Bring on the trials

Unless it wants to become an isolated international pariah with which no other nation will sign agreements of any kind, the United States had better collect its excrement into a single place and start prosecuting people for torture. It has a legal obligation under several international treaties to do so and unless it plans to repudiate its treaty obligations, and thus invalidate all international treaties it has signed, it must fulfil those obligations.
I am not a lawyer, but Glenn Greenwald is.

The U.S. really has bound itself to a treaty called the Convention Against Torture, signed by Ronald Reagan in 1988 and ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1994. When there are credible allegations that government officials have participated or been complicit in torture, that Convention really does compel all signatories -- in language as clear as can be devised -- to "submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution" (Art. 7(1)). And the treaty explicitly bars the standard excuses that America's political class is currently offering for refusing to investigate and prosecute: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture" and "an order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture" (Art. 2 (2-3)).

(crossposted from the Woodshed)

Tim-berrrrr! New Year Contest, Step One!

Which promise will be broken next? You could win big prizes!

There are places where a random event is used to sell tickets to a charity raffle. For instance: a cow is put into in a field that's marked with a grid -- which square will get the first cow pie? Or, an old car or ice-fishing shack is put on a frozen lake or river -- what day will it fall through?

Harper has shown us that for him, breaking promises and trampling cherished policy goals is a chosen strategy, not just a regrettable necessity. After a snap election, a prorogue, a new Supreme Court justice and a Solstice Senate sent marching on their way, it's not a coincidence any more -- it's a way of life.

So for Step One of the New Year Tim-berrrrr! Broken Promise Contest, is to list as many of Harper's promises and cherished policy goals as possible.

Step Two, once the list is complete I will post it as a new post, and we can each lay claim to one or more of these. The winner is the first to have their one promise (or BOTH of two, ALL THREE of three, and so on) broken before June 21 (a solstice-to-solstice contest.)

The prize will be a lovely plush beaver, bearing in his teeth an authentic beaver-chewed branch. You could win this classy Canadian prize, so let's get going.

Noni