Coalition of human rights groups call for panel to probe alleged torture under Bush

John Byrne
Raw Story
Friday, Feb 20, 2009

The pressure on President Barack Obama to investigate alleged abuses under the presidency of George W. Bush is growing.

On Thursday, a coalition of human rights groups, including an organization at the New York University School of Law, called for Obama to establish a non-partisan independent commission to probe allegations of torture in the wake of wholesale roundup of terror suspects following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The announcement came from the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the NYU School of Law. The Center is part of a group of non-governmental organizations who joined to issue a group statement calling for a commission “to examine policies and actions related to the detention, treatment, and transfer of detainees after 9/11.”

In addition, the Center asked Obama to begin prosecutions of those accused of abusing detainees. Such prosecution seems to be unlikely, since Obama’s nominee for CIA director said during his confirmation hearings that CIA employees accused of harsh interrogations would not be targeted.

“Independently of the collective statement, CHRGJ supports efforts to immediately begin investigations into criminal conduct alongside other accountability mechanisms, which should include reparations for victims and other measures to restore justice,” the Center said in a release. “As the new administration deals with the legacy of the Bush administration, the Center believes a commission is necessary — but not a substitute — for criminal investigations and prosecution of secret detention, extraordinary rendition, and coercive interrogation practices.”

The Center was part of a coalition of human rights groups that obtained Pentagon documents proving that detainees were tortured to death.

The American Civil Liberties Union released two pages of a Defense Department document concerning the deaths of two prisoners at an Afghan air base last week.

“In both cases, for example, [prisoners] were handcuffed to fixed objects above their heads in order to keep them awake,” they wrote. “Additionally, interrogations in both incidents involved the use of physical violence, including kicking, beating, and the use of ‘compliance blows’ which involved striking the [prisoners] legs with the [interrogators] knees. In both cases, blunt force trauma to the legs was implicated in the deaths. In one case, a pulmonary embolism developed as a consequence of the blunt force trauma, and in the other case pre-existing coronary artery disease was complicated by the blunt force trauma.”

“Victims don’t stop being victims and criminal acts are not simply absolved just because the United States has a new President,” Jayne Huckerby, Research Director of the New York University center, said in the Thursday release. “The victims and the public deserve to know the truth about what was done in the name of U.S. national security and those responsible must face justice. We need the new administration to make good on its promise of a return to human rights standards and accountability, not to engage in willful amnesia.”

Huckerby’s group, which represents two former CIA ‘black site’ detainees, seems critical of Obama’s approach not to formally investigate the previous Administration’s policies and practices.

“Although the new administration has taken steps to close its ‘black site’ prisons and Guantánamo Bay detention facilities, and has indicated it would ban the practices of extraordinary rendition and torture, it has failed to address questions of criminal responsibility and has made no mention of redress for victims,” the group said. “The organization believes that a commission of inquiry is only one of several components required to make a real break with abusive policies and practices of the past.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) recently called for a “Truth Commission” to investigate alleged Bush Administration abuses, but the Obama Administration seemed cool to his proposal, and the senator has not yet introduced a bill to create the panel.

The Center released a bullet point list of their raison d’etre for torture probes and prosecutions, which follow.
* The American public has a right to know what violations were committed in the name of defending its “national security” and to see justice done. Public demand for the truth is growing by the day and evidence about past abuses continues to mount, yet there are still more questions than answers about past abuses. Accountability mechanisms assist to identify the victims of abusive policies and what has happened to them; establish responsibility for abuses; propose institutional reforms to ensure abuses do not recur; and can recommend tangible programs of redress for victims.

* Victims have a right to know the truth about what was done to them and to see those responsible held to account. An unknown number of people were subjected to enforced disappearance, countless individuals were tortured, and many were sent to other countries where they were interrogated under torture or other cruel treatment. Those victims and their families have a basic right to the truth and to forms of redress, an apology, and pursuit of criminal justice for those responsible. These rights are unchanged by the fact that the majority of victims are non-U.S. citizens and that a number of crimes were committed overseas.

* International law requires countries to investigate and punish grave crimes. There is abundant evidence in the public domain—including admissions from the U.S. government itself—that violations of United States and international law were committed in connection with U.S. detention, interrogation, and transfer operations. This evidence imposes duties on the U.S. to investigate and punish. A commission of inquiry and other accountability measures such as prosecutions, would play complementary functions to allow the U.S. to fulfill its duties.

* Either prosecutions or a commission, by themselves, would be insufficient. When abuses have been adopted as a matter of policy, criminal prosecutions are necessary but not sufficient. Because criminal prosecutions are aimed at establishing the culpability of individuals, rather than exposing “system crimes,” a broader strategy is needed to augment criminal prosecutions and uncover the workings of an abusive system. A commission of inquiry tasked with evaluating the policies adopted, the systemic failures that led to the adoption and use of such policies, and the human toll of such abuses on victims and perpetrators alike is required.

* There is no reason that criminal prosecutions and a commission of inquiry could not proceed at the same time. Each process has different purposes, but together they can help end a culture of impunity and denial. Where issues of overlap or conflict are likely to arise, forward-looking policies such as the adoption of a conflict-resolution process can ensure that efforts are complementary.