ACLU Report: Obama Enshrining Bush-Era Torture Policies

[unhappycamper]

ACLU Report: Obama Enshrining Bush-Era Torture Policies
TruthOut.org / By Deborah Weinstein

August 11, 2010 | For disillusioned Obama supporters, the ACLU's July report "Establishing the New Normal" is not a heartening read.

After being voted into office on promises that included undoing abuses carried out under the Bush administration - promises to protect privacy, to end government-sanctioned torture and rendition programs and to end the use of military commissions for non-enemy combatants - President Obama's administration is proving it is far easier to toe the line than buck a trend.

According to a report by the ACLU, the current White House has not just failed to meaningfully follow through on its promises, but has also taken abusive policies, and, as shown in the case of targeted and interminable detentions, eroded civil rights to unprecedented levels.

Although the ACLU applauds the administration's condemnation of the torture and rendition programs instituted under Bush, it says these positive steps are overwhelmed by what remains uncorrected and unaddressed. Using the CIA's destruction of 92 interrogation tapes as an example, the ACLU says that an investigation into the incident - which was approved by a CIA official and is purported to have erased torturous interrogations carried about by Americans - has dragged on for three years with no resolution in sight The length of time is a minor issue compared with what the ACLU says such foot dragging signifies: "Sanctioning impunity for government officials who authorized torture."

Fear of an unchecked, unaccountable government permeates the ACLU's report, particularly in the section about targeted killings. In this instance, it is not just that the Obama administration has continued a policy of targeting alleged terrorists, but that it has a new wrinkle: American citizens, such as Anwar al-Awlaki, are also being rounded up in the "O.K.-to-kill" list. The shortfalls of this approach are many, and the ACLU says that the inaccuracy of less life-and-death approaches should make such an approach intolerable. "Over the last eight years, we have seen the government over and over again detain men as 'terrorists,' only to discover later that the evidence was weak, wrong, or non-existent," the report says.

[ThomWV]

1. You see the guy with the clothes on? He's a War Criminal, so are his superior Officers.

[bvar22]

2. And so are those today who don't investigate & prosecute.

Turning your back on War Crimes is a War Crime.

[lfairban]

3. K&R

nt

[me b zola]

K&R

:(

[me b zola]

4. dupe/delete

[Forkboy]

5. K&R

For the dirty topic people want to go away.

Well, too late to rec, but the kick part still works. :)

[Bluebear]

7. 160 whole views!

:party:

[Forkboy]

8. We sure cared a lot about torture when Bush was in office.

Guess a lot of people were actually just mad at Bush being in charge and didn't really think the torture was wrong after all.

[Bluebear]

9. More and more people just treat this as a football game

No principles, no standards. Win, win, win.

[steve2470]

6. k and r nt

[Fumesucker]

10. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours