By Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein
Nader.org
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to urge you to avoid the disregard for international legal obligations that condemned your predecessor.
The issue concerns investigating or prosecuting torture.
The United States ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 1994. Article 12 of the CAT provides: “Each State Party shall ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction.”
Former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Richard Cheney have both openly conceded that they authorized waterboarding on at least three prisoners. Among others, Attorney General-designate Eric Holder has characterized waterboarding as torture. Susan J. Crawford, a military commission leader, also informed Bob Woodward of The Washington Post: “We [the United States] tortured [Mohammed al-Qahtani].” In addition, there have been several additional credible reports about torture at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and at secret prisons. See Carol D. Leonning, “The Stories of Torture Sounded Made Up. They Weren’t,” Outlook B01, The Washington Post, January 18, 2009.
The federal criminal code punishes torture in accord with the CAT. See 18 U.S.C. 2340A. The United States recently prosecuted and punished the son of Liberia’s Charles Taylor for torture perpetrated in Liberia.
The public record clearly gives reasonable ground to believe Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their subordinates are implicated in torture. Article 12 of the CAT thus requires that your administration conduct a “prompt and impartial investigation” of the individuals and their superiors involved in waterboarding the prisoners and in interrogating Mohammed al-Qahtani. We urge that the investigation be conducted by a nonpartisan special prosecutor appointed by the Attorney General to forestall charges of partisanship. If no investigation is forthcoming, you will have violated Article 12.
During your presidential campaign, you assailed the unilateralism of your predecessor which flouted international obligations or responsibilities. You promised change. You should not imitate former President Bush by defying Article 12 of the CAT.
Sincerely,
Bruce Fein
Ralph Nader
cc. Hillary Clinton
Eric Holder
Posted to IPR by Paulie
6 responses so far ↓
1 LLL3 // Jan 24, 2009 at 11:35 am
I like this letter and its legal citations (as people then can look up the laws for themselves and have an informed opionion). It’s direct with the information that people can refer others to.
Bush and Cheney are required to be held accountable not out of a sense of revenge but for the integrity of our country. The big misstep happened when Nixon got pardoned in the early 70′s. That lack of accountability led not only to a hole in our collective souls, but sowed the seeds that those in power can do anything illegal and be pardoned.
Each time justice is not produced, the next illegal thing will become bigger. So Dean’s conversation with Nixon about their being a “cancer” on the presidency was the right diagnosis (if you will). Because no treatment happened the “cancer” metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body of our government.
President Obama can do the right thing if each of us writes a letter from our hearts. The weight of the world and history is before him. Our intelligent personal thoughts and actions can move him and us forward into a brighter future.
I’ll copy and send this letter to friends as well as to President Obama because it is so well stated and has the legal citations.
If you see the film “Frost-Nixon” we see the full impact of how the Watergate scandal personally hurt Nixon. You can see the core issues of our country in his face, his loneliness and his own sense of grief about the choices he made under his little umbrella of power that was handed to him.
2 COCKROACHEXS // Jan 25, 2009 at 2:18 pm
As usual Mr Ralph Nader is America’s moral compass
Something that is so RARE in these times
Bush destroyed this GREAT COUNTRY in so many ways it is beyond expression
and responsible for so many young people’s death
I CANNOT in any way BLAME Nixon for Governor Bush’s (that is officially the last office for which Bush was elected) time in the White House
President Nixon looks like a good President compared to Bush
Nevertheless Thank you Mr Ralph Nader for your true pure steadfast commitment To the People FOR the People
By the way the film Frost/Nixon even though a decent film is a reenactment NOT a documentary I suggest watching the REAL TAPES if you are inclined to put so much weight and base your conclusions/opinions on a Hollywood Story
3 paulie cannoli // Jan 25, 2009 at 5:48 pm
COCKROACHEXS // Jan 25, 2009 at 2:18 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cucaracha
“La Cucaracha” (“The Cockroach”) is a traditional Spanish language folk song of the genre known as a corrido, that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.
The song “La Cucaracha” is of Spanish origin. It gained its greatest popularity during the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century. However, the song is mentioned in 1883, and possibly as early as 1818.
Lyrics
The lyrics consist of independent verses, often improvised. It is similar to Yankee Doodle, The Burning of the School or On Top of Old Smoky. It is widely believed that the original version is as follows:
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
Ya no puede caminar;
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
Marihuana que fumar.
English
The cockroach, the cockroach,
Can’t walk anymore
Because it doesn’t have, because it’s lacking
Marijuana to smoke
This version was popularized among Mexican soldiers during the Mexican Revolution, and as it spread throughout various Spanish cultures, many more versions came to be.
4 Steven R Linnabary // Jan 25, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Supposedly, the American people voted for change. Apparently, little has changed but the names.
It is today reported that the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad will reopen…with a new name!~
http://dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2009/01/25/Iraq_AP_0125.ART_ART_01-25-09_A11_2FCLTI8.html?sid=101
Maybe they’ll change the name of torture to something like “Incentive Building” or “Opposition Research”, something innocuous.
PEACE
5 paulie cannoli // Jan 25, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Opposition research is one of my specialties.
6 paulie cannoli // Feb 9, 2009 at 9:25 pm
http://wilderside.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/mass-beatings-at-gitmo-under-obama/
from DemocracyNow.org
Lawyer: Gitmo Conditions Deteriorating
A military attorney for a Guantanamo Bay prisoner is claiming prison conditions have worsened since President Obama took office. Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Bradley told the Guardian of London at least fifty hunger-striking prisoners have been forced-fed while strapped to chairs and beaten if they resist. At least twenty prisoners are said to be in such poor shape they’ve been put on a “critical list.” Bradley said the accounts of mass beatings of hunger-striking prisoners are unprecedented.
4 Gitmo Prisoners Returned to Iraq
In other news from Guantanamo Bay, the Iraqi government says four Iraqi prisoners have been returned to Iraq. The US says they were initially arrested in Afghanistan.
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