The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration Is Anyone Responsible?

The United States has historically been regarded as a moral leader opening the pathway for human rights. The country which for so long has struggled for the establishment of the rule of law - as well as to be a model for other nations in observing it - has, since September11, 2001, committed abhorrent practices of torture, which the US has fought against when committed by others. What seems astonishing is that such practices took place within a climate of significant public indifference and even with some public support. Time and again, observers of tragic historic events reveal that it is not so much the evil doing of the few which allows the worst atrocities to occur, as it is the indifference of the many. The Bush administration assumed neither moral nor legal responsibility, and in the end, it is hard-put to show what positive results may have been obtained for so many transgressions. The history of law and legal institutions has long proven the error of accepting the Machiavellian

M. Cherif Bassiouni is emeritus professor of law at DePaul University, where he taught since 1964, and president emeritus of the International Human Rights Law Institute, which he helped found in 1990. He was one of the founders in 1972 of the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences, Siracusa, Italy, and served as its president since 1988. He is the honorary president of the International Association of Penal Law after having served three terms as president from 1989 to 2004. He was a guest scholar at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. in 1972, visiting professor of law, New York University Law School in 1971, Fulbright-Hays Professor of International Criminal Law, The University of Freiburg, Germany in 1970, non-resident professor of criminal law at the University of Cairo from 1996 to 2006, and is a frequent lecturer at universities in the United States and abroad. His legal education was in Egypt, France, Switzerland and the United States where he received the following degrees: LLB University of Cairo; JD Indiana University; LLM John Marshall Law School; SJD George Washington University. In addition, he received several honorary degrees from: Doctor of Law honoris causa University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium (2011); Case Western Reserve University, USA (LLD) (2010); Catholic Theological Union, USA (Doctor of Humane Letters) (2009); National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland (LLD) (2001); Niagara University, USA (LLD) (1997); Docteur dEtat en Droit honoris causa, University of Pau, France (1986); Dottore in Giurisprudenza honoris causa, University of Torino, Italy (1981).