VIENNA, April 18, 2009
U.N. Official: No Pass For Torturers
Despite Obama's Decision To Give CIA Immunity, Investigator Says U.S. Is Bound By Int'l Law To Prosecute
On Thursday, Obama absolved CIA officers from prosecution for harsh, painful interrogation of terror suspects under the former Bush administration.
The announcement was met with disappointment from human rights groups and former detainees who condemned such methods as torture.
In a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press, Manfred Nowak, an Austrian who serves as a U.N. special rapporteur in Geneva, said the United States had committed itself under the U.N. Convention against Torture to make torture a crime and to prosecute those suspected of engaging in it.
"They are party to the convention and the convention is very, very clear," Nowak said when asked to confirm comments contained in an interview he gave Austria's Der Standard newspaper. "The fact that you carried out an order doesn't relieve you of your responsibility," he said, adding it could be a mitigating factor.
Nowak, who said he would soon travel to Washington for meetings with officials, also called for a comprehensive independent investigation into the matter and added it was important to compensate the victims.
Quote
"Now we need to know all the facts - not just bits and pieces," Nowak said. "First you need the truth, and then you need justice."
First you need the truth, and then you need justice.
Manfred Nowak, U.N. special rapporteurThe Obama administration on Thursday also released secret CIA memos detailing interrogation tactics sanctioned under Bush.
The memos authorized keeping detainees naked, in painful standing positions and in cold cells for long periods of time. Other techniques included depriving them of solid food and slapping them. Sleep deprivation, prolonged shackling and threats to a detainee's family also were used.
For more info:
By Associated Press Writer Veronika Oleksyn
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From 100 Days
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 7
- next
See all 123 CommentsThe previous Bush Administration cannot sidestep treaty obligations that the International Red Cross has clearly reported violations thereof for several years. Claiming the incarcerated or detained during wartime as neither POWs or giving those individuals a civilian status pretty much has closed the argument regarding war crimes since the revelations of torture were clearly dictated from the top and implemented.
There is no justice in this and the sound of the rule of law versus dictatorships....is hollow coming from the United States which has had its first INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMINALS Administration. The Obama executive order is NIL in the face of a united International community...NOT THE UN...but the EU and NATO nations that clearly recognized the violations of the Geneva Conventions...these are our allies..and this is
not a dictatorship where President Obama can just say...NO. There must be accountability even for the treatment of heinous criminals...and casts a shadow over the CIA and military interrogations which went BADLY...I.E. DEATH in Afghanistan during the months that followed the Afghanistan invasion......
There are no UN commissions to prosecute war criminals. This is strictly a legal issue between the US and most of the EU....Dick Cheney, Albert Gonzalez, and George W. Bush along with other members of that administration that have clear authority in those areas with the military and the CIA....for the renditions and torture...are accountable and can be apprehended and secreted away for trial at the Hague even if the US is unwilling.
Just watch.....even with a reluctant signator to the Geneva Conventions....which the Obama Administration is now claiming to be exempt....I am sure the capable EU and NATO nations can manage to snatch a few war criminal suspects....
Posted by vistavermin1 at 5:54 AM : Apr 19, 2009
Post of the day, best joke ever.
Posted by enjoylife63 at 6:17 AM : Apr 19, 2009
Obama, unlike Bush, has been elected.
Posted by wtlibs at 11:00 PM : Apr 19, 2009 "
Actually, we did. It was called "Nuremberg trial".
Posted by dw8928 at 10:01 AM : Apr 19, 2009 "
You left out waterboarding ... 6 times a day. How efficient it must have been.
Posted by hungryman9
Although your entire post is seriously flawed, your reference to the possibility of Sarah Palin getting elected to ANYTHING outside of the welfare state of Alaska is hilarious!
ROFLMAO!!
Obama should not have stepped in...he should just sit back and watch the fireworks unload.
The international law is clear on the subject of torture. We had no business torturing anyone since we are a party to the international laws that govern the free world
Posted by netjunkie1
I agree let the justice system take care of it and Obama say I will leave it up to our justice dept to see what crimes have been committed, trouble is Obama was elected for 4 yrs and by the time this investigation is over it may be a long long way down the road. Again you have the right wing, you have the left wing, you have the moderates and independents and all have a opinion and nay the truth will be found just excuses and round a bouts lets face it
This threatens to tear our nation apart.
What an incredibly horrible leader Bush was! Not only did he cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Americans, destroy the world economy and alienate our allies, but his crimes could very well cause serious problems here at home.
Obama should not have stepped in...he should just sit back and watch the fireworks unload.
The international law is clear on the subject of torture. We had no business torturing anyone since we are a party to the international laws that govern the free world
Posted by netjunkie1
Obama is now in league with Bush/Cheney. Who would have thought that on Jan 20?
Posted by opedanderson
Again, I would suggest to you both that the top advisers around the current president are very sharp. With all the stirrings from the far right fueled by racism and just simple stupidity (teabag parties, etc.) it is reasonable to assume that the administration laid the groundwork with the UN officials to pick up the ball prior to any release of memos or statements relating to the issue. Any prosecution of the Bush/Cheney crime cartel would need to be handled by a third party. Otherwise we would be opening ourselves up to any number and assortment of right wing mischief.
Obama is playing it smart IMO. It's little wonder the former Bush administration officials are panicked and the 23% who supported Bush until the end of his miserable presidency outraged.
Does anyone know for what reason we bombed Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people? Was there a reason for that? Sadam killed some Kurds?
Didn't we? Aren't we letting Turkey wipe out the Kurds in northern Iraq now? On a scale Sadam would have never dreamed of?
What we have turned into, is not good.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 7
- next
See all 123 Comments