This open letter, from the National Lawyers Guild, was posted to the Atlantic Free Press, October 10, 2009
We, the undersigned, are writing to request that you hold firm against any attempts by former Vice President Dick Cheney, the CIA directors, and the media to silence those who demand that the United States hold accountable those who have committed and authorized torture.
We call on you to appoint a special independent prosecutor who is not part of the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute all those who ordered, approved, justified, abetted or carried out the torture and abuse. The people who are held accountable should not be limited to low-level operatives.
We are particularly disturbed by the efforts of the reporters at the Washington Post to distort the facts and ignore the illegality of torture. They cited anonymous sources who allegedly said that torture works; these “reports” contradict the newly released report of the CIA’s Inspector General.
Cheney’s claim that your decision to open an investigation into the conduct of the CIA is a politicization of this issue is shameful. If anything, political pressure has led to your office taking too narrow an approach to the investigation.
The world community has expressed its revulsion at the use of torture in any form. Torture is illegal under all circumstances. The prohibition against torture is considered in international law on par with laws against genocide, slavery and wars of aggression. Under the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, it is a crime against humanity.
The United States is a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the Geneva Conventions. Both treaties expressly require the United States to either extradite or initiate prosecution of persons who are reasonably accused – this is a legal obligation. The U.S. Torture Statute that Congress passed to fulfill our obligations under the CAT outlaws torture committed outside the United States. The U.S. War Crimes Act punishes torture as a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. In 2006, the Supreme Court affirmed in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that all prisoners in U.S. custody are protected by the Geneva Conventions.
There are many who claim we should ignore the facts and the law and refuse to hold accountable all those responsible for the use of torture. Whether actionable intelligence was gained is not the issue. Nor is the morale in the CIA.
We believe the oath of office you took requires that you not pick and choose those laws you will enforce.
- National Lawyers Guild
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- U.S. Human Rights Network
- American Association of Jurists
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Psychologists for Social Responsibility
- The Coalition for an Ethical Psychology
- Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
- Lawyers Against the War (Canada)
- Droite-Solidarité (France)
- Japanese Lawyers International Solidarity Association
- National Association of Democratic Lawyers in South Africa
- European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights
- Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (England)
- Progress Lawyers Network (Belgium)
- National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (Philippines)
- Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Marjorie Cohn, President, National Lawyers Guild; Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
- Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights
- Bill Quigley, Legal Director, Center for Constitutional Rights
- Ajamu Baraka, Executive Director, US Human Rights Network
- Jeanne Mirer, President, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Roland Weyl, First Vice President, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Micòl Savia, UN representative in Geneva, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Vanessa Ramos, President, American Association of Jurists
- Max Boqwana, General Secretary, National Association of Democratic Lawyers in South Africa
- Mike Mansfield QC, President, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
- Liz Davies, barrister, UK, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
- Richard Harvey, Bureau member of International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Executive member, Haldane Society.
- Bill Bowring, Professor of Law, University of London; President, European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights; International Secretary, Haldane Society
- Sister Dianna Ortiz, U.S. Torture Survivor and founder of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
- Harold Nelson, Advocacy Coordinator, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
- Gail Davidson, Chair, Lawyers Against the War
- Osamu Niikura, President, Japanese Lawyers International Solidarity Association
- Edre Olalia, Vice President, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
- Neri Colmenares, Secretary General, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
- Jan Fermon, representative, Progress Lawyers Network
- Fabio Marcelli, Executive Committee and Speaker for International and European Affairs, Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers
- George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary
- Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University
- Dr. Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, University of San Diego; Associate Fellow, Transnational Institute
- Jordan J. Paust, Mike and Teresa Baker Law Center Professor, University of Houston Law Center
- Terry Karl, Gildred Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies Department of Political Science, Stanford University
- Marc Falkoff, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University College of Law
- John W. Lango, Philosophy Professor, Hunter College of the City University of New York
- Elizabeth M. Iglesias Professor of Law & Director, Center for Hispanic & Caribbean Legal Studies, University of Miami School of Law
- Ray McGovern, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
- Michael Avery, Professor, Suffolk Law School
- Michael E. Tigar, Professor of the Practice of Law, Duke Law School; Emeritus Professor, Washington College of Law
- Andy Worthington, journalist and author of "The Guantanamo Files"
- Tom Hayden
- Michael Rooke-Ley, Professor of Law Emeritus, Nova Southeastern University
- William J. Aceves, Professor, California Western School of Law
- Phyllis Bennis, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies
- Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor, retired, Dept of Linguistics & Philosophy, MIT
- Daniel Ellsberg
- Alfred W. McCoy, J.R.W. Smail Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Susan Rutberg, Professor, Golden Gate University School of Law
- John Ehrenberg, Professor and Chair of Political Science, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
- Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor, Rutgers University
- David Swanson, author of “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency"
- Kristina Borjesson, Member, Robert Jackson Steering Committee Institute for Victims of Trauma