Turley: Obama admin’s approach to torture undermines international law
Published: July 14, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
The Obama administration’s approach to investigating possible crimes by the previous Bush administration is undermining half a century’s worth of international law, says a prominent constitutional scholar.
Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann that it appears Attorney-General Eric Holder’s proposed special prosecutor to investigate allegations of Bush-era crimes will be given too narrow a focus.
According to MSNBC, the special prosecutor would only be able to prosecute “egregious” cases where a person involved in torture went far beyond what was legally authorized. Anyone who participated in torture within the Bush administration’s guidelines would be exempt, as would anyone who exceeded the guidelines but did so “in good faith.”
“What [Holder has] described is more of a bonsai plant than a prosecutor, that you can twist and restrain in any way you want,” Turley said Monday on MSNBC’s Countdown.
Turley said that Holder and President Obama are “rewriting the law written in Nuremberg,” referring to the Nazi trials of the late 1940s, when senior Nazi officials were prosecuted for war crimes.
Turley pointed out that, at Nuremberg, the United States convicted justice officials for writing the legal justifications for war crimes — something the Obama administration plans not to do in the case of the Bush administration.
The law professor also pointed out that the US currently has soldiers in harm’s way, and the Obama administration’s handling of alleged Bush-era crimes could affect how those soldiers are treated by the enemy.
“What happens when one of our soldiers is waterboarded and Al Qaeda says it was just an interrogation?” Turley asked. “That is what the loss of moral clarity brings to a country like the United States.”
This video is from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast July 13, 2009.
Download video via RawReplay.com
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I will NOT be voting for Obama again over this. In fact, I will not vote for ANY repud/dem ever again–these corrupt bastards are in bed with each other. For the Obama administration to condone the torture of men, women and children by the previous admininstration is a major deal breaker for me. We petition, we threaten, we beg and plead for our representatives to do the right thing and what do they continuously do–SPIT IN OUR FACES at every turn.
Yvonne,
I saw it coming when he supported a Corporations ability to violate OUR privacy laws… Why act all surprised?
What is it with Obama??? He is not only protecting Bush’s crimes , but build more for himself… Is the CIA or military really running our government under the control of This Global Empire , or was he just telling us anything he wish to satisfied us to elect him..
By the way he is changing his campaign promises , I would have rather have voted for Hillary,, Because the democrats and the new media had censored any change democrats like Kucinich had..
AS soon as Obama choose Emanuel to lead his polices I knew we were in trouble..
This looks like Bush/Cheney’s 3rd term except for some bones they are throwing our way..
If he wish to correct this economy and put our constitution / laws back in shape ,, he would re-negotiate the free trade act. He would tax the incoming products made by American corporations which now go under the countries titles.. re-instate the tax welfare which Bush’s administration gave to the wealthy and Global Empire…
And he would certainly let an independent prosecutor investigate and prosecute any and all crimes from the previous administration even if democrats are involved..
Remember Emanuel said that he wish to move the democrat party to the center and the democrat party was already to the center right..
We no longer control what use to be our party much less receive any policies that are not approved by the Global Empire..
We are still in the middle east to protect the Oil companies while they steal the middle east’s resources.
They are building a World Global Empire including their friends in other countries and using U.S. military to control and do their nation building for their power..
What is it with Obama??? He is not only protecting Bush’s crimes , but build more for himself…
———————————
I take it you didn’t examine his Bush-accomplice voting record from the senate. If you had done so, you would not be asking: “What is it with Obama???”
He’s doing exactly as I expected him to do because I looked at his Bush-accomplice voting record, and that’s why I didn’t vote for him. I voted for one of the anti-corporate, pro-peace, pro-US Constitution, anti-Bush true progressives (Nader/Gonzalez).
> To VERONICAF and all those other clowns that can’t see the forest through the trees.
You said I was crazy for calling Obama a “young adolph hitler”, but there is a slow drip of stories just like this that can’t be defended or argued in any other way than to conclude that obama is on the same path that hitler was on..
There would be people in the streets by now if GWB did all the things that obama is doing.. But because he’s the new guy you’re giving him a break and not holding him accountable.. Well he ain’t the new guy anymore..
What has he done in his first half-year as “commander in chief”? MOREOVER, what has he done that’s been “for the people”. NOTHING.
We have no health insurance, we can be called enemy combatants if we protest anything the government does, torture is legalized, our phone conversations are wiretapped, we can be jailed for blogging statements about people that should be electrocuted (Like war criminals)..
In conclusion, we are rapidly becomming Nazi Germany
AND
Veronicaf, you and your ilk are sympathizers or plants. Which is it?
IN Bush’s administration , people in the street demonstrating were censored by the corporate news media.
Their illegal beating and arrest were not covered and mostly censored in the Bush’s years… , Just as the illegal invasion an disaster to Iraq by Israel in January 2009.
But look at the coverage they gave to the voter demonstration in Iran when they censored most of the demonstrations and blocking Americans from voting in the 2000 and 2004 elections..
Obama and the democrats are just following the corporate flow ,because they believe that most of the democrat voters will not vote for republicans in the coming elections and they are home safe..
It isn’t so much that it undermines international law that bothers me. It’s that it is a complete violation of American law that really pisses me off! Nothing in American legal code allows a prosecuter to let a capital criminal go free with no prosecution simply because prosecuting them may offend some of the criminals friends. Which is exactly what the criminal Holder is doing! Holder should, under our laws, be sitting in a prison cell waiting trial for obstructing justice and aiding and abetting capital criminals! The little torture loving cheneyite piece of shit should get life in prison while his bushco masters hang from the neck until dead.
