Jameel Jaffer: Any Fair Investigation Has to be Broad Enough to Encompass Senior Officials Who Authorized Torture
By Heather Monday Aug 31, 2009 12:04pm
The ACLU's Jameel Jaffer does a great job here and explains what needs to happen in regard to torture prosecutions:
Jaffer: I disagree with former Vice-President Dick Cheney about the investigation. I think the problem with the investigation is, it's not the existence of the investigation but the scope of the investigation. The problem with it is that it's focused right now at least on interrogators who exceeded their authority. And I don't have any problem with prosecuting and investigating interrogators who exceeded their authority.
But any fair investigation has to be broad enough to encompass not just those interrogators but also the senior officials who authorized torture and the lawyers who facilitated torture. And among the senior officials, who I think are most responsible for putting this torture program into place is former Vice-President Cheney. And so I don't think it's a big surprise, certainly not a big surprise to me that former Vice-President Cheney is opposed to any investigations.
So what do we get in response in this segment. Author Joseph Finder repeating the right wing talking point I aleady addressed in this post, and Jamie Rubin saying we should white wash the whole thing and "decriminalize the whole process". Yeah, that will get these guys to come clean about what happened. All the facts will come out if we give them immunity from criminal prosecutions. Riiiggghhhttt.
Login or Register to post comments.
Decriminalizing the whole thing would be terrible for US reputation anywhere, foreign and among informed Americans themselves.
The only way to justifiably "decriminalize" things like this is if the victims get to have a say in that, just like with the truth commissions in South Africa.
This chenny defender need a little trip to gitmo just to get his head right. He is still sounding like a lying republican scumbag!
republicanism is a mental illness!
Just another paid bush backer! Bought and paid for by the bush/chenny cabal. If they decriminalize this we should burn washington to the ground! What a god damned stupid idea!
I hate these lying cowards every fucking one of them.
republicanism is a mental illness!!!!!
rueben is an A-hole apologist, and no doubt a member of PNAC, or a wannabe. Let's see you talk decriminalisation when it's YOU and/or YOUR friends and family subject to 'torture as policy' laid out by the highest officials in government.
They KNEW what they were doing, and they knew and KNOW it's wrong, it's a crime on an international level, and this is why the dick and his daughter, the little dick, are making the rounds, denying the horribleness of what dick cheney was all gung ho for-TORTURE.
I'd like to see him turned over to the world court, where he'll get a very fair trial -- much fairer than the illegally detained human beings/torture recipients in Gitmo. Oh wait. They've never RECEIVED trials have they. Hmmm, indefinite detention equals what? Torture, or cruel and unusual punishment?
Login or Register to post comments.