Rumsfeld Shouldn't be Fired, He Should be Indicted

Its not Donald Rumsfelds colossal arrogance or his glaring misjudgments we should be focusing on. Its his potential crimes. The mainstream media in the U.S. is giving enormous attention to the retired generals who are demanding Donald Rumsfeld%u2019s resignation because of his autocratic style and his bungling in Iraq. But the mainstream media is barely discussing Rumsfelds alleged culpability in the abusive treatment of detainees, up to and including torture. The question at this point is not whether Secretary Rumsfeld should resign, its whether he should be indicted, says Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch, who directs its terrorism and counterterrorism program. She was reacting to a report from Salon.com that Rumsfeld was personally involved in monitoring the interrogation at Guantanamo of the so-called 20th hijacker, Muhammad al-Qahtani. For six weeks at the end of 2002 and the start of 2003, U.S. interrogators worked al-Qahtani over. Among other things, they forced him to stand naked in front of a female interrogator, and they forced him to wear womens underwear and to performdog tricks on a leash, according to salon.com. Human Rights Watch disagrees. It says that Rumsfeld could be criminally liable under federal or military criminal law for torture, assaults, and sexual abuse for the treatment of al-Qahtani.And Human Rights Watch says they deprived him of sleep, forced him into painful physical positions, and made him suffer sexual and other physical humiliation.They also forced him to take an enema, and at one point they forced him to take water intravenously and then refused to allow him to use a latrine so that he urinated on himself at least twice. On top of that, they brought in a snarling dog. All of these acts were specifically intended to cause severe physical pain and suffering and severe mental pain and suffering, says Mariner of Human Rights Watch. Thats the legal definition of torture. Much of al-Qahtanis interrogation occurred while a December 2, 2002, Rumsfeld directive was in effect. (He rescinded it, under pressure from the Navy, six weeks later.) That memo authorized sixteen controversial interrogation techniques, including the use of nudity, removal of religious items, sensory deprivation, blaring music, stress positions, and dogs."