Supreme Court Rejects Torture Suit

Two US citizens tortured by US forces in Iraq sued former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in federal court for damages. The suit was rejected by the Seventh Circuit which found that the "military authority exception" to the Administrative Procedure Act bars suit against the government for actions by military authorities exercised in the field during war time or in occupied territory. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case. Repeated efforts to hold former high US officials responsible for violations of human rights have met with little success in courts of law. The Charlatan cancelled a trip to Switzerland in 2011 when two criminal complaints were filed against him for violating the UN Convention Against Torture. Under Swiss law, a defendent must be in the country before a criminal investigation can be opened. In his memoirs, The Charlatan admits he personally authorized waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques". Donald Rumsfeld was charged with war crimes in a complaint filed in Germany in 2006.  He was also forced to cancel his travel plans.  The case was later dismissed by Germany's federal prosecutor.