The Justice Department and the UN Convention Against Torture

In regards to my last post about the Geneva Conventions, I concluded with the statement that realistically, al-Qaeda would have no obligations to follow the Geneva Conventions' statutes against torturing their detainees. Since they are unlawful combatants acting outside the rules of international politics, they were not protect by nor obliged to them. This somewhat justified the decision to ignore the Geneva Conventions on behalf of the United States. However, the United States still had one entity to answer to-The United Nations Convention Against Torture.

The United Nations Convention Against Torture was yet another set of statutes previously signed by the United States that addressed the torture and humiliation of detainees. However, the statutes were extremely vague in their vocabulary. John Yoo and the Justice Department, under the power of Albert Gonzales at the time, stated that the Convention was too vague to adhere to entirely. The Justice Department sent a memo to the White House outlining the definitions of torture that could be used against detainees, highlighting the loopholes of the Conventions.

Critics believed that the definitions of torture provided by Yoo and the Justice Department were so intense that they could rival the methods employed by Saddam Hussein. Others went further, claiming that it was outrageous and should never have even been considered.

The memo claimed that torture could include the loss of bodily function or even result in death. The lack of humanity supported by the United States government completely went against the historic reputation the United States had famously cultivated since the birth of our nation. Everything was beginning to unravel before American eyes.