This is what you need to know: virtually choreographing “interrogation sessions” or, in other words, “micromanaging torture” is an illegal agreement to violate the laws against torture — a conspiracy. There is a specific statute found at 18 USC 2340A(c) — it covers conspiracy to commit torture. Those convicted of torture conspiracy face life sentences.

Bush and his Republican supporters in Congress fiddled with the effective dates of the War Crimes Act, sought to redefine terms in the Geneva Conventions, and tried to give legal defenses to the hands-on torturers with the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. But they never succeeded in amending the anti-torture statutes found at 18 USC 2340 and 18 USC 2340A.

Sure, Bush tried to redefine the meaning of torture with John Yoo’s memos from the Office of Legal Counsel. But those memos could not trump explicit, black letter anti-torture statutes saying something contradictory — no matter how many lawyerly-looking pages Yoo wrote. And nobody believes John Yoo’s memos were good law at this late date. Bush, et al, are left naked against the anti-torture statutes.

A prosecutor has discretion to choose under which statute to charge a defendant. It doesn’t have to be the neutered War Crimes Act or the definitially “tweaked” Geneva Conventions. It can be the pristine anti-torture statutes found at 18 USC 2340 and 18 USC 2340A.

Nick, I really do hope you’re sending this same message out to the people who can do something about it. I’m going to….

You might want to go to usdoj dot gov and do a search on 18 usc 2340. It’s a TON of legalese written in 2004 that seems to rebutt 2340 and 2340a. It also refutes a memorandum from the same office in 2002. Readjusting?

What’s truly alarming is the whole notion of ethics and humanity are totally ignored. It’s become a debate about just how painful some activity is before it can be called torture.

And who judges that? Why, the torturer, of course.

What’s even more insidious is that the recipients of this torture have NOT been found guilty of any crime. They’re ’suspected’ of having knowledge that ‘we’ want. We WANT it, so any means in acquiring it is legitimate, irrespective of the validity of the information.

Methinks it’s more a form of punishment than information gathering.

And these are just SOME of the details we know about. I shudder to think of the things we’ve yet to learn about Spurious George and friends. When will SOMEBODY with the authority begin investigating these thugs? Our inaction conveys complicity. Not only have these rouges decimated our Constitution and credibility as a nation, they’ve done so in a way that suggest we, the American people, agree with such policies, and jeopardizes the safety and welfare of Americans at home and abroad. Can’t anyone in the international community do anything, or are their powers useless against our “hegemony?”
It’s time to realize who the REAL terrorists are!