Leaving No Doubt Where the U.S. Stands on Torture

Also see: "Congress, Obama Obstruct Justice for Torture Victims," AC's Blaclist, March 5, 2009.

http://www.swans.com/library/art15/letter159.html

To the (swans.com) Editor:

On February 9th, in response to a question in the course of the first presidential press conference since his inauguration, President Barack Obama stated that...

What I have said is that my administration is going to operate in a way that leaves no doubt that we do not torture, and that we abide by the Geneva Conventions, and that we observe our traditions of rule of law and due process.

Just hours prior to this sanctimonious pronouncement, the Obama administration announced that the current Department of Justice would be continuing the Bush administration's arrogant stonewalling of the attempt by the proponents of human rights to expose the routine CIA practice of extraordinary rendition, the outsourcing of American torture practices, as manifested in the ACLU sponsored Mohamed et al v Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. lawsuit.

Chillingly, a representative of the Obama Department of Justice supported the administration's position by invoking the same state secrets for the preservation of "national security interests" argument that has been trotted out to shroud the brutal criminal acts of every abusive administration since the Nixon presidency. ... Given our corrupted electoral process, in which a candidate's viability is determined by his or her ability to procure the financial support of powerful corporate interests, we could not rationally expect this or any other administration to correct, or even honestly address, the economic injustices that have come to define the realities of the American caste system. But was it really too much to hope for that this new American president might possess the simple, human decency to put an end to the national shame of state torture? Apparently, it was.

Michael DeLang
Rockford, Illinois, USA - February 12, 2009