Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent decision to appoint prosecutor John Durham to “examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors may have violated anti-torture laws,” according to the Washington Post, put the issue of torture back into the headlines.
Nonetheless, many progressive groups and writers, including The Nation‘s John Nichols, have criticized the scope of Holder’s investigation as being wholly insufficient.
Evidence of the criminal activities of the Bush administration is exceedingly well documented – in memos, FOIA documents, congressional hearings, court documents, the testimony of victims, innumerable investigative news articles and books, and direct admissions by intelligence, military and former administration officials. This body of conduct is what needs to be investigated, as the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which filed the first habeas cases for Guantanamo detainees, has consistently argued.
Ari Melber reported CCR’s reaction to Holder’s appointment. “Responsibility for the torture program cannot be laid at the feet of a few low-level operatives,” read the Center’s official statement on Monday. “Some agents in the field may have gone further than the limits so ghoulishly laid out by the lawyers who twisted the law to create legal cover for the program, but it is the lawyers and the officials who oversaw and approved the program who must be investigated.”
Now, CCR has released a series of “Torture Team trading cards” this morning. While most people know the names of the principal actors who allowed torture to run rampant – Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice – there are many more members of the team who must be investigated and prosecuted. These trading cards call them out, detail their crimes and are meant to help pressure Attorney General Holder into allowing the Special Prosecutor to investigate as far up the chain of command as the evidence takes him.
Check out the Team Torture website where you can order the full set of twenty cards; join the call for a full, unfettered investigation; examine the evidence, and even create your own cards.
PS: If you have extra time on your hands and want to follow me on Twitter — a micro-blog — click here. You’ll find (slightly) more personal posts, breaking news, basketball and lots of links.
