The legality of torture is not open for debate. Torture is illegal. It is illegal all the time and in every case, even when it’s done outside the country. It doesn’t matter whether you personally support the torture of terror suspects or not, there are no exceptions to the law. What’s more, the law prescribes rather harsh punishment for those convicted of engaging in or conspiring to engage in torture. To-wit:
Title 18 § 2340A U.S.C.
(a) Offense.— Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.(b) Jurisdiction.— There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if—
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.(c) Conspiracy.— A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
Convinced? Pretty clear, isn’t it? This law isn’t new. It was the law of the land during the entirety of the Bush Administration, the entire duration of Dick Cheney’s service as Vice President.
Now, take a moment to watch the video clip to the right of this article. It’s a clip from Dick Cheney’s appearance on ABC’s “This Week” program this past Sunday. Watch the clip and decide for yourself. Did Dick Cheney confess to a felony or not?
If I were to confess to a felony on national television I am reasonably certain that my confession would not go unnoticed. If I were to confess to a federal crime as heinous as torture, I am confident that the FBI would be knocking on my door sooner rather than later. No doubt about it, I’d be headed for jail. As far as I know, Dick Cheney remains at large.
Our justice system operates in mysterious ways, doesn’t it. It truly is a marvel. Bill Clinton, of course, didn’t “have sex with that woman,” and waterboarding isn’t torture.
When I was child my brother and I liked to play football. We liked to play it inside the house. My mother had a strict rule against playing football in the house, and she decreed that all violations would be punished by the application of a belt to our bottoms. We were not deterred.
Obviously, we recognized that we could not play football and escape punishment. Mom had said nothing, however, about playing a game we called “Peaches.” The rules of peaches were strikingly similar to the rules of football, and the two games were indistinguishable to the casual observer.
When Mom discovered us playing peaches she charged us with the crime of football. In our defense we pled that our mother was mistaken. We were not playing football, but rather were playing peaches, a game against which there was no rule. I will leave it to you to imagine how that worked out.
Torture is a crime. A serious crime. It is a crime every time. The law applies to you, me and Dick Cheney alike. Enforcement of the law, however, may vary.
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Quoting Eugene Robinson in the NY times today, “If the Bush-Cheney administration’s White House lawyers could invent a legal justification for torture, can’t somebody come up with a theory that would allow retroactive impeachment?”