The Red Cross says "torture"
The Red Cross (who does not release their reports, but this one was leaked) says this about the CIA "secret prisons" program.
Within the international legal context, this is extremely significant. An ICRC report with documentation would be a chargeable document in most courts in the world.
We know there was a senior White House group (Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Tenet, and Ashcroft) that met to approve individual "extreme interrogation tactics" in the overt prisons. Is there a clear trail into the White House on this?
Maybe Bush, Cheney, et al, won't be traveling overseas to "replenish the ol coffers" after all.
(We don't know the provenance of the leak. Do we guess somebody coming in with the Obama administration? Or maybe a careerist no longer concerned about Bush retribution?)
"The ill-treatment to which they were subjected while held in the CIA program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture,"
Within the international legal context, this is extremely significant. An ICRC report with documentation would be a chargeable document in most courts in the world.
We know there was a senior White House group (Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Tenet, and Ashcroft) that met to approve individual "extreme interrogation tactics" in the overt prisons. Is there a clear trail into the White House on this?
Maybe Bush, Cheney, et al, won't be traveling overseas to "replenish the ol coffers" after all.
(We don't know the provenance of the leak. Do we guess somebody coming in with the Obama administration? Or maybe a careerist no longer concerned about Bush retribution?)
posted by mikevotes at
7:48 AM
4 Comments:
This is only significant if other governments (or the American people) actually do something about it. Otherwise it's merely cocktail party trivia. I'm betting no one does anything... the world will just fan itself in shock -- shock I tell you -- that such things went on.
I've lost faith in justice being done.
By
-epm, at 8:33 AM
I understand, and that's not a bad bet. But, it's out there, and it does represent something of a threat.
A past example might be kissinger who, although never prosecuted, still will not travel to certain European countries out of fear.
By
mikevotes, at 10:38 AM
I'm guessing.... the latter.
By
Praguetwin, at 4:36 PM
Same.
By
mikevotes, at 6:00 PM
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