“He made me do it” didn’t make it by my Mom, so why should it excuse the US goverment

Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles states”The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”

So while I understand completely why our President would like to avoid right now the whole messy situation of the torture of prisoners during the Bush administration, unfortunately, his reasoning doesn’t fly with me. If the administration believes this is torture, then they are obligated under international law to investigate and hold the perpetrators accountable if found guilty.

According to Amnesty International (one of the best organizations out there– all you funders measuring results pay attention). “the U.S. government is required by international law to respect and ensure human rights, to thoroughly investigate every violation of those rights, and to bring perpetrators to justice, no matter their level of office or former level of office.”

I expect the boards and staff of nonprofit organizations to know when they are doing something wrong and unethical or immoral. I expect more of my government.

Please sign one of the petitions urging your congressional representatives to create a non-partisan, independent commission to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agents and their superiors. You’ll find the one from AIUSA here. What has been disclosed is still only a tiny portion of what may have happened.

You don’t get to say “he made me do it” when you know that the act is wrong. My mom wouldn’t let me get away with that and neither should our President let employees of the US government do the same.

And I’m sorry, but no one can convince me that the interrogation techniques which have been sited in the memos released are not torture. And torture is never acceptable.

If we don’t hold the moral high ground internationally, what do we have left as a country? As I tell my clients, there is nothing more valuable to your organization than your good name. That goes for the USA as well.