Straight Platform Politics

Waterboarding In The News – Part 2

The Memos

Much is being said in the news media and web/blogs about the August 2002 ‘torture’ memos signed by Jay Bybee. Jay Bybee was the Assistant Attorney General with the Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, at that time.

One memo deals with the standards of conduct for interrogation under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) as implemented by Congress (18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A).

It is a legal opinion written in legalese by a lawyer for a lawyer. The ‘standard of conduct’ memo neither mentions nor addresses the interrogation procedure known as waterboarding.

This memo was drafted less than a year after the U.S. was attacked on 9/11 and war was declared against Iraq. Keeping America safe was the mindset of not only Pres. Bush, but also of Congress and of most of the American public.

Key words, phrases, and definitions in sections 2340-2340A of the U.S. Code and in UNCAT are examined and explained. Important differences between torture and ‘cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment’ within the context of the Convention and the Code are clarified.

National and international court cases are analyzed with respect to what actions meet the definition of torture. The constitutional Commander-in-Chief powers are examined as well as national necessity and national self-defense.

Some people find this memo unnerving since it deals with torture in an unemotional manner. But that is the nature of law; law is not warm and fuzzy. Neither is the explanation of law.

The attack and the war made the examination of what is and what is not considered torture necessary — distasteful, but necessary.

9/11, Abu Zabaydah, CAT, CIA, Department of Justice, Iraq, Jay Bybee, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, UNCAT, United Nations, United Nations Convention, commander-in-chief, commander-in-chief powers, court cases, cruel, inhuman, and degrading, interrogation, law, national necessity, national self-defense, torture, torture memos, waterboarding