I just saw an excellent interview with
Reed Brody of
HRW on the French answer to CNN:
France 24 (pronounced France
vingt-quatre, s'il vous plaît). Brody presented an official report,
Getting Away with Torture, recommending investigation and even prosecution of Bush administration offficials and even Dubya himself.
There were a couple of interesting points that I took away from the interview:
1) Under the Bush administration, the practice of "extraordinary rendition" included sending prisoners to Syria, mostly because Syria was known for using torture in interrogation. Very interesting to see that cozy relationship with Syria broken up today in the light of Arab Spring.
2) Brody made the argument that the Obama administration was loathe to prosecute Bush and needed some prodding.
3) Another argument is that the US is today asking Arab states to "respect human rights" in their own countries but that those requests appear as exploiting a "double standard" on human rights: one standard for Arab and African countries and a different standard for the US itself.
4) Finally, Brody argued that the torture campaigns under the Bush administration had created greater insecurity for the US. Photos of Abu Ghraib have turned into recruitment posters for militant islamic groups. The US prosecution of those behind the illegal torture campaign could only improve the image of the US in the Arab world.
Obama has stated previously that he did not want to prosecute the former administration. He may have trouble
of his own with the Bradley Manning case, by the UN no less.
I've covered the secret prisons before, including the dismal level of analysis in international media. Happy to see this come to the forefront today.
