The Bush-Cheney policy of torturing military detainees survived the veto-proof Congressional ban through a presidential signing statement. But what guarantees its survival as an actual practice is the same law’s prevention of tortured or mistreated detainees from seeking redress for their mistreatment through the courts. So they’re stuck in limbo – free to be tortured by the executive branch, and stripped of constitutional defenses. So the mistreatment goes on:
"These allegations . . . describe disgusting treatment, that if proven, is treatment that is cruel, profoundly disturbing and violative of" U.S. and foreign treaties banning torture, Judge Kessler told the government’s lawyers. She said she needs more information, but made clear she is considering banning the use of larger nasal-gastric tubes and the restraint chair.
In court filings, the Justice Department lawyers argued that language in the law written by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) gives Guantanamo Bay detainees access to the courts only to appeal their enemy combatant status determinations and convictions by military commissions.
"Unfortunately, I think the government’s right; it’s a correct reading of the law," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "The law says you can’t torture detainees at Guantanamo, but it also says you can’t enforce that law in the courts."
Thomas Wilner, a lawyer representing several detainees at Guantanamo, agreed that the law cannot be enforced. "This is what Guantanamo was about to begin with, a place to keep detainees out of the U.S. precisely so they can say they can’t go to court," Wilner said.
The torture regime is still in force. Just as Cheney wanted. And you thought you lived in a democracy.
The Dish 