Donald Rumsfeld Stripped Of Immunity In Torture Case
(Justin Norman, Phillip Harder, and Wesley Norman, Creative Commons)
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was stripped of immunity in a case involving the torture of two United States citizens.
Two FBI informants, Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, were detained and tortured by United States military personnel in Iraq in 2006. They filed suit against Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for violations of their constitutional rights. The Judicial View states:
“Plaintiffs seek damages from Secretary Rumsfeld and others for their roles in creating and carrying out policies that caused plaintiffs’ alleged torture. Plaintiffs also bring a claim against the United States under the Administrative Procedure Act to recover personal property that was seized when they were detained.”
Rumsfeld and the United States government moved to dismiss the charges, and were denied. The plaintiffs relayed “in sufficient detail facts supporting Secretary Rumsfeld’s personal responsibility for the alleged torture.”
Alternet reports:
“Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been stripped of legal immunity for acts of torture against US citizens authorized while he was in office.”
Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel can continue their suit against Donald Rumsfeld.
The torture of these two United States citizens took place among the wider context of the inhumane torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, which Rumsfeld authorized.
Removing Rumsfeld’s status of immunity sends a larger message that crimes against humanity committed against United States citizens will not be tolerated, no matter who the perpetrators. It is a step toward proclaiming that no such crimes will ever be tolerated, whether the victims are United States citizens or Iraqi citizens or anyone around the world. And it is a step toward proclaiming that no matter who authorized such inhumane, illegal actions, they will be held responsible.
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This is encouraging news, especially now when government seems to be so hopelessly corrupt. Could this be another sign that the PTW are on their way out?
Here's another article on the subject: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/judge-allows-torture-suit-agai...
August 4, 2011, 4:42 pm
Judge Allows Torture Suit Against Rumsfeld to Go Forward
By ROGENE FISHER JACQUETTE
A federal judge has agreed to allow an Army veteran who says he was tortured during a nine-month imprisonment in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The veteran, identified only as John Doe in court documents, traveled to Iraq as a civilian employee of an American-owned defense contracting firm in December 2004. He worked as an Arabic translator and was assigned to work with a Marine Corps Human Exploitation Team, an intelligence unit.
The team operated in Anbar Province, gathering intelligence through local Iraqi contacts. In his suit, Doe maintains that he was the first American to open direct talks with a Sunni Arab tribal leader, Sheikh Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, who had gathered the Anbar tribes and worked with the Americans to fight jihadist militants in the province. (Sheikh Sattar was assassinated in 2007.)
In his suit, Doe claims that he was abducted by the American military in November 2005, as he was preparing to come home for annual leave. He was handcuffed, blindfolded and held in solitary confinement for 72 hours before being shuttled to Camp Cropper where, according to Doe, he was held in a military jail and subjected to routine abuse.
The government suspected him of sharing classified information with the enemy, the suit says, but he was never charged with a crime before he was released in August 2006. He claims that he never broke the law and that he was risking his life to help his country.
The Justice Department, which has represented Mr. Rumsfeld, argues that he cannot be sued personally for official conduct. The department also asserted that wartime decisions are the constitutional responsibility of Congress and the president, not the courts. The department also said the case could disclose sensitive information and claimed that the threat of liability would impede future military decisions.
In his decision, Judge James Gwin of Federal District Court rejected those arguments, saying that American citizens are protected by the Constitution at home or abroad during wartime. “The court finds no convincing reason that United States citizens in Iraq should or must lose previously-declared substantive due process protections during prolonged detention in a conflict zone abroad,” he said.
Doe also named as defendants Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Robert S. Mueller III, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alan Bersin, the Customs and Border Protection commissioner, and John Morton, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The lawsuit accuses them of a failure to secure the return of his property seized upon his detention and of violations of his right to travel.
In his decision, Judge James Gwin of Federal District Court rejected those arguments, saying that American citizens are protected by the Constitution at home or abroad during wartime. “The court finds no convincing reason that United States citizens in Iraq should or must lose previously-declared substantive due process protections during prolonged detention in a conflict zone abroad,” he said.
Doe also named as defendants Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Robert S. Mueller III, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alan Bersin, the Customs and Border Protection commissioner, and John Morton, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The lawsuit accuses them of a failure to secure the return of his property seized upon his detention and of violations of his right to travel.