Last week President Obama (still sounds freaky saying that) signed an executive order that "banned" torture. The world rejoiced, finally, finally that evil George W. Bush and his Sith Lord sidekick Dick Cheney were out of the picture and America could regain it's status in the world as a beacon of humanity.
Here's the problem - As Wordsmith at Flopping Aces points out, this is a rehash of the executive order that Bush signed in 2007.
CJ asks "If the orders are essentially the same why reinvent the wheel?", because the Obama order expands the legal rights of terrorists.
In establishing his new interrogation playbook, President Obama revoked the previous playbook initiated by the Bush Administration. Now you tell me, does the following sound reasonable to anyone here?
1. Torture is prohibited as defined in section 2340 of title 18, United States Code.
2. Murder, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, mutilation or maiming, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, rape, sexual assault or abuse, taking of hostages, or performing of biological experiments is prohibited.
3. Other acts of violence serious enough to be considered comparable to murder, torture, mutilation, and cruel or inhuman treatment, as defined in section 2441(d) of title 18, United States Code are prohibited.
4. Any other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment are prohibited.
5. We are prohibited from engaging in willful and outrageous acts of personal abuse done for the purpose of humiliating or degrading the individual in a manner so serious that any reasonable person, considering the circumstances, would deem the acts to be beyond the bounds of human decency, such as sexual or sexually indecent acts undertaken for the purpose of humiliation, forcing the individual to perform sexual acts or to pose sexually, threatening the individual with sexual mutilation, or using the individual as a human shield.
6. Acts intended to denigrate the religion, religious practices, or religious objects of the individual will not be tolerated.
I mean, is this really a good idea? What's that? You agree with all six of those points? Then why did President Obama just revoke them? Those were all outlined in Executive Order 13440 signed by President George W. Bush on July 20, 2007. That's right. Those aren't Obama's words although he does restate in less plain terms than President Bush did. That's right. Much like the Gitmo issue, this EO simply restates what was already US policy. So why revoke it and recreate the wheel?
Well, that wasn't all that President Bush's EO 13440 said. President Bush reiterated what the Geneva Conventions already tell us about unlawful enemy combatants - that they aren't entitled to protections under the law. Specifically, according to Bush, "members of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces are unlawful enemy combatants who are not entitled to the protections that the Third Geneva Convention provides to prisoners of war." Translation: terrorists will be treated as such so long as they continue to fight in violation of the established Conventions agreed to by most nations.
President Bush also gave the CIA latitude to conduct interrogations against said unlawful combatants in any manner the Director of the CIA may deem necessary to "detect, mitigate, or prevent terrorist attacks, such as attacks within the United States or against its Armed Forces or other personnel, citizens, or facilities, or against allies or other countries cooperating in the war on terror with the United States, or their armed forces or other personnel, citizens, or facilities." These tactics MUST provide "the basic necessities of life, including adequate food and water, shelter from the elements, necessary clothing, protection from extremes of heat and cold, and essential medical care." Additionally, they are not exempt from the six areas listed above.
You read me correctly. The CIA was not above the law and neither was the military. Neither agency or department was given tacit or implied permission to commit those six acts. And when it was discovered that some rogue elements or personnel DID commit these offenses, they were promptly dealt with and a rash of new training was conducted to ensure future compliance.
Thanks Mr. President.
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You know when Episode Three of the Star Wars saga was released there was a lot of speculation that it was a thinly veiled criticism of the Bush Presidency. One week into the new administration and I am thinking that Obama and Palpatine may be synonyms. If he starts wearing a hooded cloak look out.
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