Lawsuit Holds Rumsfeld Accountable

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Lawsuit Holds Rumsfeld Accountable

The ACLU and Human Rights First last week filed a lawsuit charging that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody. This is the first federal court lawsuit to name a top U.S. official in the ongoing torture scandal in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"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 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 plaintiffs were incarcerated in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they were subjected to torture and other degrading treatment. None of the men were ever charged with a crime, and all have been released.

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