Yet More Poisoned Chalice

By Steve Hynd

"Moving forward" instead of prosecuting the Bush administration's torturous ways could break the Atlantic alliance. So says Bernard Finel, Atlantic Council contributing editor and a senior fellow at the American Security Project. He warns:

Leaders in the United States remain largely unaware of the political pressures on their European counter-parts. But anger in Europe at torture and the use of “black sites” in Europe combined with the political pressure from human rights groups creates a powerful dynamic for action.

And goes on to identify the three main stress points.

First, if the United States fails to cooperate with these investigations, it raises the possibility of future difficulties in intelligence sharing and cooperation on criminal justice matters. Our failure to take active measures to investigate and punish torture taints our entire justice system, potentially causing problems on issues of extradition and sharing of evidence until the U.S. system is “clean.”

Second, uncertainty about the extent of our torture activities means that many current and former U.S. government officials may be in legal jeopardy if they travel to Europe. The challenge is somewhat muted during a Democratic administration but when the next Republican president is elected he or she will inevitably appoint large numbers of former mid-level Bush Administration officials who may be tainted by their role in authorizing and implementing torture. This is not just an individual problem but rather places at risk the ability of a future Republican administration to work with European allies on a wide range of issues.

Third, we are likely to face problems in the area of military cooperation as European militaries worry about cooperating with or serving under the command of officers who might be deemed war criminals. This clearly could pose problems for NATO.

Finel is a very sharp cookie. Indeed, his three points cover most of the reasons Europe is pre-disposed towards non-cooperation with America on strategic issues like Af/Pak and the wider effort against terrorism. Add in the fact that Obama's Af/Pak plan - a retread of Bush's own - doesn't make sense, has no benchmarks and no exit strategy - and it's easy to see why Europe has largely given Obama words rather than fighting troops. They're all wondering (Germany especially, for obvious reasons) where the actual, practical, actions-not-words "change" went.

At Nuremberg, Justice Jackson warned that not holding every nation, including America itself, to the standards the Nuremberg Trials set for civilized nations would be a "poisoned chalice". So it is proving.

Comments

[Peter G.]

Another first rate post. I tried to post an apology for misreading your first on this subject but the post would not be accepted. I was delighted to be wrong. That was excellent work.

Regards, Peter

[Steve Hynd]

No apology needed, and thank you.

Typepad's been having some problems this last couple of days. Hopefully it'll sort itself out soon.

Regards, Steve

[anna missed]

ouch!