“For the purposes of this Convention, the term ‘torture’ means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. … No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.” — UN Convention Against Torture, signed by President Ronald Reagan
ON TUESDAY, SENATE DEMOCRATS RELEASED DETAILS of the torture program authorized at the highest levels of the Bush administration and perpetrated in the early years of last decade, in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C. and New York in September 2001.
I downloaded the report from the Web and have not finished reading it — after a few pages, I felt sickened enough that I could not continue. I also felt very angry.
It used to be taken as axiomatic — a moral “given” — that torture is always and everywhere wrong, and can never be used for any purpose. That door was firmly marked by a consensus of civilized opinion, “Do not enter.” But the actions of the Bush administration opened that particular door.
Rather than present detailed arguments against torture, let me quote directly from the report:
“Conditions at CIA detention sites were poor, and were especially bleak early in the program. CIA detainees at the COBALT detention facility were kept in complete darkness and constantly shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music and only a bucket to use for human waste.
“Lack of heat at the facility likely contributed to the death of a detainee. The chief of interrogations described COBALT as a ‘dungeon.’ Another senior CIA officer stated that COBALT was itself an enhanced interrogation technique.”
Quick comment: Putting aside the euphemistic “enhanced interrogation techniques” and so on, I would like to point out that the previous paragraph describes how agents acting on behalf of the United States essentially tortured a man to death.
“… At times, the detainees at COBALT were walked around naked or were shackled with their hands above their heads for extended periods of time. Other times, the detainees at COBALT were subjected to what was described as a ‘rough takedown,’ in which approximately five CIA officers would scream at a detainee, drag him outside of his cell, cut his clothes off, and secure him with Mylar tape. The detainee would then be hooded and dragged up and down a long corridor while being slapped and punched.”
And lest you think that only people whose guilt was certain were subjected to torture:
“Although CIA records include no requests or approval cables, Abu Hudhaifa was subjected to ice water baths and 66 hours of standing sleep deprivation. He was released because the CIA discovered he was likely not the person he was believed to be.”
Then there’s the account of the use of anal rape to express “dominance” over a prisoner:
“Chief of Interrogations (name redacted) also ordered the rectal rehydration of KSM” — that’s Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, identified in the 9/11 Commission Report as the “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks” — “without a determination of medical need, a procedure that the chief of interrogations would later characterize as illustrative of the interrogator’s ‘total control over the detainee.’”
That’s as much as I could stand to read in the report, which is almost 500 pages long.
There is a long-standing principle in Western moral philosophy that the ends do not justify the means. Another way of putting it is that it is never permissible to do evil that good may come of it.
While Khalid Sheikh Mohammed did terrible evil on 9/11 and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, that does not justify using techniques for which we hanged Japanese prison camp officials at the end of the Second World War.
There is a bit of dialogue from “A Man for All Seasons” that may lend some illumination on this dark subject:
William Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!
Thomas More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.
Matt Talbot is a writer and poet, as well as an old Benicia hand. He works for a tech start-up in San Francisco.
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I just read where the CIA paid two ex-military psychologists $81 million to help design and run torture programs. Now, is that tax payer money? This is some American “exceptionalism”.
Unfortunately we are a mediocre nation, no different than any, run by idiots on behalf of idiots. The rest of us are too busy earning a living to be watchdogs over lunatics so we invent government and religions which are also steeped with immoral characters. The more whistleblowers and Freedom of Information documents are available to the public the better off we are. Get money and mediocre morons out of politics and what do you have left? Cheney and Bush were marginal characters at best, but what was their moneyed daily fuel? Answer that one and go back through the millennium. Cave dwellers with rape, pillage, and bone marrow on their breath. Times haven’t changed much, we now have Rice Krispies and cell phones. From what I’ve read, Christopher Columbus was no prize either. Good luck, America, watch your back, those we’ve tortured may be seeking justifiable revenge. Better hide under a very large bed. So much for our “exceptionalism” – pb
Peter said: Get money and mediocre morons out of politics
0bama will be gone in January of 2017, that we know for certain.
