Right Voices

As expected 

Federal judge Thomas Hogan said Rumsfeld could not be sued in a US court because the men, held in Iraq and Afghanistan, had no standing to sue due to a technicality: none has set foot in the United States nor are they US citizens.

However, Hogan regretted that he could not allow the suit to go forward under laws that allow persons alleging violations of their rights to sue the responsible US officials, “no matter how appealing it might be.”

He called the case “lamentable,” for its “horrifying torture allegations.”

“Several controlling cases compel the inescapable conclusion that the plaintiffs in this case are not entitled to such a cause of action,” he said.

The nine men claim to have been wrongly arrested, detained and tortured by the US army.

They filed suit in 2005 against Rumsfeld and three other high-ranking military officials, for their supposed responsibility in ordering the use of violent interrogation methods and for not having stopped it.

The four officials asked the judge to throw out the case, arguing the men had neither standing nor rights under the US constitution.

In a December 8, 2006 hearing, Hogan recognized that if he were to allow such lawsuits, nothing could stop Osama bin Laden from bringing suit in the United States to demand reparations from President George W. Bush for attempted murder.