Judge weighs torture claim vs. Rumsfeld

[Target_For_Exterm]

"WASHINGTON - A federal judge appeared reluctant to give outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld immunity from torture allegations but also said Friday that it would be unprecedented for him to allow Rumsfeld to face a civil trial.

"What you're asking for has never been done before," U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan told lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU is suing on behalf of nine former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lawsuit contends the men were beaten, suspended upside down from the ceiling by chains, urinated on, shocked, sexually humiliated, burned, locked inside boxes and subjected to mock executions.

The Justice Department argues that government officials are immune from lawsuits related to their jobs unless they violate a constitutional right. Because foreigners held in overseas prisons do not normally have constitutional rights, the Justice Department wants the case dismissed."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061208/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainee_abuse

The Bush government thinks they should be above the law. ANYTHING goes. Is that the kind of government we want? I hope the judge makes the right decision in this case.

[Demeter]

1. Justice Department Is Full Of It

US prisoners have Constitutional rights, no matter where they are held. Also Geneva Convention rights. If they are US captives, they are under US law, as are their captors.