Widening the gate to America's 'dark period' (Paris / Globe & Mail) [View All]

ERNA PARIS
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
May 1, 2009 at 11:16 PM EDT

...

What is at stake for Mr. Obama is his ability to place a clear marker between his administration and that of his predecessor: in other words, his willingness to make a complete transition ...

Without clear accountability for state-instigated crimes committed in the name of the American people, Mr. Obama will be seen as lacking the moral fibre for which he is admired internationally. He will be seen as facilitating the impunity of the powerful, as having backed down on the substantive change he promised. The "Yes we can" shouted so loudly by so many Americans included the restoration of their country's reputation as a place where law rules and human rights are respected.

A decade ago, it would have been unimaginable that torture - outlawed morally since the Spanish Inquisition and formally since the UN Convention Against Torture - might become a topic of serious debate at the start of the 21st century. It is widely known that human beings whose nails are being extracted, who are shut into dark airless boxes or who believe they are being drowned will say anything to make the excruciating pain stop. I have personally interviewed French survivors of Nazi torture who made this abundantly clear 40 years after the fact ...

The United States needs to launch its own criminal investigations, but if it does not, Judge Baltasar Garzon of Spain, who is known for his efforts to extradite Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, has announced that he will open an investigation into the systemic violations of international law in the Guantanamo camp. He is able to do this under the long-standing rubric of "universal jurisdiction," in which crimes against humanity and war crimes can be tried outside national borders. Indeed, a U.S. court exercised universal jurisdiction earlier this year in a torture case involving the son of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian dictator. At the very least, subpoenas and indictments would curtail the travel of U.S. officials. In the current environment, great power is no longer a sufficient protection ...

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