11/12/10: (New) UN special rapporteur says waterboarding is torture

Juan Mendez is the new United Nations special rapporteur on torture. Juan Mendez was tortured by electrical shocks in the 70's. He is the first special rapporteur on torture to have been tortured himself.

Mr. Mendez takes over for Manfred Nowak

I mean that.

Well, DUH! Thank God for the UN. I wonder if they'll actually do anything about it?

and then one of the members could veto it. The Council has five permanent members (China, France, Russian, UK, US) and ten non-permanent members. (elected to serve a set amount of time) G'head. Guess who would veto.

The UN could give support to universal jurisdiction attempts (by a signatory/signatories) to uphold CAT (Convention Against Torture). By openly supporting a nation's attempt to bring the Bush administration to justice for their crimes. I believe that each time a spokesperson for the UN declares waterboarding torture - they are politely reminding the states of their obligations.

Now, as to the impact of such declarations....We'll see.

just explained to the world that Yoo was just some well-meaning desk jockey who merely used "poor judgment".

Standing by Yoo (for a second time):

11/9/2010

Separately, the Justice Department advised the House of Representatives and Senate judiciary committees that it had reviewed newly found e-mails sent by Bush administration lawyer John Yoo and stands by a conclusion that Yoo did not commit professional misconduct in authorizing CIA interrogators to use waterboarding and other harsh tactics. The department's letter to the committees, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, stood by the earlier finding that Yoo had merely exhibited poor judgment.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40091824/ns/us_news-security

Reports: DOJ Torture Memo Probe Clears Yoo, Bybee

February 1, 2010

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/reports_doj_review_clears_yoo_in_toture_memo_probe.php




John Yoo is Sorry for Nothing.
Torture Policy
Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/kamiya/2009/03/10/john_yoo

"The U.N. Convention Against Torture, to which the U.S. is a signatory, defines torture as the infliction of "severe pain." The U.N. Convention is implemented in U.S. law (18 U.S.C. 2340). Yoo's legal task was to find legal grounds to define "severe" in such a diminished way as to allow the Bush administration to torture without fear of punishment. This was no easy task: There simply is nothing on the books to support such a redefinition. But when there's a war on terror to be fought, creative minds find a way.

Yoo came up with one of the most bizarre, illogical and specious arguments in the history of law. He dug up a federal statute that had absolutely nothing to do with the issue he was examining, seized upon a passing reference in that statute to "severe pain" that was not and could not possibly be interpreted to be a definition of that state, and then asserted with a straight face that this reference supported a radical redefinition of "severe pain." To compound this, he then lied about what the statute actually said.

In short, he simply made up a torture-friendly definition of "severe pain," and then found a way to justify it.

The statute Yoo cited, 42 U.S.C. 1395, regulates insurance benefits under the "Medicare and Choice" plan. It defines an emergency medical condition as one "manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) that a prudent layman" could reasonably expect that without immediate medical treatment, the individual displaying those symptoms would be at serious risk of losing their health, suffering serious impairment to bodily functions, or suffering serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. From this bureaucratic definition of "emergency medical condition," Yoo magically derived a new, torture-friendly definition of "severe pain."


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K & R. As always, thank you Solly Mack. This is a very important development, and I hope the paid RW trolls don't get this one buried, for sure.

who ended up in prison knew of the "poor judgment" defense.

It's pathetic. It really is...

Excellent links

Zero.

To the Hague.