Torture is Wrong
A local Unitarian church displays a banner, "Torture is wrong." Duh, right? Hey, it's illegal, too.
Well....during the Bush era, the Justice Department advised that techniques such as waterboarding are OK—just don't actually drown them. And that there was no need to follow the Geneva Conventions because Al Qaeda is not a nation-state.
Recently released memos from the Justice Department's Offfice of Legal Council detail—and I mean detail--what the US Justice Department sanctioned as interrogation techniques, post 9-11. And it's all wrapped up in the reasoning that was used to justify the approval. It's sickening, shameful stuff and you can read the memos here, at ACLU's site.
But more important is what we should do with this information—and other evidence that the CIA, the military and mercenaries used or authorized torture in an effort to extract information from men who were held in US prison camps. We should prosecute those responsible. So far Obama hasn't gone for it, though he made at least one statement saying he's open to an investigation.
Paul Krugman's column in the NYT explains why it is so important to demand justice. He says what I'd been struggling to say for the past few days. So I'll just leave it at that.
Except for this: You can sign the ACLU's petition for an independent prosecutor over at their site.
8 comments:
Thank you.
d.
I agree with you 100 percent and am against the U.S. using torture. But my conflict with this is what to do with people who look like and act like humans, but have no conscience or guilt about killing as many innocent people as possible.
And suppose some of those people had information that we could use to prevent such killing? Simply asking them "Please tell us," won't get too far most of the time.
While I oppose torture, I also believe that you have to sometimes be as bad or worse as your enemy if you're going to defeat them. I have not been able to reconcile this conflict.
Well Ken, no, I don't think you agree with me.
We are all humans with the capacity to kill innocent others. For example, every US citizen has been complicit in killing almost 100,000 Iraqis---how many were not innocent?
We have to work at staying moral. What was done, in our names, was immoral.
On the practical side, there is pretty good evidence that torture does not produce the truth. (I would say ANYthing if waterboarded-any old thing could make up to get them to stop.)
Additionally, there are plenty of interrogation techniques that are sanctioned by the Geneva Convention, and people who are expert at using them.
I have it on good authority that 34.7 Iraqis killed were not innocent. I don't take responsibility for all the horrible killings there. What could I, you or any other normal citizen have done to stop the top-down insanity? From a legal standpoint, not much.
Yes. Torture is wrong. The only thing it will get our country is a lot of the same treatment for any U.S. soldiers who might become prisoners.
But few issues are only black and white.
So if it doesn't achieve the intended goal of getting accurate information. If it predicts the kinds of retaliation our own captured soldiers/citizens will endure. If it's a way to dehumanize our enemy and therefore ourselves. If it's a way to lose credibility with our allies. The point, then, is.....what?
What we do is what we have always done: put elected officials on notice that this is unacceptable, talk with people in our community, post on our blogs. Given the conversations of the recent week, I'd say it's working.
I hope you're right, Deb. I'm not convinced that no good, actionable information came from any prisoners at Guantanamo. Likely not, but I doubt it's the kind of thing that would ever see the light of day.
It's always better to take the high road, if possible, I suppose.
I've never understood the argument that we have to torture if it will save innocent lives. There's a reason why the president swears to protect and defend THE CONSTITUTION, not the people. There's no guarantee of safety in a free society, and brave people standing up for what's right is the very foundation of our country.
At the end of the day, the only thing that will make the world better is if we take the moral high ground, every time. It takes courage, but you see where taking the low ground has gotten us - hated and disrespected, with more terrorists than ever easily recruited.
While I oppose torture, I also believe that you have to sometimes be as bad or worse as your enemy if you're going to defeat them. I have not been able to reconcile this conflict.
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Smarry
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