Originally published on the CGS blog on July 23, 2007.
Check out this op-ed article by David Cole about the executive order signed by President Bush purporting to ensure that interrogation practices meet restrictions layed out under the Geneva Conventions. The article is telling, highlighting the ambiguities in the language and arguing that this order will make little difference to the treatment of detainees. The following paragraph is worth quoting in full:
“The executive order’s most revealing words come at the end. Its final section states that the order creates no rights enforceable by any victim against the United States or its employees, while expressly offering CIA employees a defense against any attempt to hold them liable for abuse. The ultimate purpose of the law, in other words, is to protect the potential perpetrators, not the potential victims.”
Click here to read the executive order.
