Cheating Justice by Elizabeth Holtzman

Author:Elizabeth Holtzman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780807003220
Publisher: Beacon Press

Defense #1 against Prosecution under the “Anti-Torture” Law: The President and His Team Made Only Policy Decisions; They Didn’t Personally Hurt Anyone Physically or Mentally

The president’s office blamed a “few bad apples” in low-level positions for the abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison. In fact, the orchard, the barrel, and the shipping container were all rotten, and it was the president and his team who were the overseers and the planners. Those who set the torture policy are culpable for the actions that followed.

Historically, where torture has been used, the top leaders, whether civilian or military, bear responsibility. The United States executed Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita, head of the Japanese armies in the Philippines during World War II, for the brutal treatment of prisoners of war and civilians caused by his troops. Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Serbia, was charged internationally with permitting atrocities (he died in prison before the completion of the proceedings). Far from being exempted from the laws as the commander in chief (as the Yoo/Bybee torture memos absurdly tried to assert), the president as well as others at the top of the chain of command are responsible for ensuring that the laws against torture are scrupulously followed.

In this case, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and their lawyers and advisors were deeply involved in planning and implementing the torture protocols and the use of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. They engaged in a conspiracy that spread across departments and agencies of the government, that went from the top down, and they cannot defend themselves by asserting that they did not personally engage in “walling” individuals or shackling them in painful positions.

The president, vice president, and cabinet members are responsible for their own personal participation in authorizing torture and for their conspiracy to commit torture; this defense will not succeed.

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