Complaints about George Bush to Barack Obama

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) Executive Committee called on President Obama to pursue legal action against former U.S. President George W. Bush. Despite the fact that Mr. Bush acknowledged use of torture during questioning of one of the organizers of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, experts evaluate the perspective of legal proceedings against the former president with much skepticism.

In his memoir “Decision Points,” the former president told about his decision to implement torture on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the organizers of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. During the terrorist’s interrogation, President Bush gave the “green light” to use “waterboarding,” or torture with water, imitating drowning. Afterward, during the war on terrorism declared by Washington in Afghanistan and Iraq, these methods were used by the CIA on extremists.

During the recent public relations campaign to promote his memoir, the former president told NBC that these methods were not a widespread practice. “I believe that decision saved lives,” said Mr. Bush, emphasizing that these methods were within the law, and he would make the same decision even today.

The IRCT has waited for a long time for this confession. Two years ago, former CIA Director Michael Hayden declared that during the period from 2006 to 2009, his officials detained and interrogated close to 100 people, and some had “extreme” methods applied to them. Besides, the American organization Physicians for Human Rights has evidence of CIA medical staff participation in criminal experiments, which took place after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The IRCT, home to 146 torture rehabilitation centers in 73 countries, in a direct letter called for U.S. President Obama to hold his predecessor accountable for torture. Furthermore, they reminded him in the letter that, “Torture is among the gravest human rights violations in the world. And our many years of experience working in support of victims of torture enables us to state clearly that torture not only has devastating effects on the victims and their families but also on society as a whole. Torture, in short, is a tool of oppression, not of security.”

However, experts doubt that former President George Bush will face a lawsuit. “The American political practice never has had and never will have such a case,” according to a statement made to Kommersant by Sergey Rogov, the director of The Institute for the USA and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. “It will be very hard to make an accusation in accordance with the U.S. legal system. Therefore, there will be no consequences.”

Apparently, it is understood by the authors of the letter, too. Most likely, the IRCT Executive Committee hopes to achieve torture victims’ compensation from Washington. The group called for President Obama to “fulfill the United States’ relevant obligations, ensuring that all persons who have survived torture in U.S. custody receive reparations, including adequate medical and psychological care.”