Getting away with torture
Subtitle: the Bush Administration and mistreatment of detainees
By: [Reed Brody]
Contributors: Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 102
ISBN-13: 9781564327895
Subjects: Prisoners of war; Human rights; War on Terrorism, 2001-2009; Government policy; Detention of persons; Torture; Abuse of administrative power; Politics and government; Moral and ethical aspects; Military interrogation; United States; Abuse of; Combatants and noncombatants (International law); United States. Central Intelligence Agency; Unlawful combatants
Other titles: United States :; Bush Administration and mistreatment of detainees
Description: "An overwhelming amount of evidence now publically available indicates that senior US officials were involved in planning and authorizing abusive detention and interrogation practices amounting to torture following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Despite its obligation under both US and international law to prevent, investigate, and prosecute torture and other ill-treatment, the US government has still not properly investigated these allegations. Failure to investigate the potential criminal liability of these US officials has undermined US credibility internationally when it comes to promoting human rights and the rule of law. This report combines past Human Rights Watch reporting with more recently available information. The report analyzes this information in the context of US and international law, and concludes that considerable evidence exists to warrant criminal investigations against four senior US officials: former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet. Human Rights Watch calls for criminal investigations into their roles, and those of lawyers involved in the Justice Department memos authorizing unlawful treatment of detainees. In the absence of US action, it urges other governments to exercise 'universal jurisdiction' to prosecute US officials. It also calls for an independent nonpartisan commission to examine the role of the executive and other branches of government to ensure these practices do not occur again, and for the US to comply with obligations under the Convention against Torture to ensure that victims of torture receive fair and adequate compensation"--P. 4 cover.
Notes: "This report was written by Reed Brody"--P. 102.

"July 2011."

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Summary; title: Recommendations; title: Background: official sanction for crimes against detainees; title: Torture of detainees in US counterterrorism operations; title: Individual criminal responsibility; title: Appendix: foreign state proceedings regarding US detainee mistreatment; title: Acknowledgments and methodology.