Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Federal judge dismisses Rumsfeld torture lawsuit
A lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld filed by ACLU and Human Rights First was dismissed by the U.S District Court of Columbia . The lawsuit addressed his authorization of torture of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq by U.S forces. The law suit claimed that Rumseld violated the U.S constiution, international law, and federal statues. The judge dismissed the case on the grouds that the U.S constitution does not apply oversees; and Rumseld has immunity due his (former) status as a government official.
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3 comments:
Sounds like the court made the right decision to me. I can't understand why the US Constitution would apply to a foreign terror suspect being held in a war zone.
Seriously there are real hard working honest Americans having their rights violated every day and this is all I hear about from the ACLU.
-Patriot
I agree with you that it probably did not violate the constitution but it very well may have violated international law such as the Geneva Conventions or the UN Agreement on Human Rights.
The court says that since he is a government official he can't be sued because it "might subject government officials to all sorts of political lawsuits." -CBS
Does that mean he can't be held liable in a criminal court? I would hope not or else all of the military officials that were punished for Abu Ghraib might start wondering why they weren't exempt.
9 soldiers were convicted of and sentenced to federal prison time for the same abuses these people are trying to sue Rummy for. In fact, according to the CBS report a few top military commanders were involved in the suit too and the charges against them were all dismissed too. One of the commanders, General Karpinski was demoted to colonel in May 5, 2005 for his role.
It seems wrong to me for low-level soldiers who were following orders are being punished, while Rumsfeld who ordered the actions should get away unscathed. According to the BBC he "signed an order in December 2002 authorizing new methods for interrogating prisoners at Guantanamo Bay...and later ignored overwhelming evidence that the policies resulted in prisoner abuse."
As for the ACLU, just because all you hear about in mainstream media are cases regarding detainees in gitmo does not mean that they are doing nothing for Americans. Just check out aclu.org and you'll see that they do plenty to assist Americans.
i cannot comprehend the DC court's reluctance to adjudicate in the spirit of justice in this case. Granted, the SC has declared the constitution does not follow the flag into battle, but how can we as a nation of civilized beings claim that the laws set forth upon us to do not apply to our behavior in representing (or defending) our beloved nation abroad? It puzzles me the arrogance that many a bureaucrat, judge, and legislator oozes on the issue of human liberties abroad. God is watching.
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