. That’s why Bush, in his speech, mentioned prosecuting torture, but not cruel and unusual punishment. That’s why they are so averse to calling waterboarding torture today. They want to relegate it to the lesser standard, and escape prosecution. I think in the end they will fail.
I’ve been told that Congress could rescind those reservations, which so weaken CAT. They should do that immediately. That would be a great way to honor this international document and the spirit of non-tolerance for torture and abuse of any kind.
That’s an odd line for the USG to take, when you think it through. If torture is done as punishment then not only is it cruel and unusual, in the detainee cases it’s also done without a verdict of guilt in a court of law, and therefore punishment without the necessary legal basis. The alternative explanation, that torture is done not with punishment as the main purpose but instead as an incidental aspect of the main purpose of interrogation, besides being disingenuous, isn’t much better as to basis.
little did i know .. in november of ‘08 that i would be voting for george bush’s third term ..
it wouldn’t have changed much if i had .. mc cain’t/palin was indigestible ..
still .. i expected better than what we’re getting ..