U.S. touts ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ — except when it comes to Bush and torture

By Chuck Turchick | Friday, Sept. 16, 2011   MinnPost

“Equal Justice Under Law.” Along with a seal of the United States, those four words appear on a huge marble slab covering almost the entire back wall opposite the entrance of the Federal Building/U.S. Courthouse in downtown Minneapolis – four words that say so much.

If only they were true.

The attorneys in the United States Attorney’s Office on the sixth floor must be going in the back door. The words are impossible to miss if one walks in the front door.

A group of us recently met with two assistant U.S. attorneys, one of whom is second-in-command to U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones. Among our requests was that former President George W. Bush, who will speak at a Beth El Synagogue fundraiser in St. Louis Park on Sept. 21, be brought in for questioning while he is in Minnesota, the jurisdiction for which Jones is the chief federal law-enforcement officer.

The attorneys said little in response, nothing that would indicate whether they would act on our requests. But the bemused looks on their faces spoke volumes. And First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti did say to one of the participants as she was leaving that the prosecution of George W. Bush for torture “ain’t gonna happen.”

“Equal Justice Under Law”? Maybe a paraphrase of George Orwell would be more accurate: All of us are equal under the law, but some are more equal than others.

Admits authorizing water boarding

On his book tour last fall, former President Bush repeatedly proclaimed that he had authorized water boarding. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have been clear that water boarding is torture. The Federal Torture Statute outlaws conspiracy to torture if the torture occurs outside the United States. President Bush’s multiple admissions fall precisely into this category. The case against George W. Bush is an easy case.

When he signed the Convention Against Torture in 1988, former President Ronald Reagan summarized the essence of its most important provisions: “Each State Party is required to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution.”

Ah, but what about those legal memos? Didn’t Bush rely on the legal advice he was being given? By his own words, no, he did not. On Nov. 8, 2010, in an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC, he was asked about the water boarding that he had authorized: “You’d make the same decision again today?” He responded, “Yeah, I would.”

Legal memos withdrawn as inoperative

If Bush would make the same decision today, when he knows that the legal memos he supposedly relied on were withdrawn as faulty and inoperative legal advice — which occurred during his own administration — it’s questionable whether he was actually relying on those legal memos at the time. This is not a difficult case.

Marti heads up the Terrorism and National Security Team in the local U.S. Attorney’s Office. Nothing he or Jones could do would do more for national security than to open an investigation into Bush’s admitted crimes, bring him in for questioning, and if necessary prosecute him for violating 18 U.S.C. Secs. 2340-2340A, the Federal Torture Statute. It would weaken al-Qaida, strengthen our alliances, and enhance our human-rights standing in the world.

Unless that happens, that slab of marble is a mere decoration. If “equal justice under law” ain’t gonna happen for George W. Bush in this jurisdiction, I would again summon the words of Reagan: “Mr. Jones, tear down this wall.”

Chuck Turchick is a retired Minneapolis resident who is concerned about torture and torture accountability issues. A Candlelight Vigil Against Torture will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., outside Beth El Synagogue, 5224 26th St. W. (Hwy. 100 and 26th St.) in St. Louis Park. Coincidentally, in 1981 the United Nations declared Sept. 21 International Day of Peace, also known as World Peace Day. As President Bush is feted inside, the vigil will call for a return to the rule of law.

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