Secretary of Defense Sued for Torture while Media Cover Michael Jackson trial
Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 09:45PM
TheSpook
On
March 1, the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First
filed a historic lawsuit, Ali et al. v. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of
Defense of the United States of America, in U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois (the defendant's home state). In all
forms of media, there has been minimal coverage of the very existence
of this legal action, and even less of the precisely documented
charges, including the defendant's violations of American and
international laws and the consequences of his continuing lawlessness.
The ACLU claims that, "Along with his subordinates, Secretary Rumsfeld
authorized, ratified and failed to stop the unlawful treatment of
detainees in U.S. custody. Secretary Rumsfeld had the power to
formulate policies relating to the treatment and interrogation of
detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, was directly and personally involved
in setting interrogation rules, and exercised his power to allow
illegal practices, namely, the torture or other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. . . . "[Rumsfeld]
knew that his subordinates were torturing detainees in U.S. custody and
violated his duty as a commander to punish the perpetrators or
otherwise prevent further acts of torture." According to our rule of law,
why are Rumsfeld and Bush not being subpoenaed by Congress to account
for their unabated lawlessness? [more]