President Obama 'creating torture impunity'

[joeblow]

President Obama 'creating torture impunity'
Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:20:21 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=1 ... id=3510203



An activist during waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning


A US civil rights group says that President Barack Obama by creating impunity is following his predecessor into allowing torture policies to continue in the country.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Thursday that the US president has failed to provide accountability on torture.

Director of ACLU's National Security Project Jameel Jaffer said "the Bush administration constructed a legal framework for torture and now the Obama administration is constructing a legal framework for impunity."

"We're frustrated by the growing gap between (the) Obama administration's rhetoric on accountability and the reality," Jaffer added.

In April, Obama said that CIA interrogators who had used waterboarding on suspected militants would not face prosecution. He also released Bush-era memos specifying that the practice did not constitute torture.

Republicans, however, criticized Obama for leaving the door open for the prosecution of former Bush officials who authorized harsh CIA interrogations due to releasing the memos.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were among those accused of masterminding the Bush-era torture policy.

Jaffer noted that "on every front, the administration is actively obstructing accountability by shielding Bush officials from civil liability, criminal investigation and even public scrutiny for their role in authorizing torture."

"It's the last month of 2009, and not a single torture victim has had his day in court," ACLU Attorney Ben Wizner said. "Not a single court in a torture case has ruled on the legality of the Bush administration's torture policies."

AGB/MTM/DT