Featured » Northeast » Denounce Torture Events
Forum on Military Prison Torture
March 31, 2005
hosted by local Group 568
Tri-County Community Action Center
Tamworth, NH
On Thursday evening over 100 people attended a forum on U.S. military prison torture which was co-sponsored by local group 568 . The featured speaker was Dean John Hutson, a retired rear admiral and Navy Judge Advocate General, now Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concored, NH. Dean Hutson has been outspoken in his denuncation of the administration's policies permitting/condoning torture. There was an extended question and answer period and intense discussions continued over refreshments. The talk clarified a lot of the issues for people who opposed administration policies on moral ground and now found strong legal and factual support for their arguments.
Dean Hutson, an expert in all areas of military law, declared the administration's setting up the prison at Guantanamo, setting aside the Geneva Convention and redefining torture, to be legally, militarily and morally wrong. He repudiated current U.S. policies citing examples of history, clearly articulating respected international policies and points of law. He stressed the chain of command in the military: people at the bottom implicitly, blindly rely on this chain. Leaders delegate authority to others but the responsibility remains theirs. Those at the bottom have committed criminal acts but those at the top, starting with Rumsfeld, must be held accountable for so many cases of abuse. If it was not U.S. policy, why was it happening? We must indentify what happened, correct the problem, letting the chips fall where they may. Dean Hutson believes that if the U.S. fails to stand up and support the rule of law and human rights it will pay the price for generations.
