Ban Torture

News

President Bush is expected to veto the Intelligence Authorization Bill which would require the CIA to follow the interrogation guidelines in the Army Field Manual. His radio address this weekend is expected to address this issue. See the New York Times editorial “Horrifying and Unnecessary,” March 2, 2008, which describes the restrictions President Bush opposes.

The PBS show NOW aired an excellent segment tonight (March 7) on torture featuring an interview with Alex Gibney, director of “Taxi to the Dark Side.” The online site has a good overview of the main issues.

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he considers waterboarding to be inhumane, and that the interrogation techniques allowed by the Army Field Manual are effective (YouTube). CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a statement to the Associated Press that interrogation techniques not in the Army Field Manual would be outlawed. Hopefully President Bush will clarify this weekend in his radio address. Pamela Hess, AP via Boston Globe, February 27, 2008

In spite of public assurances to the contrary, the United States and Britain admitted that two planes carrying rendered suspects landed in the British territory of Diego Garcia in 2002. There are claims that a CIA detention center was located on Diego Garcia, and that prisoners were held in prison ships outside Britain’s three-mile territorial zone. See “British island ‘used by US for rendition’” by Jamie Doward, guardian.co.uk, March 2, 2008.

Background

“The Water Cure: Debating torture and counterinsurgency—a century ago” by Paul Kramer, The New Yorker, February 25, 2008. (Note: the administration would probably claim that modern-day waterboarding is not the same as described in this article, so the comparison is unfair. The current method of invoking terror by suffocation and simulated drowning does not fill the lungs or stomach with water to the same extent.)

Opinion

“To stand against torture and arbitrary detention is not to be squeamish. It is to be civilized.” From “When We Torture” by Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, February 14, 2008.

“That torture is even a subject of debate in this country is a flabbergasting development. That dozens of America’s most admired military leaders find themselves openly opposing the commander in chief on such a question is equally surprising.” From “Torture shocks” by James Carroll, The Boston Globe, March 3, 2008

“They assert that our enemies are more evil than any previously encountered, and therefore we are justified in jettisoning two centuries of enlightenment in which the United States of America was morally superior to any despotic regime that would stoop to the barbaric practice of torture.” From “Torture just turns us into barbarians” by Tom Decoursey, Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, March 4, 2008

International Perspective

“The leader of a democratic country should be a symbol of that country’s values. The US rightly prides itself on the principle of justice for all. What does it say then if Bush condones torture? It says that the principle and the practice have split apart.” From “There is no excuse for torture” by Warwick McFadyen, The Age (Australia), March 7, 2008

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that countries cannot deport foreign nationals to countries where there would be a real risk of torture or ill-treatment. Britain argued to balance the risk of torture against the treat to national security. See “The ban stays absolute” in The Economist, February 28, 2008, or “Legal Opinion: Why governments can’t carry on turning a blind eye to torture” by Robert Verkaik, The Independent (UK), March 5, 2008