All those in power who advise Obama — congress, the Justice Department, the MIC, and especially the CIA — were complicit in the commission of war crimes by allowing them to happen. So they have naturally advised Obama to oppose real investigations. What is more, he is understandably in fear for his own safety should he push for investigations. Remember, it was JFK who first opposed the MIC/CIA. And as always, absolute power corrupts. But the nice thing about the International War Crimes laws is that it is a war crime not to prosecute war crimes. So everyone in the Obama administration who staged this white wash will eventually be seen in the eyes of international law as being just as complicit as everyone in the Bush administration. Unfortunately, the bad news is that no one in the world will ever have the power/balls to pursue/prosecute anyone. You can close the book on this one, and on the Democratic experiment that was America.
Why is it so hard to see that the corporations which used to be USA are now involved in setting up partership with other countries to create this Global Empire in which all citizens will not be able to excape..
You can bet you bottom dollar that the military is calling the shots for them..
I believed at the time that our government had something to do with the death of John Kennedy and I believe it today by their complete control and dominates over our government’s policies.
They receive over half of our national budget by the time you include all the different programs they receive our tax funds from..
They receive more money then all other countries combined..
They are now contracting mercenary armies from all around the world so they will have no ties to any one country…
If is show by the way blackwater and Hallinburton got away with their thief of our taxes , rape and killings to our citizens and in other countries that our elected officials are kissing their…….
There are no cases in which torture is legally justified. It is against domestic and international law, period. There are no exceptions. There is no statute of limitations. Torture is egregious by definition.
There is no recognizeable legal process in the which the Bush administration ordered prisoners to be tortured. They knew it was against the law. That’s why they did it in secret. It’s why they had a couple of unethical lawyers fabricate cover in case they were caught.
What Obama and Holder are trying to do is protect as many people at the top of the Bush administration as he can. They are both ignoring the law and selectively applying the law when public outcry mounts. This is NOT something you want your president and attorney general to be engaging in. There is no legal precedent or justification for refusing to prosecute war crminals and torturers and we don’t want one.
These are the worse crimes in the world.
Clinton’s political decision not to prosecute the Iran Contra hoodlums set in motion the worst depredations of the Bush years. Instead of doing time they all got full employment in the Bush administration.
Lord only knows what will follow if Obama continues as he has begun.
What is it with Obama??? Is the CIA or military really running our government under the control of This Global Empire , or was he just telling us anything he wish to satisfied us to vote for him..
By the way he is changing his campaign promises , I would have rather have voted for Hillary,, Because the democrats and the new media had censored any change democrats like Kucinich had..
By the way he is changing his campaign promises , I would have rather have voted for Hillary,,…
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So you’re surprised that savior Obama is changing his campaign promises? LOL. That surprises you, does it?!
People like you deserve what you get. One would have hoped you would have said, “I would have rather have voted for McKinney or Nader…” (since they were/are the true progressives, non-corporate, pro-peace candidates).
But no, you’re cemented in the D rut, like most of the sheep. You are the one who needs to change and I see no indication from your comment that you are about to do so. You will likely vote for this war criminal once again by saying:
I’ve not always agreed with Obama and Obama MAY not be perrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrfect, but he’s better than the Repug candidate (or at least I’m brainwashed to believe that), so I’m voting once again for Obama. Go, Obama, go.”
Instead of voting for a true progressive candidate, like Nader or McKinney…should they run.
Until The People (including yourself) change, there will be no change in this nation.
*shock*
“Hope” and “Change we can believe in.” = simple slogans for simple minds.
It’s too bad most people did dig a bit deeper during the campaign and actually examine their savior Obama’s voting record from the senate. If they had done so— and not made excuses for it or dismissed it just so they could vote for him— they wouldn’t be the least bit surprised by what he has done since Day 1.
Most people didn’t have the intelligence to vote for McKinney or Nader. Most people said, “they can’t win.” Correct. They can’t win if most people don’t vote for them. DUH.
Most people didn’t have the intelligence to vote for Kucinich and he’s even from the “Dem Team” and has a big D behind his name.
Stupid-assed people. Suckers.
Should any American soldier be so base and infamous
as to injure any [prisoner]. . .
I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him
to such severe and exemplary punishment
as the enormity of the crime may require.
Should it extend to death itself,
it will not be disproportional to its guilt
at such a time and in such a cause…
for by such conduct they bring shame,
disgrace
and ruin
to themselves and their country.
George Washington, charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force, Sept. 14, 1775
Every crook, crany, nook and crevice of the dam is leaking. And the pressure is still building. Running silent, running deep. The Bush Administration has discovered that “clean up” prior to “evacuation” is never really enough. Millions of memos–there just aren’t enough digital wastebaskets in the “system” they left behind. Ergo justice really is grudging, grinding and excruciatingly slow. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Apparently AG Holder’s proposed Special Prosecutor will give legal absolution to
“Anyone who participated in torture within the Bush administration’s guidelines would be exempt, as would anyone who exceeded the guidelines but did so “in good faith.
What a corrupt Department Of Justice We Now Have! Now Holder is looking for excuses to exempt large numbers of criminals from our laws.
Our US Federal Anti-Torture Laws are Clear and The Bush Administration Violated them Repeatedly!
Only Congress can change the Torture Laws. Bush’s appointee lawyers cannot. Obama’s appointee lawyers cannot.
They can however create a scheme where they pretend to be enforcing our laws but really are not. This is what is happening under Obama.
See the law: http://tinyurl.com/besdd3
Torture, Deceiving Congress, WMD Lies… what more does Holder need? Insist On Enforcement of Our Federal Laws.
IT Will Not Happen Unless WE
make lots of noise.
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Commission of Inquiry
and a Special Prosecutor at ANGRYVOTERS.ORG.
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