Faulty Torture Investigations Destroy Accountability

Eric Holder has recently announced that he plans to conduct investigations into Bush-era torture crimes that took place at such locations as Abu Ghraib. Accountability is a necessity in any government and is especially important considering the grave violations of civil liberties and due process that have been committed by the United States government over the past decade in the name of security. However, Holder's proposed investigations work to threaten rather than strengthen the existence of a free society.

The plethora of information that has been made available since the incidents of torture make it clear that they were not simple acts "rogue" interrogators but rather the result of major policy decisions made by officials high up in the ranks of the United States government. However, Holder intends not to investigate the orders made by the higher officials but rather to pursue the investigations of these so-called “rogue” interrogators onto whom the Bush administration has cast the responsibility for these heinous acts. Holder intends to investigate those individuals who went beyond the torture limits set by John Yoo, a former official in the United States Department of Justice. Yoo was instrumental in rewriting the policy and issuing the memo’s that served to authorize and literally legalize the atrocities that would take place at Abu Ghraib and other secret US prisons around the world.

While Holder’s proposed investigations may result in the convictions of several lower level interrogators, they will do nothing to halt similar policy decisions from occurring in the future. By only pursuing the investigations of individual interrogators, Holder not only ignores the true source of the deeds, but actually works to exacerbate problem further.

Holder’s proposed prosecution of low-level interrogators is worse than no investigation at all. The senior officials who are truly responsible will dodge the bullet as the blame is placed with a few bad seeds within the lower levels of the United States military. The convictions will then work to stem public outrage and the motivation for further investigations will disappear. Any accountability for those who made the decisions and bear true responsibility will effectively be eliminated sending a clear message to those who set the policy indicating that they are beyond the scope of the United States justice system. The immunity experienced by high level officials will not work to prevent similar policy decisions and atrocious acts from occurring in the future but will actually encourage it. All accountability will be destroyed as a Holder’s investigations set a precedent for the immunity of high level policy makers.

Accountability is a necessity for the persistence of a free and democratic society. While those who carried out the orders of their superiors and committed individual heinous acts should be investigated, those responsible for setting the policy and ordering the actions must be held accountable as well. The perception of immunity surrounding senior officials implicated in war crimes and violations of international law must be destroyed if we are to hold even the slightest hope that such atrocities can be prevented in the future.