We are being asked by the USA to trust that the crimes under international law committed in the now terminated CIA secret detention programme will never happen again. At the same time, we are asked to accept that this guarantee comes without the need for accountability for those crimes — no charges, no prosecutions, no trials, no punishment and no redress. This is a case of US double standards and unacceptable US exceptionalism. What effectively amounts to a de facto amnesty for torture and enforced disappearances increases the risk of their recurrence in an easily imaginable future scenario and leaves the USA squarely on the wrong side of its international obligations.
