Part of the ongoing attempt to criminalize and stigmatize any resistance to the jihad, even one as partial and wrongheaded as Rumsfeld’s was. “US judge won’t toss torture suit naming Rumsfeld,” by Mike Robinson for The Associated Press, March 5 (thanks to herr Oyal):
(AP) — CHICAGO – A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm.
U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen’s ruling did not say the two contractors had proven their claims, including that they were tortured after reporting alleged illegal activities by their company. But it did say they had alleged enough specific mistreatment to warrant hearing evidence of exactly what happened.
Andersen said his decision “represents a recognition that federal officials may not strip citizens of well settled constitutional protections against mistreatment simply because they are located in a tumultuous foreign setting.”…
But this kind of court action, if it proceeds, will lead to deleterious consequences for American democracy in the future. Picture America as a banana republic in which every new President jails his opposition. It isn’t all that far off from this.