Sunday, January 13, 2008

They aren't people, so it isn't torture.


A federal appeals court Friday threw out a suit by four British Muslims who allege that they were tortured and subjected to religious abuse in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. After being held for more than two years, the four men were repatriated to Britain in 2004 where they were freed within 24 hours without facing any criminal charges.

The circuit court said that the interrogation tactics, which Rumsfeld first authorized in 2002, were incidental to the duties of those who'd been sued. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson held that it was foreseeable that indisputably seriously criminal would be could be implemented by military officials without any accountability. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the detainees captured in Afghanistan aren't recognized as persons under American law in order to leave them with no remedy for their kidnapping, imprisonment and torture. This judge has an impeccable resume, so you know there was no partisan influence in her work. She was first nominated to the bench by Ronald Reagan and then put on the appellate court by George H.W. Bush in the seat vacated by Kenneth W. Starr.

Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the next Bush nominee for the Supreme Court!

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