2/28/2023 0 Comments Torture memorandaThe White House requested legal memoranda to support its use of torture and it received those authored by a host of attorneys, including John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Stephen Bradbury. The Army Field Manual prohibits the use of degrading treatment of detainees.ĭespite this well-established law, under the Bush administration, torture was authorized by George Bush and kept secret using classified designations. Moreover, the United States Criminal Code prohibits both torture and war crimes, the latter which includes torture. These laws provide no exception for torture under any circumstances. The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States. are the "supreme Law of the Land" under Article Six. The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and it states that treaties signed by the U.S. Torture is illegal under both United States and international law. The coalition expects these twelve complaints to be followed with others after the involvement of additional attorneys is confirmed. This is an important step toward the ultimate accountability of criminal prosecution." The disciplinary boards that hear these complaints must act or they will be seen as complicit in the use of torture. ![]() Just as the bar would suspend an attorney who advised a police officer to torture and brutalize a detained immigrant or criminal defendant, the bar must suspend these attorneys for advocating and causing the torture of war detainees. Kevin Zeese, the attorney for the coalition who signed the complaints, said, "It is time to hold these lawyers accountable for violating their legal oath. did not welcome peer review and indeed would shut down challenges even inside the government." Another witness testified that the legal policy constituted "an ethical train wreck" because it violated constitutional, statutory and international law. He called the torture memos "unsound" because "the lawyers involved. In testimony at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Former State Department counselor Philip Zelikow told a committee panel that Bush administration officials engaged in a ‘collective failure’ on detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists. The recently released Senate and Red Cross reports on detainee treatment provide uncontroverted evidence that the torture techniques advocated by the attorneys were used on human beings over an extended period of time. The memos written and supported by these attorneys advocating torture have now been repudiated by the Department of Justice, the White House, the Department of Defense and other experts in the field. Specifically, the Geneva Convention, UN Convention Against Torture, the Eighth Amendment, the Army Field Manual and the United States Criminal Code against torture and war crimes all prohibit torture of detainees. ![]() ![]() ![]() The individually tailored complaints allege that the named attorneys violated the rules of professional responsibility by advocating torture, which is illegal under both United States and international law.
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