http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20090417001 (Washington) --In response to news that the U.S. Department of Justice released memos that provided the legal framework for the Central Intelligence Agency's use of waterboarding and other illegal interrogation methods that violate domestic and international law, Amnesty International's executive director Larry Cox made the following statement:
"The Obama administration's decision to release the remaining U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memos relating to the treatment of detainees held in connection with the war on terror is welcome. There can be no accountability in government without transparency.
"However, the Department of Justice appears to be offering a get-out-of-jail-free card to individuals who, by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s own estimation, were involved in acts of torture."No civilized definition of 'reasonable' behavior can ever encompass acts of torture. Torture has long been recognized to be a violation of both national and international law, and no single legal opinion, no matter from what source, can change that.
"The president said today that this is 'a time for reflection not retribution.' The United States has had plenty of time for reflection--there is very little information in the newly released material that hadn’t leaked out long before. He also said that the United States is a nation of laws. But laws only have meaning if they are enforced. The United States has laws prohibiting torture, and two-thirds of Americans support an investigation into what has been done in their name. That is not seeking to lay blame; that is a call for justice long overdue."
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