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From:
<<a href="mailto:steinnlgchicago@yahoo.com%3ENick" eudora="autourl">
mailto:steinnlgchicago@yahoo.com>Nick</a> Stein<br>
Subject: [NLGchicago] NLG statement today on torture
investigation<br><br>
<<a href="http://nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry070927-072308" eudora="autourl">
http://nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry070927-072308</a>
><a href="http://nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry070927-072308" eudora="autourl">
http://nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry070927-072308<br><br>
</a>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, October 9, 2007<br><br>
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS FOR APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL INDEPENDENT
COUNSEL TO INVESTIGATE BUSH POLICIES THAT AMOUNT TO TORTURE<br><br>
Contact: Marjorie Cohn, NLG President,
<<a href="mailto:marjorie@tjsl.%20edu" eudora="autourl">
mailto:marjorie@tjsl. edu</a>>marjorie@tjsl. edu; 858-204-3565<br>
Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director,
<<a href="mailto:director@nlg" eudora="autourl">mailto:director@nlg</a>
. org>director@nlg. org; 212 679-5100 x.11<br><br>
In February 2005, the Justice Department issued a secret opinion
endorsing the harshest interrogation techniques the CIA has ever used,
according to an October 4, 2007 report in the New York Times. <br>
The National Lawyers Guild calls for the appointment of a special
prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration' s authorization of
aggressive interrogation techniques, including simulated drowning known
as water boarding, exposing detainees to frigid temperatures, and
head-slapping. While the Bush administration on Friday asserted that it
did not approve torture techniques, and refused to make public
classified Justice Department legal opinions, the New York Times
reported that two secret Justice Department opinions in 2005 explicitly
permitted the use of painful physical and psychological
techniques. The authorized techniques amount to torture, and are
unlawful in all circumstances, even in time of war. The Convention
Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment provides: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever,
whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in
stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a
justification of torture." The Torture Convention is a treaty
ratified by the United States and therefore part of U.S. law under the
Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.<br><br>
Torture is a war crime. Those who commit or order torture can be
convicted under the U.S. War Crimes Statute. Techniques that don't
rise to the level of torture but constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment also violate U.S. law. Congress should provide
for the appointment of a special independent counsel to fully investigate
and prosecute all who are complicit in the torture and mistreatment of
prisoners in U.S. custody.<br><br>
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association which
did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest
and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United
States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every
state.<br>
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