Opening arguments will be heard today in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida in a case in which Charles Taylor, Jr. will stand trial for a number of torture charges. Taylor is the first person to be prosecuted under a 1994 law which allows torture charges to be brought "if the accused is in the United States or is an American citizen (18 USC § 2340A)." According to CNN:

Defense attorney John Wylie told prospective jurors they can expect to hear "allegations of burning people with clothes irons; allegations of shocking genitals with electrical charges; allegations of cutting genitals; allegations of forcing people to sodomize each other; allegations of cutting off people’s heads and displaying the heads."

With the exception of the beheadings, all those actions also have been reported to have been inflicted on detainees in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. Why are the perpetrators of these acts not being prosecuted alongside Taylor? In fact, this issue even came up during jury selection. Quoting the CNN article again:

As part of jury selection, Prosecutor Karen Rochlin questioned prospective jurors about their opinions of the allegations of torture occurring at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"Is it OK for the U.S. to investigate torture overseas, if parts of the U.S. government, according to reports, have not behaved so well?" she asked.

Human Rights Watch has more to add to this thought:

“As the first prosecution for torture committed abroad, Chuckie Taylor’s trial is a vital, long-awaited step by the US government to ensure human rights abusers do not escape justice,” said Elise Keppler, senior counsel with Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. “The Department of Justice’s efforts should be applauded and replicated in more cases like this one.”

I think it’s pretty safe to say that no such charges will be brought as long as Michael Mukasey is Attorney General. If Barack Obama is elected president, it will be important for us to pressure him to bring charges under this law against all of those who tortured US detainees. It will be a vital step toward the US re-entering the civilized nations of the world.