Leading Constitutional and Military Law Expert Says Special Prosecutor Would Investigate Senior Bush Officials
By Jeremy Scahill
Earlier this week, I wrote an article based on interviews I conducted with two of the leading anti-torture attorneys working to hold the Bush administration accountable for its crimes: Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union. That article was called Top Anti-Torture Lawyers Criticize AG Holder’s Torture Probe, Saying It May Let ‘Higher-Ups’ Off (
http://rebelreports.com/post/140931380/top-anti-torture-lawyers-criticize-ag-holders-torture). Another lawyer, who has worked tirelessly on this issue has weighed in with a different perspective that I think is worth reading.
At Harper’s, the well-respected constitutional and military law expert Scott Horton makes the case that any Special Prosecutor appointed to investigate torture will, by nature of their investigation, end up investigating senior Bush administration officials:
"As soon as the special prosecutor gets into the facts relating to the use of the Bush-approved techniques, he will deal with the claims of interrogators and deeply implicated contractors like James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen that they were acting under instructions from higher up the chain and in accordance with guidance delivered by senior CIA officials and political appointees, both oral and written. The special prosecutor will have to examine the bona fides of these claims and investigate the guidance that was given and whether it comported with law. In other words, the conduct of Bush Administration officials may well not be implicated in the specific tasking document issued by Holder, but it would be raised by way of affirmative defense by the interrogators and contractors. The special prosecutor will not be able ultimately to avoid looking at these questions if he or she pursues the job credibly. And if Holder were to direct that certain individuals are immune from review by the special prosecutor, he would make the entire exercise into a travesty. The inference that higher-ups won’t be caught up in the investigation is, in my view, unwarranted." ...
http://rebelreports.com/post/141839249/leading-constitutional-and-military-law-expert-says
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
