This article examines the use of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ in the context of international legal obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984 (CAT) and the domestic implementation of the international prohibition of torture into United States (US) law under 18 United States Code Sections 2340-2340A. The legal basis for the interrogation programme was a series of contentious legal memoranda written by Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel lawyers.1 This article examines whether the memo drafters ought to be investigated for incurring criminal liability for the consequences of their memoranda, namely under CAT and Sections 2340-2340A and what has unfolded under President Obama’s administration.
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M Danner, ‘US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites’, The New York Review of Books, 9 April 2009, reporting that Cofer Black, formerly head of the CIA Counterterrorism Center, testified before Senate Intelligence Committee: ‘All I want to say is that there was “before” 9/11 and “after” 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves came off[,]’, available at: <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/apr/09/us-torture-voices-from-the-black-sites/?pagination=false.
A Lowrey, ‘The Torture Timeline’, Foreign Policy, 23 April, 2009, available at <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/04/22/the_torture_timeline>, 1.
T Hegghammer, ‘Irreparable damage’, Foreign Policy, 4 May 3009, available at: <http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/04/irreparable_damage>.
See, for example, A Rubin, ‘UN finds systematic torture in Afghanistan’, New York Times, 10 October 2011, available at <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/world/asia/un-report-finds-routine-abuse-of-afghan-detainees.html?ref=global-home>.
See E Lichtblau and E Schmitt, ‘US Widens Inquiries into 2 Jail deaths’, New York Times, 30 June 2011, available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/us/politics/01DETAIN.html?pagewanted=1>.
A Cassese, International Criminal Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), at 152.
J Rogin, ‘Cheney: We Waterboard US Soldiers, so it’s not torture’, Foreign Policy, 9 September 2011, available at:<http:/thecableforeignpolicycom/posts/2011/09/09/cheney_we_waterboarded_us_soldiers_so_it_s_not_torture>.
Ibid. See also D Johnston, ‘At a Secret Interrogation, Dispute Flared Over Tactics’ New York Times, 10 September 2006, available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/washington/10detain.html>.
Ibid. Canfield, supra n. 13, at 1058.
Canfield, supra n. 13, at 1063.
CAT Article 1(1) and Section 2340.
Canfield, supra n. 13, at 1075.
See Alien Tort Claims Act 1789.
Canfield, supra n. 13, at 1081. See also CNIC//Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, available at: <http://www.cnic.navy.mil/guantanamo/index.htm>. See also ‘Cuba demands US gives back Guantanamo Bay’, Herald Sun, 14 February 2008, available at: <http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/cuba-wants-guantanamo-back/story-e6frf7lf-1111115549551>. Cuba’s Foreign Minister as of 2008, Felipe Perez Roque, apparently fed up with US treatment of detainees in the war on terror, demanded closure of Guantanamo Bay, due to ‘the violation of human rights, unjust incarceration of prisoners held there without charges, and their appearances in courts without guarantees and in which they are convicted in advance[.]’ However, the status of the lease is questionable, as Fidel Castro’s government has not accepted money for the least, USD5000 a year, since he assumed power in 1960. Ibid.
V Iacopino, ‘A Memo on Torture to John Yoo’, The Guardian, 21 June 2011, available at: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/02/john-yoo-torture-waterboarding>.
Canfield, supra n. 13, at 1052.
Canfield, supra n. 13, at 1052.
18 US Code Section 2340.
J Yager, ‘DoD capital charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’, The Hill, 31 May 2011, available at: <http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/164041-dod-files-capital-charges-against-khalid-sheikh-mohammed>.
S Stein, “Justice Department Report Accuses Torture Memo Writers of ‘Poor Judgment’”, The Huffington Post, 21 April 2010, available at: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/justice-department-report_n_469608.html> (last accessed 30 April 2013). Instead of being referred to state bar associations, David Margolis chose to describe their conduct as an exercise of ‘poor judgment’. See M Isikoff, ‘Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to be [“]Massacred[“]”, Newsweek, 19 February 2010, available at: <http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/declassified/2010/02/19/report-bush-lawyer-said-president-could-order-civilians-to-be-massacred.html; ‘Investigation into the Office of Legal Counsel’s Memoranda Concerning Issues Relating to the Central Intelligence Agency’s Use of “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” on Suspected Terrorists’ (Investigation into OLC), Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, 29 July 2009, available at: <http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/OPRFinalReport090729.pdf.>.
D Rothkopf, ‘Are we capable of conducting a moral foreign policy?’ Foreign Policy, 11 October 2011, available at: <http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/10/11/is_america_incapable_of_conducting_a_moral_foreign_policy>.
AJ Rubin, ‘UN finds systematic torture in Afghanistan’ New York Times, 11 October 2011, available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/world/asia/un-report-finds-routine-abuse-of-afghan-detainees.html?ref=global-home.>, 1. UN Report ‘Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghan Custody’, available at: <http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/Documents/October10_%202011_UNAMA_Detention_Full-Report_ENG.pdf>, 1.
Parry, supra. n. 22 at 1003, 1056.
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This article examines the use of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ in the context of international legal obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984 (CAT) and the domestic implementation of the international prohibition of torture into United States (US) law under 18 United States Code Sections 2340-2340A. The legal basis for the interrogation programme was a series of contentious legal memoranda written by Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel lawyers.1 This article examines whether the memo drafters ought to be investigated for incurring criminal liability for the consequences of their memoranda, namely under CAT and Sections 2340-2340A and what has unfolded under President Obama’s administration.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 254 | 41 | 7 |
Full Text Views | 127 | 3 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 61 | 2 | 0 |