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AP: Obama Team Debating Violating UN Convention On Torture
TalkLeft —
... As Glenn Greenwald points out, such a "loophole" would constitute a violation of the UN Convention on Torture, codified as a crime under US law: ...
Extenuating Circumstances
TalkLeft —
In the post I reference below, Glenn Greenwald updates: While those who argue that the U.S. was right to torture because it's the U.S. that did it are expressing a repugnant form of exceptionalism, at least they're being honest -- far more so than those who argue that Bush officials shouldn't be investigated or prosecuted while paying deceitful lip service to "the rule of law" and the idea that "no one is above the law." True enough, but the argument, while honest, still undermines the idea of an international treaty to prohibit torture. ...
Instahoglets Sunday
Newshoggers.com —
... the spin doesn't work - National Press Club turns off microphones of reporters questioning Israeli foreign miniter.
- Mookie al-Sadr and his movement still aren't dead despite dozens of premature obituaries written by rightwing fans of the occupation. And while David Ignatius tries to put lipstick on a pig, Ryan Crocker knows a US victory worth the name isn't attainable in Iraq: "Not this year, not in five years, maybe not in 10 years."
- It's simple. Binding US law requires prosecution for those who authorize torture. Those who have the power ...
AP: Obama Team Debating Violating UN Convention On Torture
Crooks and Liars —
... As Glenn Greenwald points out, such a "loophole" would constitute a violation of the UN Convention on Torture, codified as a crime under US law. ...
Binding U.S. Law and Political Convenience
Comments from Left Field —
... lawyer because apparently it is ideologically inconvenient for you to support the enforcement of laws you don’t like — but I can’t truthfully say that, can I? You have a law degree; you passed the bar exams; and you teach at the University of Chicago Law School — so in point of fact, you actually are a lawyer.
But you’re not a good lawyer.
Much more on this from Glenn Greenwald.
Hat tip to Memeorandum.
A New World?
N/A —
... for the new guy in office. A loophole is another name for a blackhole. The Heretik has never understood how civilization is saved by amoral means. When a Just War descends to just war and whatever it takes, then we are being taken for a ride down the slippery slope to hell. Holding people in high office ...
1/19: Pelosi Makes Waves
Blogometer —
... , lefty bloggers have been putting a lot of pressure on the incoming Barack Obama admin. to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by Bush officials. Conservative bloggers, meanwhile, are blasting Pelosi's comments, ...
Biden Wrote Bill Implementing Torture Treaty
Open Left - Front Page —
Good evening. Greenwald was discussing the domestic applicability of the UN Convention Against Torture on the Bush administration. The convention, which Reagan signed and presented to the Senate in 1988 and was ratified in 1990 (Yes, once upon a time Republicans opposed torture! St. Reagan no less. Though I read somewhere he had loaded it down with reservations that probably gutted any real utility of the thing, but I disgress).
I mention this because it turns out the Senate, in ratifying the treaty, explicitly declared that sections 1-14 of the ...
Frank Naif: Intelligence Investigations Should Target Top Deciders
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... in the days before the Obama inauguration that Guantanamo detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani had been tortured and thus could not be tried by the military commission. With this admission, Federal prosecutors may now be required to pursue criminal charges of torture, adding judicial pressure for shining light on harsh counterterrorism practices, according to variety of legal and official sources described by salon.com's Glenn Greenwald. ...
Embracing the Two-Tiered Justice System
Suburban Guerrilla —
Glenn Greenwald on “moving on”:
Under all circumstances, arguing that high political officials should be immunized from prosecution when they commit felonies such as illegal eavesdropping and torture would be both destructive and wrong [not to mention, in the case of the latter crimes, a clear violation of a treaty which the U.S. (under Ronald Reagan) signed and thereafter ratified]. But what makes it so much worse, so much more corrupted, is the fact that this “ignore-the-past-and-forget-retribution” rationale is invoked by our media elites only for a tiny, special class of people — our political ...
Glenn Greenwald on the Two-Tiered Justice System
Crooks and Liars —
Glenn Greenwald on "moving on":
Under all circumstances, arguing that high political officials should be immunized from prosecution when they commit felonies such as illegal eavesdropping and torture would be both destructive and wrong [not to mention, in the case of the latter crimes, a clear violation of a treaty which the U.S. (under Ronald Reagan) signed and thereafter ratified]. But what makes it so much worse, so much more corrupted, is the fact that this "ignore-the-past-and-forget-retribution" rationale is invoked by our media elites only for a tiny, special class of people -- our political leaders -- while the ...
The Holder Trial Balloon: Abu Ghraib Redux
Commondreams.org Views —
Yesterday, I treated this new Newsweek report that Eric Holder is "leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices" as something to celebrate. But new facts about what that investigation would entail and, more importantly, would exclude -- facts added by today's Washington Post -- strongly suggest it's the opposite. At least if that article is to be believed -- and it seems clear that Holder dispatched his allies to leak his plans in order to gauge reaction -- the investigation will only target "rogue" CIA interrogators who exceeded the limits of what John ...
British Foreign Secretary: Clinton Threatened to Cut-Off Intelligence-Sharing if Torture Evidence is Disclosed
Commondreams.org Views —
I've written several times before about the amazing quest of Binyam Mohamed -- a British resident released from Guantanamo in February, 2009 after seven years in captivity -- to compel public disclosure of information in the possession of the British Government proving he was tortured while in U.S. custody. At the center of Mohamed's efforts lie the claims of high British government officials that the Obama administration has repeatedly threatened to cut off intelligence-sharing programs with the U.K. if the British High Court discloses information which British intelligence officials learned from the CIA about how Mohamed was tortured. New ...
