Getting away with torture

"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.