ACLU rips Obama on Torture Accountability

At issue is the Obama administration's continuing attempts to exempt top policymakers and the torturers themselves from investigation of violation of federal felony torture statutes. Attorney General Eric Holder announced upon his August 24 appointment of Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Durham to investigate widely reported examples of institutionalized torture by CIA personnel that “I have made it clear in the past that the Department of Justice will not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees.” Holder's original mandate was to investigate only the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and the mid-level officials — such as torture memo author John Yoo — who gave a legal imprimatur to the Bush policy approved at top levels of the White House.

Torture and "conspiracy to commit torture" carry among the most serious penalties under federal law. Officials who approve of or direct torture are guilty of felony torture and punishable by up to 20 years in prison per incident (or for life if death results from the torture).


The ACLU broadside against the Obama policy stressed that “the administration has not made good on its promise of accountability. Now the administration is suppressing the evidence rather than disclosing it, and protecting torturers instead of investigating them. It is shielding Bush administration officials from civil liability, criminal investigation, and even public scrutiny.”


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