This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Few Americans appear to care that their current president and the four presidents preceding him all seemingly violated international war crimes and human rights law as well as the U.S. Constitution in pursuing foreign policy goals.
Regardless, one must still appreciate the fact that David R. Irvine ("Obama burying the truth about 'we tortured some folks,'" August 10) continues to "fight the good fight" by pointing out President Obama's efforts to minimize CIA torture crimes committed in the name of the American people.
Still, lest we forget, responsibility for most of those crimes was inherited by Mr. Obama from the king of our past five presidential lawbreakers, George W. Bush. With the help of those around him, Mr. Bush shredded multiple legally binding provisions of three war crimes conventions signed by the U.S.; the U.N. Charter, the Nuremberg Charter as incorporated by the U.N., the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N.'s Convention Against Torture, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 (2002), all signed by the U.S.; the 1996 U.S. War Crimes Act; and, of course, in the process of doing all this, the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, our legal system has not pursued indictments for these misdeeds.
Torture carried out by the CIA is just the tip of the Bush & Co. war crimes iceberg.
Charles J. Tripp
West Valley City