Editing Donald Rumsfeld (section)

===Prisoner abuse and torture concerns===
{{Further|Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse}}
[[File:Rumsfeld-4 hours a day.png|thumb|Comment from Rumsfeld: "I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing [by prisoners] limited to 4 hours?"]]
The Department of Defense's preliminary concerns for holding, housing, and interrogating captured prisoners on the battlefield were raised during the military build-up prior to the Iraq War. Because Saddam Hussein's military forces surrendered when faced with military action, many within the DOD, including Rumsfeld and United States Central Command General Tommy Franks, decided it was in the best interest of all to hand these prisoners over to their respective countries. Additionally, it was determined that maintaining a large holding facility was, at the time, unrealistic. Instead, the use of many facilities such as [[Abu Ghraib prison|Abu Ghraib]] to house prisoners of interest prior to handing them over, and Rumsfeld defended the Bush administration's decision to detain [[enemy combatant]]s. Because of this, critics, including members of the [[U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee]], held Rumsfeld responsible for the ensuing [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse]] scandal. Rumsfeld himself said: "These events occurred on my watch as Secretary of Defense. I am accountable for them."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/09/iraq.abuse.main.int/ |work=CNN|title=Rumsfeld 'the best' |date=May 9, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040511033734/http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/09/iraq.abuse.main.int/ |archive-date=May 11, 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He offered his resignation to President Bush in the wake of the scandal, but it was not accepted.<ref>Bush, George W. (2010), p. 88</ref>

[[File:US Navy 041224-M-8096K-064 Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), Donald Rumsfeld takes a photo with some Marines at Camp Fallujah, Iraq.jpg|thumb|right|Rumsfeld poses with Marines during one of his trips to [[Camp Fallujah]], Iraq, on Christmas Eve 2004.]]

In a memo read by Rumsfeld detailing how [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]] interrogators induced stress in prisoners by forcing them to remain standing in one position for a maximum of four hours, Rumsfeld scrawled a handwritten note on the memo reading: "I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing [by prisoners] limited to 4 hours? D.R."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-06-22-rumsfeld-abuse-usat_x.htm|title=Rumsfeld OK'd harsh treatment|date=June 23, 2004|work=[[USA Today]]|first1=John|last1=Diamond|access-date=May 1, 2010|archive-date=April 1, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401132056/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-06-22-rumsfeld-abuse-usat_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Various organizations, such as [[Human Rights Watch]], called for investigations of Rumsfeld regarding his involvement in managing the Iraq War and his support of the Bush administration's policies of "[[enhanced interrogation techniques]]", which are widely regarded as torture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3966038,00.html |title=Bush Should Face Prosecution, Says UN Representative |date=January 21, 2009 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601094302/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0%2C%2C3966038%2C00.html |archive-date=June 1, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Amy |last=Goodman |author-link=Amy Goodman |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2005/4/25/getting_away_with_torture_human_rights |title=Getting Away with Torture? Human Rights Watch Calls for Accountability into U.S. Abuse of Detainees |work=[[Democracy Now!]] |date=April 25, 2005 |access-date=May 29, 2019 |archive-date=May 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529145739/https://www.democracynow.org/2005/4/25/getting_away_with_torture_human_rights |url-status=live }}</ref>

