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UN investigator says U.S. has "clear obligation" to prosecute Leaked e-mails show Bush-Cheney directed torture memos
Torture Accountability Action Day 11am-12noon: Rally in John Marshall Park (501 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) 12 noon: March to U.S. Department of Justice To help support this effort, click here.
According to newly leaked emails, in 2005 then Deputy Attorney General James Comey met with then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to express his "grave reservations" with Justice Department memos vindicating the Bush-Cheney torture regime.
How did Gonzales respond? He "explained that he was under great pressure from the Vice President to complete both memos, and that the President had even raised it" with him the previous week. Here's the proof! For months, Bush administration officials have asserted they were simply following legal advice -- now we know, from Gonzales himself, that these legal opinions were produced on-demand.
Bush and Cheney knew they were breaking the law. That's why they worked so hard to try to craft legal cover.
According to the Washington Post, Comey laid out a scenario to Gonzales in which Bush administration officials would end up facing criminal prosecution. Comey reported, "I explained to him what this would look like some day and what it would mean for the president and the government... I told him it would all come out some day."
Each revelation exposes a new layer of criminality, and people are starting to demand answers. On Tuesday, Sen. Whitehouse took the Senate floor and said, “I want my colleagues and the American public to know that measured against the information I have been able to gain access to, the story line we have been led to believe -- the story line about waterboarding we have been sold --is false in every one of its dimensions.”
Already several Bush officials are hurling towards the fate Comey anticipated: prosecution. Leandro Despouy, UN Special Rapporteur (investigator) on the independence of judges and lawyers, made clear that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will "soon be in trouble for the role he played in human rights abuses." (AFP) "Wherever [Rumsfeld] goes, he will face difficulties," Despouy told the press. He asserted that Rumsfeld and Cheney's recent bout of defensiveness have nothing to do with defending the war on terror and everything to do with their fear that they may be taken to task once Guantanamo is closed.
Full disclosure and accountability are within reach of the American public, but it will require a sustained campaign to keep the pressure on. There are more than a few Bush officials, including former Vice President Cheney, who will use their power and influence to obstruct our access to the real story. We need your helpto make prosecution a reality. We cannot let the criminals get away.
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