03 Jan While You Were Away…
03.01.12
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2 Comments
We hope you never left, but in case you have not been keeping up with Opinio Juris over the holiday season, here is what you missed:
1. Two excellent blog posts setting the record straight about the NDAA, graciously provided to us by two experts on the subject, Marty Lederman and Steve Vladeck. You can find Part I here and Part II here.
2. A friendly response to Part II by me that discusses the limits of analogizing detention in non-international armed conflict to the rules of international armed conflict. You can find it here.
3. A fascinating post by Ruti Teitel discussing the need to avoid victor’s justice in Libya. You can find it here.
Enjoy!
Response… Kevin: please post something on this new Report — from an email received today from Ben Davis: Report Calls for Investigation and Prosecution of Top Government Officials for Acts of Torture WASHINGTON, D.C., January 4, 2012: In the aftermath of the attacks on September 11th, high-ranking U.S. government officials planned and authorized acts of torture against detainee terror suspects in violation of both domestic and international law, said Human Rights USA in a report released today. The report, Indefensible: A Reference for Prosecuting Torture and Other Felonies Committed by U.S. Officials Following September 11th, details the voluminous evidence indicating that illegal interrogation techniques were the official policy of the Bush Administration. More than ten years after the onset of the Bush Administration’s post-9/11 anti-terrorism policies, not a single torture survivor has succeeded in holding a top government official accountable in a U.S. court for the indefensible act of torture due in large part to legal maneuvering by both the Bush and Obama Administrations. The report serves as a practitioner’s reference, addressing the domestic and international laws implicated by the actions of certain former high-ranking government officials, and laying the groundwork for litigation of those prosecutions. … Read more »
Ah, I’ve been trying to comment further down on the two NDAA posts to no avail. The comment window would not open. The relevant quotes on which I have questions. “… which we share, that “the prison at Guantánamo Bay undermines our national security” How does a resort prison undermine national security? (If you reply, as I suppose, that the ‘folks’ held there ought to be in the Constitutionally authorized and addministered US court systems, I might counter with the Geneva conventions, specifically those regarding combatants not in uniform. Suppose our soldiers were not adhering rigidly to these conventions. In such a case, would you just turn your heads and cough? In times of war, is the law not silent?) Second snip: “As he reaffirmed today ‘My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens’ “. Why would you still believe anything this man says? “If you like your doctor, you will get to keep him”. “These negotiations will be on C-span”. “No family making less than $250,000 will see any form of tax increase.” Then-senator Obama declared that a recess appointment is “damaged goods” and has “less credibility” than a normal appointment. August… Read more »