Legal scholars have argued that Rumsfeld "might be held criminally responsible if [he] would be prosecuted by the [[International Criminal Court|ICC]]".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Smeulers|first1=Alette|last2=van Niekirk|first2=Sander|title=Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror-A case against Donald Rumsfeld?|journal=Crime, Law and Social Change|year=2009|volume=51|issue=3–4|pages=327–349|doi=10.1007/s10611-008-9160-2|ssrn=2388266|s2cid=145710956|url=https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2403096/215948.pdf|access-date=June 30, 2021|archive-date=June 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630202658/https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/2403096/215948.pdf|url-status=live |issn = 0925-4994 }}</ref> In 2005 the [[ACLU]] and Human Rights First filed a lawsuit against Rumsfeld and other top government officials, "on behalf of eight men who they say were subjected to torture and abuse by U.S. forces under the command of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld".<ref name="USA Today">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-03-01-CSM-torture_x.htm|work=USA Today|first=Faye|last=Bowers|title=Lawsuit blames Rumsfeld for overseas torture|date=March 1, 2005|access-date=August 26, 2017|archive-date=March 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316231714/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-03-01-CSM-torture_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2005, a suit was filed against Rumsfeld by several human rights organizations for allegedly violating U.S. and international law that prohibits "torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment".<ref name="USA Today" /> [[Donald Vance]] and Nathan Ertel filed suit against the U.S. government and Rumsfeld on similar grounds, alleging that they were tortured and their rights of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' were violated.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/world/middleeast/18justice.html |title=Former U.S. Detainee in Iraq Recalls Torment |first=Michael |last=Moss |date=December 18, 2006 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 18, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213025358/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/world/middleeast/18justice.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |url-status=live |archive-date=December 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/08/09/donald-rumsfeld-faces-another-torture-lawsuit/|title=Donald Rumsfeld Faces Another Torture Lawsuit|author=Patrick G. Lee|date=August 9, 2011|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|access-date=August 4, 2017|archive-date=July 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709204920/https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/08/09/donald-rumsfeld-faces-another-torture-lawsuit/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/iraq-crimes-return-to-haunt-rumsfeld-1.849853 |title=Iraq crimes return to haunt Rumsfeld; Former US defence secretary can no longer deflect responsibility for abuse of detainees |date=August 11, 2011 |newspaper=[[Gulf News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811062230/http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/iraq-crimes-return-to-haunt-rumsfeld-1.849853 |url-status=live |archive-date=August 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/08/09/rumsfeld_must_face_torture_suit_appeals_court_says/ |title=Rumsfeld must face torture suit, appeals court says |date=August 9, 2011 |website=[[The Boston Globe]]|publisher=[[Bloomberg News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510072825/http://articles.boston.com/2011-08-09/news/29868919_1_appeals-court-interrogation-techniques-torture |archive-date=May 10, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2007, U.S. District Judge [[Thomas F. Hogan]] ruled that Rumsfeld could not "be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032701338.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Matt|last=Apuzzo|title=Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld|date=March 28, 2007|access-date=August 26, 2017|archive-date=July 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703051216/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032701338.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The ACLU tried to revive the case in 2011 with no success.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/attempt-to-reinstate-tort_n_808621.html |title=Donald Rumsfeld Torture Lawsuit Fizzles, Again |date=January 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117092206/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/attempt-to-reinstate-tort_n_808621.html |archive-date=January 17, 2011 |url-status=live |work=HuffPost |first=Dan |last=Froomkin}}</ref>

In 2004, German prosecutor [[Wolfgang Kaleck]] filed a criminal complaint charging Rumsfeld and 11 other U.S. officials as war criminals who either ordered the torture of prisoners or drafted laws that legitimated its use. The charges based on breaches of the UN Convention against Torture and the German Code of Crimes against International Law.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/world/americas/14iht-rumsfeld.3532840.html |title=Rumsfeld faces war crimes suit in Germany – Americas – International Herald Tribune |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 14, 206 |access-date=March 23, 2021 |archive-date=May 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505163249/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/world/americas/14iht-rumsfeld.3532840.html |url-status=live |last1=Landler |first1=Mark }}</ref>

Rumsfeld's disclosure of the whistleblower's identity during a Senate hearing, despite assurances to [[Joe Darby]] of his anonymity<ref name="Am I a Torturer? Mother Jones">[https://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/03/am-i-a-torturer.html Am I a Torturer? (Mother Jones)]</ref><ref name="When Joseph Comes Marching Home">{{cite news |date=May 17, 2004 |title=When Joseph Comes Marching Home |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32048-2004May16.html |accessdate=May 6, 2010 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>[http://unbossed.com/?p=870 unbossed.com » Thank You, Joseph Darby<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> led to shunning within the community, harassment and death threats against him and his family, resulting in them being taken into protective custody by the U.S. Army.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=John |title=A Toast to the Bravery and Sacrifice of Whistleblowers |website=HuffPost}}</ref> Darby would come to doubt the unintentionality of his public identification, though Rumsfeld sent him a letter stating there had been no malicious intent, the mention was meant as praise, that Rumsfeld was unaware of Darby's anonymity.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-08-05 |title=Abu Ghraib whistleblower's ordeal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6930197.stm |access-date=2024-11-20 |language=en-GB}}</ref>