Guardian UK: Worst of the Worst: Bush Administration's Torture Policy goes Beyond Waterboarding

[marmar]

The worst of the worst
Jane Mayer's new book reveals details about the Bush administration's torture policy that go far beyond waterboarding

Ken Gude
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday July 15, 2008



Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, reveals in greater detail the utter depravity of the Bush administration's official policy of torture. Mayer's long investigation makes clear that the tactics employed by the CIA on suspected al-Qaida terrorists do not exist in some grey area protected by the euphemism "enhanced interrogation techniques". They are unquestionably torture. It is all the more shocking then that John McCain, knowing all that he does about torture past and present, would sacrifice his considerable personal credibility and vote to preserve the CIA's ability to torture detainees.

Waterboarding has been the focus of attention since confirmation from the agency's director, Michael Hayden, that it had been used on at least three al-Qaida detainees. The ancient technique that forces water into the lungs of a subject but stops just before he dies had previously been prosecuted by the United States as a war crime but now found its way into the "enhanced interrogation" programme authorised by the justice department and employed by the CIA. Hayden and attorney general Michael Mukasey said waterboarding was not currently being used but categorically did not rule out its use in the future.

That would be troubling enough, but what Mayer's book makes clear is that waterboarding was only a small part of the CIA's torture programme. In fact, even detainees that were subjected to waterboarding did not think it was the worst technique they had to endure. That was reserved for stress positions. These were often employed differently but included being shackled to the ceiling of their cells, forcing all the weight of their body onto their shoulders as they were suspended upright for eight hours. One detainee was locked in a box half his size for hours at a time. Most of them were deprived of sleep and bombarded with loud music and noises for 24 hours.

There has always been a troubling level of indifference to these activities, because these are al-Qaida terrorists responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. Rage and anger is understandable, but I hope people inclined toward this viewpoint appreciate that one of the principle divisions between us and our enemies is that we hold ourselves to a higher standard, we take our humanity more seriously and we intend to live up to our moral obligations. The United States should not torture prisoners in its captivity, no matter how grave their crimes.

Another rationale often used to condone such tactics is that they are needed to get information out of these detainees that could save American lives. It is vital that we are able to use interrogation to uncover information about our terrorist enemies. If that is in fact the objective, I have never been able to understand why that would lead anyone to think torture is the way to go. Torture is a poor instrument to produce reliable information. It is exceptionally good at producing false confessions. Perhaps it is not surprising then to learn that the Bush administration got some of its techniques from a 1957 US military report about Chinese interrogations during the Korean war titled "Communist attempts to elicit false confessions from Air Force prisoners of war." .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/15/terrorism.civilliberties

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. Why would anyone imitate techniques that were designed to elicit false confessions unless

unless . . . unless . . .