WASHINGTON, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Senate Intelligence report documenting incidents of torture under the George W. Bush administration’s legal justification for torture could hypothetically lead to prosecutions, attorney Alberto Moro, former general counsel of the US Navy told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“The Senate Intelligence report may open up the issue of accountability in an important way,” Moro said during a teleconference held by Human Rights First. “The Bush administration was always unanimous that torture is a criminal act that is prohibited under law and will be prosecuted. If the report documents individuals going beyond the very broad authorizations that were given during the Bush administration, then that - at least hypothetically - opens up the possibility for prosecution in those areas.”
Late last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation tactics during the Bush administration’s War on Terror was leaked. The report points to incidents of enhanced interrogation techniques being used that the committee determined constituted torture. The investigation into the techniques has been ongoing for 5 years, and the report was just returned to the committee after being redacted significantly, according to reports.
While Moro stated that he did not want to overstate the issue of accountability in US officials authorizing torture, he is concerned about how the US will be perceived if nothing is done to rectify the violation of international law. “The United States leadership, on the human rights front, would be severely compromised if we engage in prohibited criminal acts and choose not to hold people accountable for them.”
