CIA torture report unlikely to spark criminal prosecutions

Chances are slim that the U.S. will launch criminal prosecutions asa result of the Senate reportinto the CIA's brutal interrogation techniques, despite callsfor the individuals involvedto be held accountable.

But some civil rights organizations believe the perpetrators and architects of these interrogation tactics could face charges abroad.

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"If I were a CIA interrogator who had tortured a prisoner in some detention site somewhere, I wouldbe veryafraid of leaving the U.S.," said Wells Dixon, a senior attorney atthe Centerfor ConstitutionalRights. "I'd be afraid of arrests and prosecution for torture if Iwere to go to Canada orEuropeor LatinAmerica. Ithinkthere is anincreasinglikelihood of arrest andprosecution."

The politicsare so fraught that there's nobody in either party that is going to carry the flag for prosecution.Matthew Baum, professor of public policy at Harvard

"It's not just the people who carried out the acts of torture, but those whoauthorizedit, even at the highest level.

"If I wasvice-presidentCheney, who has bragged aboutauthorizingtorture, I'dbe concernedaboutthis as well," Dixon said.

The report, which looked into tacticsused by the Bush administration against suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, revealed that prisoners were threatened with death, subject to sleep deprivation, slappedand slammedagainst walls.Three detainees faced the simulated drowning technique known aswaterboarding.

A number of civil rights and human rights organizations have called for charges to be laid in the wake of the report.Ben Emmerson, the UN'sspecial rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights,saidthat CIA and other U.S. officials who used waterboarding and other torture techniques must be prosecuted.

AnthonyRomero, theexecutive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, suggested in a New York Times op-ed that President Barack Obama should actually pardon former president George W. Bush and some of his top officials, as an acknowledgement that crimes were committed and to ensure they wouldn'thappen again.

Mandatory obligations to prosecute

Dixon said that throughthe Convention Against Torture, there aremandatory obligations under international law to prosecute the offenders not just thosewho carried out theactsbut those who gaveauthorization.

The Justice Department hadpreviouslylaunched narrow investigations into some of the actions of the CIA related to the interrogations, but no criminal charges were laid, suggesting another investigation is improbable.

"Given that the Department of Justice already investigated these issues and declined to prosecute, I think it is extremely unlikely that charges would be forthcoming," saidCharles Dunlap, a law professor and the executive director of theCenter on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University.

Andthere seems to be little political interest to prosecute. Senate Democrats who authored the CIA report have been quiet on calls forcharges. Meanwhile,Obama suggested it was time to move ahead.

"Rather than another reason torefightold arguments, I hope that todays report can help us leave these techniques where they belong in the past," Obama said in a statement following the report's release.

With the Republicans set to controlCongress and with Democrats cautiousof looking soft on national security, it's difficult for Democrats to push too hard, said Matthew Baum, aprofessor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy school of government.

'Rarely an incentive to escalate'

"Especially with national security scandals, there israrely anincentivetoescalate to the level of criminal justice. The politicsare so fraught that there's nobody in either party that is going to carry the flag for prosecution, at least nobody in national office."

Dixon agreed that for politicalreasons, it's unlikely there will be prosecutionsin the U.S., at leastin the near future.

But as the U.S. distances itself fromprosecutingtheseactions, foreign nations,who are alsosignatories to the Convention Against Torture, are more likely to undertake these investigations, Dixon said.

"The U.S. has an obligation to prosecute. But if the [U.S.] is unwilling or unable,that mandatoryobligationshiftsto other nations," Dixon said.

Dixon pointedout that in 2009, an Italian courtconvicted23 Americans in absentiain the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from a Milan street.The case was the first trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. The accused all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents were tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.

"I would not be confident of avoidingprosecutionoverseas."

However Baum believes that the politics of an actual arrest and the possible political ramifications and retaliation would make such prosecutions extremely remote.

"France could decide to indict George W. Bush and the UnitedStatescouldmake life pretty unpleasantfor France in exchange," Baum said.

Even the smaller fish, likeCIA officials who were involved in the interrogations at the lowest level, would spark a political firestorm if they were arrested in another country.

"Countries arrestAmericansall the time for crimes. It's the link to a very salient policy that reached to the White House that makesthisdifferent. In effect, it's arebuke of the administration," he said.

"I don't know if there are verymany countries,especiallyamong our allies, who are goingto concludethe benefitis worth the cost."