Restore the Constitution, close prison at Guantanamo
If I were president, I would root out the culture of torture nurtured
by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and others who have never been held accountable because none of the investigations were
allowed to proceed up the chain of command. Even after all that has come out, it is still shocking to read Seymour Hersh's
June 25 New Yorker article, "The General's Report," freely available online, about the findings of General Taguba, who investigated
Abu Ghraib.
Had it not been for the leaked photos, we would likely still not
know as much as we do about the abuse and torture that have been perpetrated in our name. What has been established is that
the techniques employed at Abu Ghraib originated at Guantanamo, which, of course, was sited there specifically to skirt American
law and the Geneva Conventions.
The administration would like us to think of the detainees at
Guantanamo as "the worst of the worst," but what evidence has been offered in
the majority of cases? According to Seton Hall Law School Professor Mark Denbeaux's analysis, “only 5 percent of the detainees were captured by United States
forces. 86 percent of the detainees were arrested by either Pakistan
or the Northern Alliance.” Many were turned in by bounty hunters responding to U.S. leaflets dropped over Afghanistan promising
“wealth and power beyond your dreams.”
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which Arlen Specter describes
as "patently unconstitutional," strips detainees of the right of habeas corpus—the right to challenge their detention
in court. It also allows the use of evidence obtained by coercion, gives retroactive immunity to government agents who torture
or order torture, and grants the president unchecked authority to designate enemy combatants and define what constitutes torture,
regardless of the Geneva Conventions.
If I were president, I would urge Congress to pass the Restoring
the Constitution Act (H.R. 1415 and S. 576) and thereby restore the right of habeas corpus to detainees, disallow evidence
obtained by coercion, and revoke the president's authority to arbitrarily designate enemy combatants and make up the rules
for their treatment. It would also remove the retroactive immunity granted to government officials and allow their prosecution
for torture.
I would order a full investigation such as was recommended by
General Taguba: "We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. . . . I believe, even today,
that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable.”
If Congress will not act, perhaps the Supreme Court will. Many
believe an affidavit filed by military intelligence officer Stephen Abraham citing evidentiary weaknesses and improper pressure
by the military commissions to find guilt was a key factor in the Supreme Court's recent decision to reverse course and rule
on whether the detainees have the right to challenge their detention in U.S.
courts.
Meanwhile, I would close Guantanamo
and move the remaining 375 inmates to facilities within the continental United States
while their cases are resolved. Apparently, Cheney and Gonzales are the only holdouts in the administration who still oppose
this long overdue correction
It is not only non-Americans who are affected. Jose Padilla, an
American citizen, has been systematically destroyed. Google "Donald Vance," who worked in Iraq
as a security contractor, and read about his treatment there after being falsely accused of "aiding terrorists." He asks,
"If they can do this to a former Navy man and an American, what is happening to people in facilities all over the world run
by the American government?" I would close those secret prisons too, and end the practice of extraordinary rendition to other
countries for torture.
Closer to home, there are Americans who are paying a very high price for having been ordered to abuse and torture prisoners.
Bethlehem native Eric Fair is one of these.
You can read his Washington Post op-ed, "An Iraq Interrogator's Nightmare," at www.AmnestyBucksMont.org.
Bush and Cheney want us to believe that torture makes us safer, whereas the generals, like David Petraeus, say this
is wrong. Generals Charles Krulak and Joseph Hoar write in the Washington Post (May 17), "It's our cage, too: Torture betrays us and breeds new enemies."
If I were president, it would end.
Barbara Glassman
Article's URL: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/143-07262007-1383711.html
