No immunity for torture

By Anthony D. Romero
Sunday, November 21, 2010; 7:43 PM

Contrary to your assertions [editorial, Nov. 16], our country's laws prohibiting torture are clear. As you pointed out, the State Department has characterized waterboarding as torture when used by other countries, and Americans have been prosecuted for waterboarding. That is why the American Civil Liberties Union wrote to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this month urging him to include President George W. Bush in an ongoing criminal investigation into detainee interrogations. The former president's admission that he directly authorized waterboarding - torture - cannot be ignored, and the case against him and other high-level officials is strong, bolstered by Mr. Bush's own admissions.

Furthermore, the legal opinions upon which Mr. Bush says he relied were improper and dangerous misinterpretations of the law. They certainly do not provide immunity.

If our nation is truly committed to the rule of law, we cannot ignore the evidence that those in power committed crimes by authorizing torture. In the United States, no one is above the law - even former presidents.

The Obama administration must take concrete action and pursue accountability for these criminal acts. "Looking forward" will not suffice and will not prevent a repetition of one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history.

Anthony D. Romero, New York

The writer is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.