The Sanity of Torture

The Associated Press recently published the results of a poll that reveal the insanity of our nation's perspective and morality. To summarize, this is what we believe:

• Just over 50% of Americans believe torture can be justified
• Roughly 50% of Americans want Guantanamo closed, 50% want it open
  
• 54% of Americans are concerned that terrorists could escape from high-security prisons in the United States
  
• 35% of Americans believe they may be victims of a terrorist attack

The actual poll and results can be found here: AP-Gfk Poll

These findings are quite disturbing to me because they represent a culture of fear and anxiety that contributes to a national delusion. Clearheaded thinking and ethical discourse have taken a back seat, or totally failed, when one of every two Americans think torture can be justified. Despite the fact that no one has even escaped an American high-security prison, half of us are legitimately scared that a terrorist from halfway around the world could be flown into our backyard. And when one in three of us believes we will fall victim to a terrorist attack, it is no wonder that acceptance of torture is so high.

Americans, in their fear and anxiety, are suffering. And in our desire to avoid suffering, we are creating conditions and committing actions that lead to others' suffering. But, and here's the rub, our desire to avoid suffering, in fact, contributes to a great suffering for ourselves. It is a cycle of damnation that leads no where. Noam Chomsky, in an excellent piece for Z Magazine, writes:

Perhaps culpability would be greater, by prevailing moral standards, if it were discovered that Bush administration torture cost American lives. That is, in fact, the conclusion drawn by U.S. Major Matthew Alexander [pseudonym], one of the most seasoned interrogators in Iraq, who elicited "the information that led to the U.S. military being able to locate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qa'ida in Iraq," correspondent Patrick Cockburn reports. Alexander expresses only contempt for the harsh interrogation methods: "The use of torture by the US," he believes, not only elicits no useful information, but "has proved so counter-productive that it may have led to the death of as many U.S. soldiers as civilians killed in 9/11." From hundreds of interrogations, Alexander discovered that foreign fighters came to Iraq in reaction to the abuses at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, and that they and domestic allies turned to suicide bombing and other terrorist acts for the same reason (Cockburn, "Torture? It probably killed more Americans than 9/11," Independent, April 6, 2009)

We live in fear of a terrorist attack because we suffered one. In our desire to prevent another one for happening, we are doing things to people that only make them want to hurt us more. This is insanity. The only path out of this cycle of death and destruction, torment and torture, is forgiveness...but to suggest that is deemed insane - at least by the "sane" ones who think torture is a way to stop violent acts against ourselves. The conversation around the effectiveness of torture is a distraction. It is propaganda to continue the war on terror. The very fact that this conversation is happening shows that America has no conscience and no respect for its own laws, international law, or human rights.

Obama's Guantanamo: A Tortured Legacy

In spite of promising signs that President Obama was reversing the Bush Administration's illegal and short-sighted policies that made up the "war on terror," recent news from Washington suggests Mr. Obama's legacy is not that different from Mr. Bush's: impunity and indefinite detention continue to be the way of the White House. When Mr. Obama signed the executive orders closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the CIA's secret prisons, it seemed to be a signal that America would again respect the rule of international law and human rights, but the latest annoucements that the U.S. may revive Guantánamo military courts and that Obama seeks to block release of Abu Ghraib photos indicates otherwise.

Under the Obama Administration, the Departmet of Justice continues to remain stagnate and look to other countries to resolve the legal and political quagmire that is Guantanamo. There remains over 50 men who were cleared for release by the Bush Administration and the current review of evidence by the Obama Administration affirms the freedom these men should have. But instead of expediating the release of these men, the hostility and trumped up fears by the likes of Dick Cheney, conservative talk show hosts and most of Congress has this nation in a frenzy. Instead of putting time and energy into ensuring justice is met, the debate about the effectiveness of torture rolls on, continuing to taint America's commitment to human rights and democracy. The impunity granted to U.S. policy makers and government officials who legitimized torture continues to be a dark shadow in our recent past. Mr. Obama seeking to reinstate the controversial, inneffective, and unjust military tribunals is a betrayal of American ideals of habeas corpus and the right to a fair trial. With regards to the photos that the DOJ is seeking to block the release of on grounds of being a threat to national security, Mr. Obama continues to play the worn-out game of exploiting the American public from the depravity and inhumanity of our tortured foreign policy in the name of decorum.

The Imperial Reach of Barack Obama: Spain, Guantanamo, and Beyond

President Barack Obama's friendship with Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero seems to be saving face for the American centrist who wants to "look forward as opposed to looking backwards." Once again, politics take priority as human rights and international law take a back seat as Guantanamo and Bagram remain open and its architects enjoy the privileges of the power elite.

Spain's Attorney General, Candido Conde-Pumpido, announced that the case against six former Bush Administration officials is a "plaything." Conde-Pumpido, in an AP article, said that prosecutions for torture should only proceed with people who were actually present at the time of the torture. The American men who were facing possible indictment by Spanish investigative judges are considered the architects of torture, not the torturers themselves. Read the BBC story here.

The weak argument put forth by Spain's top law-enforcement official wreaks of political pressure and back-door dealings. The best justification that the Spanish polity can muster to avoid a political quandary with the United States is nonsequitur, illogical, immoral and inconsistent with past human rights violations and war crime tribunals that prosecuted and convicted policymakers as perpetrators. Consider Israel's case against Adolf Eichmann, the "architect of the Holocaust." This is not to compare Nazi crimes against the Jews and humanity with the Bush Administration's war on terror, but that there is international legal precedent for pursuing the masterminds of war crimes, not just those who carried them through. How can there ever be a lasting peace and if those most responsible for creating systems of oppression and machines of torture and indefinite detention in dark prisons are considered innocent?
For a comprehensive understanding of how the U.S. torture regime came to life, check out "Anatomy of Bush's Torture 'Paradigm.'"

While there is a new president in Washington, many of the faces from the Bush Administration remain the same. Let us not be naive enough to think that the Spanish government is not bowing to pressures from its long-time ally. Finally, Glen Greenwald breaks down the Spanish law that makes such investigations possible: "The Differing Views of the "Rule of Law." Maybe former law professor Obama could use a refresher course himself as a reminder of what the great Dr. King said: "justice too long delayed is justice denied."