BTW Peter, what did you think of that piece back in October in the NYTimes about the over 5,000 WMD’s we found in Iraq, thanks to President Bush?
http://www.salon.com/2014/10/15/no_bush_was_not_right_about_iraq_how_conservatives_misread_new_times_bombshell/
Shameful. How long before this damage is undone? Can it be? Waiting for the torture apologists to embarrass themselves.
Matt,
Jonathan Turley has a piece in USA Today (the biggest paper no one ever buys) this morning entitled: “Three Reasons the CIA might Torture Again” (the headline is a bit misleading), you will enjoy the piece as Turley is clearly opposed to the actions taken by the CIA. On the other hand, I found it of interest as it confirms the complete hypocrisy of those involved in releasing this report, (Di Fi being at the top of that long list). Mind you, many Democrats (John Kerry amongst them) were opposed to the release.
It’s all the Democrats’ fault.
Beyond a few bad apples—or, beyond the “company man.”
Good article, Mr. Talbott. Thank you,
“Shameful.” Wrong word. Criminal would be more accurate.
More below, on the “torture apologists” for the community,citizen-voters and our appointed and elected officials to seriously consider…
The words of our Nobel Peace Prize Winner…
“In his first official remarks following Tuesday’s release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the torture program conducted by the CIA during the presidency of George W. Bush, President Barack Obama on Tuesday night indicated that the abuses detailed in the report conducted in the name of the American people—described as “horrific,” “ruthless” and “much more brutal than previously thought”—should not be followed by further inquiries or prosecutions as many have long urged.”
Backed by his interpretation of “American Exceptionalism,” Obama suggested that the release of the report—which his administration fought tirelessly to restrict—was all that was necessary in order for the nation to move forward.
“Rather than another reason to refight old arguments,” Obama continued, “I hope that today’s report can help us leave these techniques where they belong—in the past.”
“Backed by his interpretation of “American Exceptionalism,” Obama suggested that the release of the report—which his administration fought tirelessly to restrict—was all that was necessary in order for the nation to move forward.”
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/10/obama-america-exceptional-so-we-dont-prosecute-torturers
Beyond the democratic ideologues—
Free whistleblower-John Kiriakou. Who should be in prison, the the truth-tellers or the liars and the apologists?
Good article, Mr. Talbott. Thank you,
More below, on the “torture apologists -in-chief ” for the community,citizen-voters and our appointed and elected officials to seriously consider…
”
Only CIA Agent Jailed for Torture Program Is Whistleblower Who Confirmed Its Existence”
“Former operative John Kiriakou, currently in prison, was charged with a crime after helping expose widespread abuses conducted by agency”
“John Kiriakou, who worked for the CIA between 1990 and 2004, stepped forward in 2007 and confirmed to press outlets some of the first details about the agency’s widespread use of torture.”
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/10/only-cia-agent-jailed-torture-program-whistleblower-who-confirmed-its-existence
I think it is easy to sit back and play arm-chair quarterback on something like this. We know that the waterboarding of KSM led to information that was used to eventually get to and kill IBL. But I would suggest that being so far away and it being so impersonal it is easy to make judgments. So let me paint a scenario for you and then let’s see how you feel about the concept of torture.
So you come home one evening and as you are walking through the door, there are two men that are on the way out. You are able to subdue and capture one of the men but the other one was able to get away and has taken your 15 year old daughter with him. You get the other guy inside the house only to find out that they have killed your wife.
To what lengths would you go to get information out of the one that you detained to get information out of him so you can get your daughter back before the other guy rapes and kills her.
Changes things doesn’t it. I for one would not be sitting back and say as a civilized law abiding people we have to abide by the Geneva convention and play nice.
What would you do?
So you would torture the guy. So you’re a torturer. Thanks for the clarification.
Sorry to see that is where you had to go with it Hank. Yes I am a torturer and I go around torturing people every day ….. right. Such a childish response. I would have expected better even from you.
Here is the clarification is on the point, since you obviously missed it. When you change the circumstances and make them more up close and personal, the lines of you moral high ground can become very quickly blurred.
