Capture, Interrogate, Abuse (CIA)

By Max J. Castro
majcastro@gmail.com

Prosecute them all.

It was at the Nuremberg trials following World War II that the principle was established that following orders was not a defense where war crimes and crimes against humanity are concerned. And it was there that it was established that waging a war of aggression is the most serious crime of all.

Were we to be faithful to the Nuremberg precedent, everyone involved in the abuse of detainees and the engineering of the Iraq war, from President Bush to the last interrogator should be subject to prosecution. Indeed, the higher the office, the greater responsibility.

It is indeed a great victory for the cause of justice that Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed a special prosecutor, John H. Durham, to investigate the interrogation of prisoners in Guantánamo and other locations throughout the world. The question now is how thorough the investigation will be — and how far up the chain of command it will reach.

The heavily redacted, read censored, CIA report on interrogation, showed the extent and severity of torture practiced on behalf of a nation that long has considered itself the gold standard where human rights and the rule of law is concerned. The report, completed in 1994 but just released, stated that unauthorized, improvised and inhumane techniques were used in interrogations.

For this country to regain some of its lost stature, among those that should be prosecuted for falling far short of that standard are those who ordered the torture, those who attempted to confer upon it a veneer of legality, and those who actually perpetrated it.

Unfortunately, it appears that the prosecutor will be constrained to look only at actions that went beyond the incredible lax and infamous Justice Department torture memos. Instead, those who crafted those memos — and their bosses — should be among those charged with the gravest offenses.

It is a painful process for a country to look at itself in the mirror and see the truth. But it is a fact that American interrogators physically and mentally tortured an unknown number of detainees, some of whom died under torture and others who were irreparably damaged by the experience. Hung from the rafters, smashed against walls, subjected to mock executions, threatened with the death of their families; these are only a few of the vile actions perpetrated in the name of the nation.

President Obama says he wants to look ahead, not behind. But we cannot move ahead until we have cleansed ourselves collectively and confronted the shame that has been committed in our name. We are in need of a great catharsis, one that initially will be painful and politically costly but ultimately healthy not only for this country but for the relations between it and the rest of the world. And if, some day in the future, an American official is given an order that he knows, in every bone in his body, is wrong, illegal, and immoral, it would be great if what we do now has a chilling effect on the execution of that order.