Katerina vanden Heuvel (The Nation): Facing Facts on Torture

[Jack Rabbit]

From The Nation
Dated Wendesday April 5

Facing Facts on Torture
By Katrina vanden Heuvel

In the February 27 issue of The New Yorker, Jane Mayer reported on the efforts of Alberto Mora, outgoing general counsel for the US Navy, to stop the Pentagon from authorizing the use of cruel and unusual punishment beginning three years ago.

In the article, Mora describes with chilling detail a meeting with top administration and military officials to discuss whether to "(make) it official Pentagon policy to treat detainees in accordance with Common Article Three of the Geneva conventions, which bars cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment, as well as outrages against human dignity."

Mora noted the giant pink elephant in the room, saying, "… it's a statute. It exists--we're not free to disregard it. We're bound by it. It's been adopted by the Congress. And we're not the only interpreters of it. Other nations could have US officials arrested."

Nevertheless, this proposal to officially adhere to the Geneva Convention was rejected.

On March 2, Ray McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA, joined 15 other activists to walk the halls of Congress. They wore orange jumpsuits similar to those of detainees at Guantanamo, with gags over their mouths that displayed the single word "torture."

Read more.

Comment by JR:

Torture is immoral and illegal. It is categorically prohibited by the Third Geneva Convention, where it applies to POWs, the Fourth Geneva Convention, where it applies to residents of occupied territory, and the Convention against Torture, where it applies to everybody. The Convention against Torture also categorically prohibits the Bush regime's practice of "extraordinary rendition".

Since the United States is party to the above conventions, they are the law of the land under Article 6 of the Constitution. For Mr. Bush to authorize torture is both a crime against humanity and an impeachable offense.

Torture is also useless. There is no way to tell if a torture victim is telling the truth, passing them falsehoods as a ruse or simply telling his tormentors what he thinks they want to hear in order to make them stop.

The best case put forward for torture is a bad one. It was offered a few years ago by Alan Dershowitz, who believes that under certain dire circumstances, torture can be useful and should be authorized. For an expose and a refutation of Dershowitz' case for torture, please click here.

If Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Gonzales think torture is justifiable, then they should present their case to an international tribunal. It is my hope that they will have opportunity someday. They have certainly earned it.