Torture, Accountability, and Prosecutions: Looking Back to Move Forward
At last year's Netroots Nation, few of the expert panelists were willing to entertain the notion of prosecuting former Bush officials for torture, illegal wiretapping and other crimes. National polls now show most Americans want to see investigations and a substantial number want to see the criminals prosecuted. For months, the Obama administration consistently talked about "looking forward, not backward" and not wanting to "criminalize policy differences," but mid-summer indications from the Attorney General’s office are that he is considering an independent special prosecutor, albeit one that may not go all the way up the chain of command. What role is there for Congress to play? What don’t we know yet and what do we still need to learn about the torture program? How do we bridge the gap between what the country wants, what the law demands, and how far the politicians seem willing to go? What role can activists play in making sure the country does this right so that it never happens again?
Congressman Jerrold Nadler represents New York’s Eighth Congressional district which is entirely within New York City. He was first elected to the House in 1992 after serving for 16 years in the NY State Assembly. Throughout his career he has championed civil rights, civil liberties, efficient transportation, and a host of progressive issues such as access to health care, support for the arts and protection of the Social Security system. Congressman Nadler is a senior member of both the House Judiciary Committee and the House Transportation Committee.
Melissa Goodman is a Staff Attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project. She has litigated cases concerning the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the FBI and the Defense Department's use of "national security letters," the government's practice of ideological exclusion, and the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program. Ms. Goodman is a graduate of New York University College of Arts and Science and New York University Law School. Prior to working at the ACLU, Ms. Goodman served as law clerk to the Hon. Frederic Block, United States District Court for the Eastern District.
Marcy Wheeler blogs as “emptywheel” at FireDogLake.com, and also for the Campaign for America’s Future. She is best known for her book, Anatomy of Deceit, which served as a primer of the CIA Leak case, and her live-blogging of the Scooter Libby trial. She has covered efforts to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its illegal warrantless wiretapping and torture programs. Wheeler has a PhD from the University of Michigan and has spoken on blogging and politics at Amherst College, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and Duke Law School. She was recently awarded the 2009 Hillman Prize for Blog Journalism.
Vince Warren became the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in 2006. Vince oversees CCR’s cutting edge litigation and advocacy work which includes combating the illegal expansion of presidential power and policies such as illegal detention at Guantanamo, rendition, torture and warrantless wiretapping; holding corporations and government officials accountable for human rights abuses; and, challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. CCR has filed war crimes suits against Donald Rumsfeld and other high-level US officials in European courts under their universal jurisdiction laws, represents hundreds of victims of the “war on terror” in U.S. courts.
