Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
08 December 2010
Are Former U.S.
Leaders War Criminals?
The Geneva Conventions expressly forbid the
torturing of prisoners of war, so should
U.S. officials be brought to account over the issue?
On September 20, 2009, BBC News reported that “President Obama has rejected a request by seven former heads of the Central Intelligence Agency to end the inquiry into allegations of abuse of suspects held by the agency.”
Mr. Obama said on the CBS television program Face the Nation that, “Nobody’s above the law.”
Torture of Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay
During U.S. President George W. Bush’s so-
Terror, several hundred suspected
terrorists were captured and held in a prison at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba (left).
To get around Geneva Convention protections accorded to prisoners of war, the Bush administration insisted the people they captured and held were not legitimate military personnel, they were “enemy combatants.”
By using this description the claim was made that the prisoners fell outside the coverage of international legal instruments requiring that prisoners of war be treated humanely.
Under cover of this semantic fig-
Is Enhanced Interrogation Torture?
One of the techniques favoured by CIA operatives was waterboarding.
Waterboarding was described by ABC News (November 2005): “The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised, and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.”
ABC News quoted John Sifton of Human Rights Watch as saying that waterboarding makes the person believe “they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law.”
The BBC’s Panorama program Licence to Torture (July 2009) sums up the defence offered by the Bush administration. “America’s leaders say they only authorized the controversial techniques because their lawyers advised that they did not constitute torture.”
Where Did the Orders for Torture Come from?
Aside from the questionable morality of even allowing torture to take place, it is illegal under American law, never mind international covenants.
Helen Thomas, then dean of the Washington press corps, thinks she knows who ordered
the torture of prisoners. Writing for Hearst Newspapers (September 2009), Ms. Thomas
says, “It’s fair speculation that the orders for this method of torture came from
on high. And in the Bush-
No Attacks since 9/11
Dick Cheney (above left with George W. Bush) has become a vigorous defender of the
actions taken by the Bush administration, and according to The Christian Science
Monitor (August 2009), “he may not cooperate with” Attorney General Eric Holder’s
investigation into CIA torture.
During an interview with Fox News (August 2009), Cheney said there was no point to talking to inquiry counsel: “I’m very proud of what we did in terms of defending the nation for the past eight years, successfully,” Cheney said in the recorded interview. “And it won’t take a prosecutor to find out what I think. I’ve already expressed those views.”
Helen Thomas says it’s unlikely either Bush or Cheney will suffer penalties over their actions, “only lower ranking folks will catch flak,” she writes.
Image credit
Publik15
Bill Owen
Sources
“Obama Refuses to Halt CIA Probe.” BBC News, September 20, 2009.
“CIA’s Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described.” Brian Ross and Richard Esposito, ABC News, November 18, 2005.
“Did America Break its Torture Law?” Hilary Andersson, BBC News, July 13, 2009.
“Cheney Opposes Enquiry into CIA Torture.” Helen Thomas, Hearst Newspapers, September 2, 2009.
“Cheney: ‘I’m Very Proud of What we Did.’ ” John Amick, Washington Post, August 30, 2009
© Canada and the World, December 2010
All rights reserved
“I don’t think there is any question, any serious question. I mean it’s a question
of severity. If you think that waterboarding is not severe mistreatment you don’t
really know what waterboarding is.”
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez responding
to the question “Is waterboarding torture?” asked by ABC TV (Australia) host Mark
Colvin, November 12, 2010.
“Former President George W. Bush, in his new memoir and in various interviews accompanying its release, shows no trace of regret for having authorized the use of torture, why he continues to cling to the idea that such illegal acts became magically legal simply because a few lawyers who were seeking to curry favour with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney said it was.”
November 15, 2010