Many
Approved
Torture
Eagle
Editorial
09/10/08
"The Wichita
Eagle" --
When it
comes to the
Bush
administration's
disgraceful
decision to
torture
terrorism
suspects,
there are
plenty of
officials to
share the
shame.
New
documents
provided to
Congress
confirm that
Condoleezza
Rice, then
national
security
adviser, led
meetings in
2002 in
which
officials
discussed
specific
"enhanced"
interrogation
methods.
Those
attending
reportedly
included
Vice
President
Dick Cheney,
then-Secretary
of State
Colin
Powell,
then-Defense
Secretary
Donald
Rumsfeld and
then-CIA
Director
George
Tenet.
What's
particularly
noteworthy
about these
meetings is
that they
occurred,
and the
torturing of
detainees
began,
months
before the
administration
had a legal
opinion
saying that
it was OK to
torture --
as shoddy as
that opinion
was.
Torture and
degrading
treatment
are clearly
prohibited
by the
Geneva
Conventions
and by U.S.
law. In
addition,
the 1984
Convention
Against
Torture
specifically
states there
are "no
circumstances
whatsoever,
whether a
state of war
or a threat
of war,
internal
political
instability
or any other
public
emergency,"
that could
be "invoked
as a
justification
of torture"
or "other
acts of
cruel,
inhumane or
degrading
treatment."
To try to
circumvent
these clear
prohibitions,
and provide
cover for
the
torturing
that had
already been
occurring,
administration
attorneys
tried to
redefine
"torture" to
be so severe
and so
prolonged
("lasting
months or
years") that
it was
nearly
impossible
to commit.
It also
claimed that
the
infliction
of pain had
to be the
"precise
objective"
and not a
byproduct of
the abuse,
according to
Jane Mayer's
authoritative
book "The
Dark Side."
Thus,
according to
administration
attorneys,
an
interrogator
could know
that
torturing
would cause
pain, but if
"causing
such harm is
not the
objective,
he lacks the
requisite
specific
intent" to
be guilty of
torture.
Harold Koh,
dean of Yale
Law School,
described
these claims
as "perhaps
the most
clearly
erroneous
legal
opinion I
have ever
read."
In addition
to violating
the law --
and,
according
the Red
Cross,
possibly
committing
war crimes
-- the
United
States
gained
little if
any new
quality
intelligence
by
torturing,
according to
CIA and FBI
officials.
In fact,
torturing
detainees
(including
some who
were
innocent)
hurt our
ability to
obtain good
intelligence
while
undermining
our ideals
and damaging
our
reputation
and
credibility
worldwide.
Former
Attorney
General John
Ashcroft
reportedly
said at one
of those
White House
meetings
that
"history
will not
judge us
kindly." Nor
should the
American
public.
For the
editorial
board,
Phillip
Brownlee
Copyright
The Wichita
Eagle
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