I would challenge any person to not have to think awfully hard about what you would do if that were a real life situation. I would bet hard cash that almost everyone would do what ever it takes to get information to save your loved ones.
Except Hank, he would let his loved ones die. I hope none of his relatives read this articles!
The only childish thing is your scenario. And your belief that somehow America is always in the right.
You have no idea what I believe. Are you a mind reader?
JLB stated: We know that the waterboarding of KSM led to the … kill(ing of) IBL
This of course this will be strongly denied by those who gloated over IBL’s death and used it for political purposes: “GM is alive and OBL is dead!”
“To what lengths would you go to get information out of the one that you detained to get information out of him…..”
I know this is purely a hypothetical and designed to illustrate a somewhat incomparable point, However, why would you assume that the the one you have detained would have any useful information. Additionally, why would the police not be able to get the information out of him. Additionally, what do you do if you do get useful information? Do you suddenly become a tactical genius with unrivaled fighting skills, an arsenal of unlimited weaponry, and a super secret invisible helicopter; all to chase the perpetrator to the ends of the earth. Again, all hypothetical, or fantasy perhaps?
You can what if the situation to the ends of the earth. The point is, AGAIN, since you missed it, when you make it more personal, it changes your perspective. That is all I am saying. Feel free to debate that point, rather than trying to put words in my mouth.
So, then you were not talking about Batman?
I might have missed the point since it was so subjective. Also, not debating (again due to it being so subjective). I just thought it was amusing and worthy of response.
But lets be frank, the torturers were most likely just doing it for the pay-check. Which kind of nullifies “when you make it more personal, it changes your perspective”. AGAIN, “a somewhat incomparable point”
Thomas it’s ok that you don’t get it. Carry on.
JiBL, I get it all to well. Feel free to share more of your fantasies. They are very entertaining (very Liam Neeson project worthy). Have a nice day!
There was a very good movie made a 3 or 4 years ago on this very subject. It was never released due to the company going bankrupt. The movie starred Samuel L Jackson and Carrie Ann Moss and was called “Unthinkable”. It has been available on Netflix and is occasionally on a movie channel. It would be very worthwhile to watch and then have this discussion – with both sides. It was one of the more thought provoking movies I have seen in quite some time.
Are Drones torture? Was the bombimg of Germany and Japan torture. Lots of folks were killed. I think it was necessary to do those things and we shouild do it again if and when necessary. It does work..
Attention torture apologists: Do not use this man as your spokesman. You’re welcome for the free advice.
While ISIS is beheading children, we are making these bad guys uncomfortable and we are the barbaric ones. That just doesn’t pass the smell test Hank. Sorry!
You’re right. We can never beat ISIS unless we torture people. I don’t know why I couldn’t see that before.
War is ugly business. Some can’t stomach the thought and we know those here who should not be allowed to participate. They would screw it up immensely, sort of like our current POTUS POS!
Keep at it tough guy.
Really makes you long for the days when we had a war criminal in the White House, doesn’t it? Ah, memories …
Sort of like when Obama allowed the most successful terrorist attack ever against the U.S. … Oops, wait, that was the other guy. (Hint: the war criminal)
Seriously?!? This is exactly why it is best to immediately field torture and then simply kill terrorists on the spot when captured. Taking into custody simply brings inquiry, investigation and a waste of taxpayer money and agency time. And, if you are going to keep them, house the captured terrorists in the upper stories of big building. Big apartments, a restaurant, give them every comfort they desire. We should even invite their families to come and stay with them and be comfortable too. And then early one morning while they are sipping on coffee and eating their croissants have an airplane full of more captured terrorists and fuel fly into the building 20-30 stories below the terrorists and their families being civilly taken care of by our generous Government. Then after the building explodes, catches fire, and burns or falls to the ground, monitor closely for any terrorists that happen to still be alive and come stumbling out. At that point, grab a good handful of their heads and snap them back so their neck is fully exposed and vulnerable, and then cut off their heads. That’s exactly how they treat Americans. We should feel no remorse for how we treat them.
Perhaps we can build a time machine and go back and take a critical look at the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the western world.