Obama giver frit lejde til torturbødler

Nürnberg-domstolene fastlagde det princip, at man ikke kan undskylde en åbenlyst ulovlig handling med, at den skete efter ordre.

I dag synes den amerikanske regering at have forladt dette princip – Barack Obama har frigivet dokumenter fra Bush-administrationen, der sort på hvidt autoriserer forskellige former for tortur, men præsidenten udelukker samtidig, at nogen kan retsforfølges for de forbrydelser, der er begået på den konto.

Og hvilke metoder er det så, der hermed er erklæret straffri? Udover waterboarding er det bl.a. søvnmangel og tortur med insekter:

Ten techniques are approved, listed as: attention grasp, walling (in which the suspect could be pushed into a wall), a facial hold, a facial slap, cramped confinement, wall standing, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box (the suspect had a fear of insects) and the waterboard. In the latter, “the individual is bound securely to an inclined bench, which is approximately four feet by seven feet. The individual’s feet are generally elevated. A cloth is placed over the forehead and eyes. Water is then applied to the cloth in a controlled manner……..produces the perception of ‘suffocation and incipient panic’.”

‘Walling’ involved use of a plastic neck collar to slam suspects into a specially-built wall that the CIA said made the impact sound worse than it actually was. Other methods include food deprivation.

civil rights organisations have been disappointed by a series of rulings by the Obama administration that have protected a lot of material relating to Guantánamo and the sites abroad. The release of the memos today reversed that trend, though there will be unhappiness over the immunity from prosecution.

Obama, in a statement from the White House, said: “In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carrying out their duties relying in good faith upon the legal advice from the department of justice that they will not be subject to prosecution.”

Anthony Romero, the ACLU executive director, said: “President Obama’s assertion that there should not be prosecutions of government officials who may have committed crimes before a thorough investigation has been carried out is simply untenable.”

Og ja, Romero har ret – det er intet mindre end en skandale. Kan jeg nu også bortføre min nabo og underkaste ham eller hende alle de behandlinger, der fremgår af Bush-administrationens liste af “anerkendte teknikker” og slippe for straf efter lex Obama?

Hvis vi skal stole på, at det vitterlig er slut med Bush-regeringens forbrydelser, med tortur og kidnapninger og bombetogter mod civile, kan intet mindre end et retsopgør gøre det – fromme erklæringer om, at det skal man nok lade være med at gøre i fremtiden, er ikke nok. Som det er, er Obamas erklæringer jo slet og ret en garanti til gerningsmændene om, at de bare kan tage ekstra hårdt fat i de Forenede Staters tjeneste – de kan alligevel ikke straffes. Det er simpelt hen ikke godt nok.

Link: Barack Obama releases Bush administration torture memos

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