Listics

The following is from today’s press release.  Note the high ranking petitioners, including Rear Admiral
John D. Hutson (Ret. USN), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy, and Brigadier General James Cullen (Ret. USA), former Chief Judge (IMA) of
the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for
the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody, the
American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First charged today in
the first federal court lawsuit to name a top U.S. official in the
ongoing torture scandal in Iraq and Afghanistan that has tarnished
America’s reputation.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Illinois on behalf of
eight men who were subject to torture and abuse at the hands of U.S.
forces under Secretary Rumsfeld’s command. The parties are seeking a
court order declaring that Secretary Rumsfeld’s actions violated the
U.S. Constitution, federal statutes and international law.

“Secretary Rumsfeld bears direct and ultimate responsibility for
this descent into horror by personally authorizing unlawful
interrogation techniques and by abdicating his legal duty to stop
torture,” said Lucas Guttentag, lead counsel in the lawsuit and
director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “He gives lip
service to being responsible but has not been held accountable for his
actions. This lawsuit puts the blame where it belongs, on the Secretary
of Defense.”

The groups are joined as co-counsel in the lawsuit by Rear Admiral
John D. Hutson (Ret. USN), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy;
Brigadier General James Cullen (Ret. USA), former Chief Judge (IMA) of
the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals; and Bill Lann Lee, Chair of
the Human Rights Practice Group at Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann &
Bernstein, LLP and former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
at the Department of Justice. Admiral Hutson and General Cullen are “of
counsel” to Human Rights First.

The Defense Department has issued a denial of responsibility for the war crimes and crimes against humanity.