[Marxism] Reuters: U.S Torture Ban Undercut

["Michael Hoover" <hooverm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

U.S.: Landmark Torture Ban Undercut
16 Dec 2005 17:33:33 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch

(Washington, D.C., December 16, 2005) – Even as the U.S. Congress has passed a 
prohibition against the use of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading 
treatment, it is set to adopt legislation that would strip the judiciary's 
ability to enforce the ban, Human Rights Watch warned today. After months of 
opposition, President Bush yesterday accepted Senator John McCain's amendment 
banning the use of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by U.S. personnel 
anywhere in the world, and prohibiting U.S. military interrogators from using 
interrogation techniques not listed in the U.S. Army Field Manual on 
Intelligence Interrogation.

But the legislation containing the McCain Amendment currently includes another 
provision – the Graham-Levin Amendment – that would deny the five hundred-some 
detainees in Guant*namo Bay the ability to bring legal action seeking relief 
from the use of torture or cruel and inhumane treatment. And it implicitly 
authorizes the Department of Defense to consider evidence obtained through 
torture or other inhumane treatment in assessing the status of detainees held 
in Guant*namo Bay.

If passed into law, this would be the first time in American history that 
Congress has effectively permitted the use of evidence obtained through torture.

"With the McCain amendment, Congress has clearly said that anyone who 
authorizes or engages in cruel techniques like water boarding is violating the 
law," said Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch. 
"But the Graham-Levin amendment leaves Guant*namo detainees no legal recourse 
if they are, in fact, tortured or mistreated. The treatment of Guant*namo Bay 
detainees will be shrouded in secrecy, placing detainees at risk for future 
abuse."

These provisions have been added by House and Senate conferees to language that 
originally passed the Senate as part of the Defense Authorization legislation. 
The language in the original Senate version already placed new and significant 
restrictions on Guant*namo Bay detainees' access to federal court. It 
eliminated the right for detainees to bring habeas corpus claims challenging 
the legality of their ongoing detention and asserting their innocence. Instead, 
detainees would be allowed to seek independent court review of their detention 
at just two points in time – after their initial designation as an enemy 
combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal and after conviction by a 
military commission – and would be allowed to raise only a very narrow set of 
claims. They could challenge the procedures and constitutionality of the 
tribunals and commissions, but would be precluded from seeking an independent 
review of the factual basis for their detention or conviction.

The new language would expand the prohibition on habeas review to cover all 
other claims – making it almost impossible for detainees at Guant*namo to seek 
relief from torture or cruel treatment.

The original language passed by the Senate also sought to restrict the use of 
evidence obtained through "undue coercion" by the Combatant Status Review 
Tribunals. The language approved by conferees would reverse this prohibition. 
It would require these tribunals to assess the probative value of evidence 
obtained through coercion, but would not prohibit the use of such evidence.

Another addition redefines the United States to explicitly exclude Guant*namo 
Bay. This is an attempt to ensure that the constitutional protections – 
including the prohibition on the use of evidence obtained through torture – do 
not extend to detainees in Guant*namo Bay, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch also remains concerned that the administration has not 
disavowed certain abusive interrogation methods, such as "water boarding," a 
form of mock execution.

"If the McCain law demonstrates to the world that the United States really 
opposes torture, the Graham-Levin amendment risks telling the world the 
opposite," said Malinowski.
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