Seeking Justice, Part I

I mentioned this the other day, but I think I was too hasty about it. The bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report on detainee treatment is a bombshell. Here we have the US Senate stating very plainly that members of the Administration, all the way to the very top, committed war crimes by directing interrogators in the field to use torture. They reverse-engineered techniques used to teach American soldiers how to resist torture, and turned them on the detainees captured in Iraq and Afghanistan, in violation of US and international law.

The Committee concluded that the authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques by senior officials was both a direct cause of detainee abuse and conveyed the message that it was okay to mistreat and degrade detainees in U.S. custody.

Chairman Levin said, “SERE training techniques were designed to give our troops a taste of what they might be subjected to if captured by a ruthless, lawless enemy so that they would be better prepared to resist. The techniques were never intended to be used against detainees in U.S. custody.”

Senator McCain said, “The Committee’s report details the inexcusable link between abusive interrogation techniques used by our enemies who ignored the Geneva Conventions and interrogation policy for detainees in U.S. custody. These policies are wrong and must never be repeated.”

Chairman Levin also said: “The abuses at Abu Ghraib, GTMO and elsewhere cannot be chalked up to the actions of a few bad apples. Attempts by senior officials to pass the buck to low ranking soldiers while avoiding any responsibility for abuses are unconscionable. The message from top officials was clear; it was acceptable to use degrading and abusive techniques against detainees. Our investigation is an effort to set the record straight on this chapter in our history that has so damaged both America’s standing and our security. America needs to own up to its mistakes so that we can rebuild some of the good will that we have lost.”

If you've been paying attention for the past several years, none of this is new. There have been many books written on the subject, loads of documentary evidence from those tortured. But never has a body as esteemed as the US Senate pointed the finger right at the White House. We're talking about the President, the Vice President, the chief counsel, the Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, all guilty, going back to a February 2002 order when the President signed an authorization claiming that the Geneva Conventions didn't apply to members of Al Qaeda, which has since been rejected by the Supreme Court. That they based their authorization on warped legal theories is immaterial, in my view. Just because you are told that you're allowed to break the law doesn't men you're absolved from blame when you do so.

There is a legal case with which this report can be put to use. Yesterday the Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court to make a decision in the case of four British Muslims who were detained at Guantanamo and tortured.

The former prisoners are attempting to hold top Pentagon officials responsible for the abuse, including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The lawsuit was thrown out last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, which concluded that the Guantanamo prisoners had no rights under the Constitution because they were foreigners held by the military.

In a one-line order Monday, the justices set aside the appeals court's decision and ordered the judges to take a new look at the case.

There are many dedicated lawyers who are not going to stop advocating for holding the Bush Administration responsible. They will be filing motions and seeking arrests in civil and criminal court for the rest of George Bush's life, for the rest of Dick Cheney's life, for the rest of Don Rumsfeld's life. They believe in the rule of law and reject the idea that anyone is above it.

They are seeking justice because they believe in the Constitution.