War crimes investigation urged against ex-U.S. president

Human Rights Watch has called on U.S. President Barack Obama to order an investigation against George Bush and other ex-top officials for torture of prisoners. "There are solid grounds to investigate Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Tenet for authorizing torture and war crimes," said Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth. War crimes investigation urged against ex-U.S. president The 107-page report, "Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees," points out that the Obama administration has failed to meet U.S. obligations under the Convention against Torture to investigate acts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees. If the U.S. government does not pursue credible criminal investigations, other countries should prosecute U.S. officials involved in crimes against detainees in accordance with the international law, Human Rights Watch said. "The U.S. has a legal obligation to investigate these crimes," Roth said. "If the U.S.doesn't act on them, other countries should." In August 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder accepted a recommendation to carry out full investigations of two deaths in CIA custody, reportedly from Iraq and Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch has condemned “the limited probe that could not cover systematic crimes”, especially the cases of "waterboarding". The organization points out that Bush publicly admitted that in two cases he approved the use of waterboarding, a form of mock execution involving near-drowning that the U.S. has long prosecuted as a type of torture, and that Bush also authorized the illegal CIA secret detention and renditions programs. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was the driving force behind the establishment of illegal detention and interrogation policies, chairing key meetings at which specific CIA operations were discussed, including the waterboarding of one detainee, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved illegal interrogation methods, while CIA Director George Tenet authorized and oversaw the CIA's use of waterboarding, stress positions, light and noise bombardment, sleep deprivation, and other abusive interrogation methods, as well as the CIA rendition program, it is said in the Human Rights Watch report. George Bush (Beta, file)

War crimes investigation urged against ex-U.S. president

The 107-page report, "Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees," points out that the Obama administration has failed to meet U.S. obligations under the Convention against Torture to investigate acts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees.

If the U.S. government does not pursue credible criminal investigations, other countries should prosecute U.S. officials involved in crimes against detainees in accordance with the international law, Human Rights Watch said.

"The U.S. has a legal obligation to investigate these crimes," Roth said. "If the U.S.doesn't act on them, other countries should."

In August 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder accepted a recommendation to carry out full investigations of two deaths in CIA custody, reportedly from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Human Rights Watch has condemned “the limited probe that could not cover systematic crimes”, especially the cases of "waterboarding".

The organization points out that Bush publicly admitted that in two cases he approved the use of waterboarding, a form of mock execution involving near-drowning that the U.S. has long prosecuted as a type of torture, and that Bush also authorized the illegal CIA secret detention and renditions programs.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was the driving force behind the establishment of illegal detention and interrogation policies, chairing key meetings at which specific CIA operations were discussed, including the waterboarding of one detainee, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved illegal interrogation methods, while CIA Director George Tenet authorized and oversaw the CIA's use of waterboarding, stress positions, light and noise bombardment, sleep deprivation, and other abusive interrogation methods, as well as the CIA rendition program, it is said in the Human Rights Watch report.