The Torturers’ Manifesto

I posted yesterday on the issue of the "torture memos" issued by the Office of Legal Counsel that were used by Bush/Cheney to authorize torture. I also stated that I was disappointed that Barack Obama was issuing a pass the CIA operatives who may have engaged in torture of captives. One reader disagreed and stated as follows:

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An American soldier gets training in lawful conduct in war (or does he?) and is empowered to disobey an unlawful order. But if the chief lawyer of the USA looks at the question, and advises the forces (however wrongly) that their acts are legal, should the Nürnberg defense apply? Many would argue that it should.

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I concede that in some cases judgment calls must be made. Nonetheless, I suspect that there were cases where the individual inflicting the torture knew in his/her gut that what they were doing was horribly wrong. I still feel that a blanket pass is a mistake. As for those who authored the memos in order that illegal and immoral acts could be done under the cover of being "lawful," the authors need to be prosecuted and if attorneys disbarred from ever practicing law again in any capacity. In the case of Jay Bybee, he clearly needs to be removed from the federal bench and disbarred as well. Perhaps I am an idealist, but I believe that the USA should hold itself to a higher standard even if we have not always done so in the past. Here are some highlights from the New York Times editorial on the memos and their authors:

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To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity. Their language is the precise bureaucratese favored by dungeon masters throughout history. They detail how to fashion a collar for slamming a prisoner against a wall, exactly how many days he can be kept without sleep (11), and what, specifically, he should be told before being locked in a box with an insect — all to stop just short of having a jury decide that these acts violate the laws against torture and abusive treatment of prisoners.

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These memos are not an honest attempt to set the legal limits on interrogations, which was the authors’ statutory obligation. They were written to provide legal immunity for acts that are clearly illegal, immoral and a violation of this country’s most basic values.

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It sounds like the plot of a mob film, except the lawyers asking how much their clients can get away with are from the C.I.A. and the lawyers coaching them on how to commit the abuses are from the Justice Department. And it all played out with the blessing of the defense secretary, the attorney general, the intelligence director and, most likely, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

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[T]his cannot be the end of the scrutiny for these and other decisions by the Bush administration. Until Americans and their leaders fully understand the rules the Bush administration concocted to justify such abuses — and who set the rules and who approved them — there is no hope of fixing a profoundly broken system of justice and ensuring that that these acts are never repeated.

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[A]s far as Mr. Bush’s lawyers were concerned, it was not really torture unless it involved breaking bones, burning flesh or pulling teeth. That, Mr. Bybee kept noting, was what the Libyan secret police did to one prisoner. The standard for American behavior should be a lot higher than that of the Libyan secret police.

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[President Obama] has an obligation to pursue what is clear evidence of a government policy sanctioning the torture and abuse of prisoners — in violation of international law and the Constitution. That investigation should start with the lawyers who wrote these sickening memos, including John Yoo, who now teaches law in California; Steven Bradbury, who was job-hunting when we last heard; and Mr. Bybee, who holds the lifetime seat on the federal appeals court that Mr. Bush rewarded him with. These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him.

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Again what is striking is that those who have most supported Bush/Cheney and their lawlessness have been self-professed Christians who more than anyone should abhor such conduct. I'd also note that far too many Republican appointees to the bench - both at the state and federal level - have a mindset not all that different from Bybee's when it comes to not rendering justice to those against whom they are prejudiced.