"We Do Not Torture"

Thus Spake The Leader, the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the most powerful nation on earth. What did he say ? "We do not torture."
How can he say that despite the enormity of the evidence to the contrary? Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Afghanistan ..... Of course, ‘we’ torture. He threathened to veto an amendment banning torture, his Vice President tried to exclude the CIA from the ban – further evidence that ‘we’ are torturing, otherwise ‘we’ wouldn’t bother.

So, why does he say it ? Is he lying ? Or does he not know ? Here are some possible explanations (maybe I should apply for a job as his ghostwriter):

• "We do not torture" could mean that I, my wife, my friends, our neighbours do not torture. Alright, that’s fair enough. Why get your own hands dirty when there are so many who can do it for you. So, a better way of saying this would have been "We do not torture personally".
• "We do not torture Americans". That sounds reasonably true for the time being (but wait until the Patriot Act unfolds). The trouble is, it implies Americans torture everybody else. Far from it. So far they haven’t tortured Eskimos, for example.
• "We do not torture on American soil." Again, sounds credible. Those American laws and the Constitution are a real nuisance. That’s why we go offshore, outsourcing it. We might go further and auction off the right to torture.
• "We do not really torture, we only apply ‘advanced interrogation protocols’". Well, that’s great. But wait until you hear what the CIA calls ‘real’ torture – treatment that leads to organ failure or death. Everything else is just ‘cruel, degrading and inhuman’, not torture. OK, so apparently that is something you can safely do to your wife, brother, or neighbour ?

In the fog created by spin doctors, government lawyers, and prostitute journalists it is hard to see the simple facts or to verify what is or isn’t being done, by whom, and why. Helpfully, Amnesty International has produced some detailed questions and answers regarding torture which also debunk some of the more insidious justifications for it.

Who tortures ? We know Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, and the like did it. And we’d expect ‘evil’ regimes, ‘rogue states’ to do it. But the USA ? The cradle of freedom, justice, and democracy ? The very people that have just ‘liberated’ Iraq from an evil, bloodthirsty, torturing dictator ? Abu Ghraib came as a huge shock , particularly to those of us who were friends of America. But as it turns out, other ‘friends’ like Britain and Israel seem to be doing it as well.

Why do they torture ? Does it produce anything useful, does it lead to less terrorism, prevent the explosion of ‘a ticking bomb ? No. Definitely not. Torture does not work. It does not produce reliable information. Whatever it provides, can not be used as evidence in court. This creates all sorts of legal problems. So, torture does not produce anything useful - except: It produces more terrorists – "an excellent way of converting [the victims'] families and friends to extremism" as The Economist dryly observes (my article on Terrorism due out in March ’06 ). It extends and multiplies the mayhem, makes the world a more dangerous place, and may ultimately require ‘to fight them here’, because ‘fighting them there’ has so abysmally failed.

Who are the culprits ? It comes from the top, aided and abbetted by lawyers, journalists, lobbyists, industrialists. "...abusive interrogation cannot be reduced to the misdeeds of a few low-ranking soldiers, but was a conscious policy choice by senior U.S. government officials." says Human Rights Watch . It also says: ".. U.S. mistreatment of detainees could not be reduced to a failure of training, discipline or oversight, or reduced to "a few bad apples," but reflected a deliberate policy choice embraced by the top leadership."
Can you believe that lawyers of the American Department of Justice are labouring to construe justifications for the most cruel act of injustice that is torture ? To call this a 'Department of Justice' is a bitter Orwellian joke. Can you believe that they are seeking to protect the torturers from prosecution, where the victims are the ones who desperately need protection ?

What about the torturer ? "Torture not only degrades the victim, it also ultimately degrades the torturer". And does he really expect to ferret out some highly important secret information from some poor soul who can hardly read or write ? Look again at the pictures from Abu Grhaib with the victims and – next to them –grinning American soldiers. These torturers are enjoying themselves, having fun ! "So, can anyone believe that information-gathering is the real purpose of torture? The original inquisitors did not think so. They put their victims ‘to the test’ knowing perfectly well that there was no information to be gained. But they tortured and burnt their victims for the greater glory of God and their own perverse and pathological satisfactions".

What does all this lead to ? The "U.S. policy of abuse undermines [human] rights worldwide". How can we claim the moral high ground accusing, for instance, China of abuses, when we ourselves have blood on our hands. Human Rights Watch continues "..the illegal tactics [are] fueling terrorist recruitment, discouraging public assistance of counterterrorism efforts and creating a pool of unprosecutable detainees." Amnesty International has this to say about torture: "Torture does not stop terror. Torture is terror (this article due out in March ‘06). Torture or other ill treatment not only harms the victim, it brutalizes the perpetrator and the societies that allow it to happen. It is cruel, inhuman and degrades us all." That is a nice way of saying that a society awash with violence, brutality, and gory computer games gets a chance to live out its sick phantasies doing the ‘real thing’.

Al Gore quotes a source saying that the chief executive who assumes the power to commit torture "has the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution." This inevitably leads to "The Law of The Jungle" as the German magazine DER SPIEGEL put it, to a breakdown of the rule of law – not just abroad but also at home. Those few Americans, British or Israelis who might have approved of torture being used on some ‘selected terrorists’ might soon find it being employed against their own fellow citizens. They should be worried "...because these enormous presidential powers can so easily be turned against U.S. citizens."

Torturers are everywhere. While I am talking about the USA and Western countries, I do acknowledge that torture happens in Asia, Africa, in the former Sowjet Union - quite possibly to a worse degree than anything the West does. What is so shocking is that the Western nations – while perpetrating this crime – pontificate about their ‘values’ – meaning freedom, justice, democracy. Who do they expect will believe them ?

Why do decent people reject torture ? "As a lawyer brought up to admire the ideals of American democracy and justice ....I regard this as a monstrous failure of justice," said one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the UK . And, of course, decent people know it doesn’t work. It’ll achieve the opposite: "Injustice is the most eloquent recruiter for terrorism (this article due out in March ‘06). Injustice breeds desperation." The Court denounced torture and any attempt to use evidence obtained by torture in British courts. It said: ".. English law had regarded torture ... with abhorrence for more than 500 years." and "torture evidence [is] unreliable, unfair, offensive to ordinary standards of humanity and decency .." and "The use of torture is dishonourable. It corrupts and degrades the state which uses it .... many people in the United States have felt their country dishonoured by its use of torture.." and "torture [is] one of the most evil practices known to man." and "Torture is not acceptable. No civilised society condones its use" and "Torture is an unqualified evil. It can never be justified. Rather, it must always be punished."

This is a slap in the face for the British Prime Minister and the American President. And for their governments. Decent Americans, Brits, Israelis and decent people everywhere will not tolerate torture. They will not let the government destroy their reputation and dishonour their good name.
Decent people do not want to return to the Middle Ages nor to the law of the jungle. They will say so. And they will mean what they say when they say: "We Do Not Torture."