Call of Cthulhu

Rumskull Ordered the Tortures

A recent MSNBC article shines the spotlight on a little-known top secret interrogation center called BIF ("Battlefield Interrogation Facility"), and on the Delta Force commandos that run it:

According to two top U.S. government sources, it is the scene of the most egregious violations of the Geneva Conventions in all of Iraq’s prisons.

These sources say the prisoners there are hooded from the moment they are captured. They are kept in tiny dark cells. And in the BIF’s six interrogation rooms, Delta Force soldiers routinely drug prisoners, hold a prisoner under water until he thinks he’s drowning, or smother them almost to suffocation.

This isn't "abuse"; this is torture, and in its clearest legal meaning. This is not only an abrogation of the Geneva Convention, it is a clear violation of US Law:

According to the Congress of the United States, "'torture' means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control."

The MSNBC article goes on to a chilling, damning point:

So, does Rumfeld know about the BIF and what goes on there? Several top U.S. military and intelligence sources say yes, and that he, through other top Pentagon officials, directed the U.S. head of intelligence in Iraq, Gen. Barbara Fast, and others to bring some of the methods used at the BIF to prisons like Abu Ghraib, in hopes of getting better intelligence from Iraqi detainees.

That bears repeating: Rumskull directed that the torture techniques used at BIF be used at Abu Ghraib as well.

Can Rumskull be held accountable? Does the law apply to him? What, if anything, would be the penalty?

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113C > Sec. 2340A. - Torture

(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.

If the allegations in the MSNBC article are proven true, then Rumskull, Cambone, Boykin, and Miller are all in serious trouble. Perhaps Feith as well. We're talking life in Spandau prison kind of trouble, if they're lucky. A new President might just be tempted to send them all to a court in Baghdad.

For an extremely detailed view of this mess, go to Warblogging: George Paine has placed the gavel firmly in the hands of the War Crimes Tribunal with his research.