News Release

House Rejects Libya War; Administration Embraces Torture

Share

Reuters reports: “House rejects measure authorizing Libya mission.”

JULES LOBEL, lobel at law.pitt.edu
Vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, Lobel said today: “The House refusal to authorize the Libya war makes clear the president doesn’t have any authority under the Constitution or the War Powers Resolution to continue with the war in Libya.” Read CCR statement here.

The Los Angeles Times reports: “Gen. David H. Petraeus, President Obama’s choice to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told senators Thursday that the U.S. should consider a policy for using special interrogation techniques when a detainee is withholding information that is immediately needed to save lives.”

KAREN GREENBERG, greenbergkarenj at gmail.com
Greenberg is executive director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University Law School. She said today: “‘Enhanced’ or ‘special interrogation techniques’ are just euphemisms for torture. Torture is against the law, it’s immoral and it produces unreliable information. It weakens a nation that uses it.”

Greenberg recently wrote the piece “Business as Usual on Steroids: The Obama Administration Doubles Down on the War on Terror.”

MATT DALOISIO, daloisio at earthlink.net
FRIDA BERRIGAN, frida.berrigan at gmail.com
Daloisio and Berrigan are with the group Witness Against Torture, which disrupted the House of Representatives Thursday afternoon, reading an anti-torture statement. Fifteen members of the group were arrested.