Jim Lobe

Two major US human rights groups a few days ago filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago against Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight named Afghan and Iraqi plaintiffs who say they were tortured and abused while in the custody of the US military. The 76-page filing by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights First (HRF) asserts that Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq and should be held accountable.

The plaintiffs are asking the courts to issue an order declaring that Rumsfeld’s actions violate the US Constitution, federal law, and international treaties ratified by the US, notably the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture. They are also asking that they be compensated for the harm inflicted by their treatment in detention. The case caps a series of disclosures about US military abuses against detainees held in Afghanistan and Iraq sin-ce last April when photos depicting the torture and humiliation of Iraqis held in Abu Ghraib prison first came to light.

Meanwhile, leaks of internal administration memorandums from the White House, the Pentagon and the Justice Department have also shown that Rumsfeld approved specific techniques, including “stress positions”, nudity, the use of dogs, prolonged isolation and interrogations, and sensory deprivation at various times since 2002.

“There is simply no doubt that his policies caused the abuses to occur,” said Lucas Guttentag, lead counsel in the lawsuit and the director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, at a press conference in Washington, who said that as defence secretary, Rumsfeld had “command responsibility”, a legal doctrine that holds that a commanding officer is liable for acts of his subordinates.

Human rights groups, the American Bar Association, a number of top retired military commanders, as well as Democratic lawmakers have called for a full-scale investigation by an independent commission to determine who was responsible. But these appeals have been repeatedly rebuffed by the administration and the Republican majority in Congress. They have insisted that the 300-some investigations, courts-martial, and administrative inquiries that have been or are still being carried out as a result of specific incidents of abuse should be adequate. So far, however, no US official above the rank of lieutenant has been punished.

Critics, however, have pointed out that none of these mechanisms has addressed the possible responsibility of senior civilian officials, although a high-level panel appointed by Rumsfeld reported that his lists of permissible interrogation methods led to confusion in the field as to what was authorised. All of the plaintiffs have been extensively interviewed by ACLU and HRF lawyers who said they hoped to bring them to the US to testify personally.

Rumsfeld is also the target of another lawsuit, one brought last October in Britain by the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights representing four British ex-detainees. It named Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, and several other officers for their responsibility in the treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay navy base in Cuba. — IPS