From the San Francisco chapter of World Can’t Wait
(this article is based on a speech given by members of World Can’t Wait’s San Francisco chapter at a protest demanding the removal from office and prosecution of Jay Bybee, an architect of the Bush Regime’s policy of torture and now a federal judge in San Francisco).
“Today we are here to take a stand against torture. We are representing the views and the hearts of many more tens of millions of people who know that torture is a war crime, and a crime against humanity. International and U.N law both prohibit torture, under any and all circumstances, without exception. The man we protest here today, Jay Bybee, a key player on the Bush/Cheney torture team, was rewarded for providing legal advice and legal cover for the illegal actions of the Bush regime during its eight years in power with a lifetime appointment to this, the Ninth Circuit Court.”
The Bybee memo: Giving the green light for torture
After capturing alleged high-ranking al Qaida members, the CIA requested legal advice from the Bush administration as to what was allowable during interrogation to see how far they could go in torturing prisoners without the fear of being prosecuted. Alberto Gonzales directed the Office of Legal Council (OLC) to provide an answer. OLC drafted a response that was signed by Jay Bybee.
This document is the first known one to utilize Yoo’s definition that says physical pain "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." It said mental pain "must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years."
It went on to state that even if an act is "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," it does not necessarily inflict the level of pain that federal legal standards prohibit, and thus does not subject an interrogator to criminal prosecution. It further asserted that a defense of "necessity or self-defense may justify interrogation methods”. In essence the memo gave the green light for the use of torture and the CIA then proceeded to use torture in its interrogations, including extensive use of waterboarding.
Why is Bybee enjoying a position of privilege and power as a federal judge? He should be in prison, awaiting trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity! Bybee flaunted all legality and morality with his sinister work: he codified specific torture tactics to be used on captured human beings. His part in the Bush regime’s criminal enterprise also included his granting immunity to high Bush administration officials against both civil and criminal suits.
Bybee is now greeted by courthouse protests whenever the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals meets, whether Bybee is on duty that day or not. As long as a torture Judge sits on the bench of the Ninth Circuit Court, every decision his court reaches is tainted. A court where an internationally-exposed war criminal sits in judgment on anything or anyone is a sham.
Torture Museum
The display in front of you here itemizes 14 “techniques” approved by a judge now sitting on this very court. Take the time to check these out and consider what kind of mind came up with these ideas.
Let Bybee know: people of conscience insist on speaking up and speaking out, and that his crimes will be known everywhere he goes.
Let the other judges who accept a torturer as a colleague see orange jumpsuits everywhere they go.
And let the courthouse press know that there is a growing movement of people living in this country who will not allow torture judges, torture professors, torture lawyers, torture ex-presidents and vice-presidents, et al to waltz back into comfortable civilian lives as if their hands aren’t covered in blood.
Torture is a war crime, and a crime against humanity. Those who have carried out great crimes under cover of high office must be brought to justice.
Real people became victims of Yoo’s legal opinions, at least one of whom has a case in this very court;
Jose Padilla is a U.S. citizen who was arrested on May 8, 2002. President Bush designated him an “illegal enemy combatant.” According to Yoo’s memos this allowed the government to hold Padilla indefinitely without recourse to the ordinary Constitutional protections afforded to the accused. As a result Padilla was held incommunicado, in isolation for years, while being subjected to torture and abuse. Padilla’s treatment has caused not only physical pain, but extreme emotional and mental anxiety, to the extent that his defense attorneys maintained he was mentally unfit to stand trial. Yoo has been sued by Padilla on the grounds that Padilla’s torture was the result of Yoo’s memos.
What you can do
If you refuse to accept the U.S. Torture State – constructed under Bush/Cheney and now continuing under Obama – and you won’t stand for torture in your name . . .
If you do not think that the lives and purported "safety" of Americans is more valuable than the lives of others – and you won’t stand for torture in our names . . .
If you look at Bybee and all the other members of the Torture Team and you see war criminals who have brutally destroyed the lives of thousands – the detainees who’ve been disappeared, renditioned, tortured, and murdered – and you insist that war criminals must face justice so that future generations know such crimes should never again be allowed in anyone’s names . . .
And if you know that many Americans still do not really know or understand that the torture state has done in their names – and you’re willing to go public with the truth, to resist the lies with your actions, to help open their eyes and shake their consciences awake . . .
Join us today in witness of the Torture Judge who provided the legal cover to the Bush administration for its crimes, the crimes that continue to be done in our names.
And join us Monday to challenge Torture Professor John Yoo, author of the now infamous Torture Memos … take some of the flyers we are handing out here and spread the word that if we are ever to return to a rule of law, that recognizes and protects the human rights that we value, we must hold the War Criminals in our midst accountable.
(chant)
* Jay Bybee, the Torture Judge, is a war criminal!
* Impeach – disbar – and prosecute Bybee for assisting the "legalization" of torture!
Photo by Phil Pasquini