[Peace-discuss] Calls Grow to Prosecute Former US Officials for CIA Torture

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

Calls Grow to Prosecute Former US Officials for CIA Torture 

Description: George Bush and Dick Cheney.

George Bush and Dick Cheney. | Photo: Reuters

Published 23 December 2014 (20 hours 41 minutes ago) 

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Times have demanded a
government investigation into officials who authorized torture. 

The ACLU presented a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Monday
demanding an investigation into those responsible for the
<http://telesurtv.net/english/telesuragenda/CIA-Torture-20141209-0026.html>
CIA's torture tactics.

Recent revelations about CIA torture under former President George W. Bush
and former Vice President Dick Cheney between 2001-2009 have put the two
figures under increased scrutiny.

The ACLU asked to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate what they
consider "a vast criminal conspiracy . of committing torture and other
serious crimes." Similarly, the New York Times also called for the
prosecution of Bush and Cheney in an editorial published Monday.

Other U.S. officials that find themselves embroiled in the U.S. torture
scandal include: Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington; former CIA
director George Tenet; as well as John Yoo and Jay Bybee, lawyers for the
Legal Council Office who are know to have written the torture memos. The New
York Times also asked that CIA official Jose Rodriguez, who ordered the
destruction of videotapes documenting CIA torture, be investigated as well.

The ACLU and the Times have both demanded that torture methods such as
rectal feeding, waterboarding, detainees hung by their wrists, forced
confinement in coffins, among other methods, be investigated by the
government.

"These simply are crimes. They are prohibited by federal law that defines
torture as the intentional infliction of 'severe physical or mental pain or
suffering.' They are also prohibited by the Convention Against Torture, an
international treaty that the United States ratified in 1994 and that
requires prosecution for all acts of torture," detailed the editorial.

 

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