Loopholes in Torture Ban

Check out this op-ed article by David Cole about the executive order signed by President Bush purporting to ensure that interrogation practices meet international legal norms as set out under the Geneva Conventions. The article is telling, highlighting the ambiguities in the language and arguing that this order will make little difference to the treatment of detainees. The following paragraph is worth quoting in full:

"The executive order's most revealing words come at the end. Its final section states that the order creates no rights enforceable by any victim against the United States or its employees, while expressly offering CIA employees a defense against any attempt to hold them liable for abuse. The ultimate purpose of the law, in other words, is to protect the potential perpetrators, not the potential victims."

It will be interesting to see what impacts, if any, this executive order will have on future interrogations and the treatment of so called enemy combatants. Unfortunately though, as Cole points out, the ban may well prove to be unenforceable.