In Spain, prosecutors are taking steps toward opening criminal investigations into six Bush-era officials to determine whether they violated international law by authorizing torture at Guantanamo Bay, reports The New York Times. The Spanish prosecutors' case is strong, say the paper's sources—especially as "crusading investigative judge" Baltasar Garzon (famous for issuing an outstanding order for the arrest of Chilean tyrant Augusto Pinochet) is on the case. Bushies under review include former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Justice Dept. lawyer John Yoo, and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. Spain's claim of jurisdiction arises from five Spanish Gitmo prisoners who say they were tortured there. Legal experts note, however, that even if Judge Garzon issues the warrant, it would likely end up being purely symbolic, as the alleged criminals would merely have to remain in the US to avoid arrest. Nevertheless, Judge Garzon's reputation as a high-profile human rights crusader carries on.
For all of Dick Cheney's grumblings about the importance of "enhanced interrogation techniques," there have been few, if any, indications that it's actually produced any decent intelligence. Many intelligence experts and torture victims claim that harsh interrogations leads to false confessions and, according to a report in The Washington Post, their criticisms were accurate in the case of Abu Zubaida, an Al Qaeda member whom the Bush administration ordered waterboarded. While officials say the detainee produced useful, though mostly already known, intelligence before being tortured, after harsher interrogations he detailed a variety of terrorist plots that investigations failed to corroborate. In one case, his testimony led to the arrest of Jose Padilla, an American citizen held for more than three years by the military, accused plotting to detonate a WMD. He was never charged over the allegations, which proved dubious despite the spectacle surrounding his arrest.
Thomas R. Pickering, co-chairman of the International Crisis Group, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992 and William S. Sessions, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations from 1987 to 1993 suggest that America needs President Obama to name a nonpartisan commission to investigate the post-Sept. 11 policies and actions regarding the detention, treatment and transfer of security detainees. The mandate of this commission would not be to conduct a criminal investigation; that is the job of our criminal justice system. Rather, this commission would serve the vital purpose of presenting a full picture of policies and actions that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks. We must understand how we got where we are today to ensure that we correct our past mistakes and change our policies going forward.
The issue reminds me of a quote from Albus Dumbledore, penned by J. K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels. "It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" Silverlady says, "All things in time".
No comments:
Post a Comment