Ten Against Torture Tuesday
-Ten Against Torture Tuesday-
I'll admit that I love alliteration. I can't help myself. This will not be a regular feature by any means, but it's Tuesday and so I had to use the name. I love alliteration, but on the other hand, there are certainly things that I hate.
One of those things that I hate is torture.
I hate torture in all its forms, wherever and however it is practiced. Specifically, this post is to address the fact that torture has been approved and in fact, committed by the United States Of America. I certainly don't understand that and reading some of the stories from people who were prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other such facilities makes me very sad. It makes me sick, but perhaps more than anything it makes me upset, because we're America and we're supposed to be better than that. We are better than that.
Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as:
"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."
The Geneva Convention, which the United States has ratified, explicitly condemns torture in no uncertain terms. In fact, it doesn't permit "violence", "cruel treatment", "humiliating and degrading treatment" against a detainee "at any time and in any place whatsoever." In fact, the War Crimes Act of 1996 made any "serious breach of the Geneva Convention" a felony and punishable under U.S. law with serious consequences. There are supposed to be serious consequences anyway, but so far, there have been little to none.
Only those who are either criminally naive or seriously interested in deluding themselves would pretend that the United States didn't torture people in Iraq and throughout the world. There have been enough witness, enough testimonies, enough pictures, enough documentation and hopefully just enough so that this never occurs again.
President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and others have admitted that torture was used, although it is claimed that “The techniques…were necessary and are necessary to be used on a rare occasion to get information to protect the American people,”as Bush said during an interview with Fox News on January 11 of this year. Techniques such as water-boarding and others were defended here, using this and the ever-popular "ticking time bomb" scenario.
As far as I'm aware of, the "ticking time bomb scenario" has never happenned and if so, why haven't they told us when it has?. On the popular show "24", which I love, which also appears on Fox, it frequently happens. For the sake of plot points, keeping up the shows breathtaking pace and indeed to save the world, Jack Bauer frequently employs some methods which are certainly torture. At the beginning of Season 7 (which started off so strongly), Jack Bauer was being tried for his actions and he responded to those who accused him that things aren't always so black and white out in the field where the action happens and that it's a lot easier to judge when you're not part of that situation.
Jack was right. I have never been part of the military and in fact, am unlikely to. I've never been there in a situation where the pressure to save lives is a reality and where you feel that there is legitimately no other recourse than torture. I sympathize with those charged with gathering information, for those tasked with protecting the American people and to those serving in our military both at home and abroad. I can hardly imagine the situations that they were placed in. However, both Jack Bauer and President Bush, are also wrong.
Some things are black and white. I believe torture is one of those things. Torture is never necessary. It's not just a law, but if you're a Christian, it's a Biblical command as well. The Bible says very clearly "to love your enemies." Notice what it says there - to love your enemies. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say "except if your enemies are Islamic terrorists, then it's okay not to love them". It's pretty clear to love them.
Torture is both illegal and immoral. It violates numerous laws and values of American society that we hold dear. Torture is something that the American people can't tolerate or approve of. So far, President Obama has discussed with various news outlets that he has a desire to "look forward" and not focus on the "mistakes of the past." While I think it's very admirable and commendable to look forward to the future, but we can't compromise ourselves by ignoring the past, which is exactly what we would do there. In doing so, we're implicitly approving of what they did and setting a dangerous precedent for the future.
In the film Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne is put into a similar situation where he is told to perform an act that he finds contrary to his own values. Bruce Wayne is told that by a man named Henri Ducard that "Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share."
In response, Bruce Wayne, the man who would later become Batman, states: "That's why it's so important. It separates us from them."
Don't mistake the compassion of the United States for any sort of weakness, but we can't condone torture, especially not on the level that the United States has engaged in the past and can't afford to do so in the future. It has cost us dearly in American lives, our standing in the world and have sacrified many American ideals in the process. Torture is contrary to what America stands for and should not stand for ever again.
America has tortured. In fact, we have stood by and allowed it to happen as OUR government (after all, we are a democracy) has performed in secret detention facilities throughout the world. President Obama has said on one hand very clearly that America does not torture people, while on other hand doesn't want to be caught up in policy differences between the incoming and outgoing adminstrations.
People being murdered, beaten to death, sexually abused, raped, physically humiliated, waterboarded, undergoing sleep deprivation, stripped of their dignity, burned with cigarettes, attacked by dogs and other such indignities is not simply a policy difference. People leaving with scars, both psychologically and physically, that they may never fully heal from is not a policy difference. Torture is not a policy difference.
It is the difference between right and wrong.
Those who committed torture, those who condoned torture, those who approved and indeed ordered torture, should be held accountable. I realize that we're in a war, but we need to keep those standards no matter what, because 'it separates us from them. ' Amnesty International recently began a campaign that is the inspiration for those post which is called Ten Against Torture, which features ten letters, which are thought provoking, moving and in many instances, heart-breaking, that you can send to President Obama to make him think about how important an issue this is. Even if you don't participate in the campaign or whatever your opinion is concerning torture, I would urge you to take some time to read some of these letters. They are powerful words and hopefully they inspire you to participate in the campaign to make the issue of torture one that President Obama can't ignore and to hold those who engaged in torture accountable.
In my opinion, this isn't about revenge, justice or a trial for those responsible for these crimes. It's about sending a very clear signal, setting a precedent for our current and future Presidential adminstrations that torture will not be permitted. If we don't, in the future, we may encounter another situation, another ethical collapse, and they will see an opportunity to do this again. I strongly feel that this is important to regaining the credibility of our country and helping to restore our integrity as a nation. I love America, no question about that, but this is not our proudest moment here and we should deal with it, not simply ignore it and hope it goes away.
More importantly than getting people involved is just making people aware of this issue and I hope that regardless of how you feel, you're now at least a little more aware of the issue. If this is an issue that resonates with you, feel free to let me know and I'd be more than happy to help you get involved or help you to become more informed. Even if you disagree, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with you. I think this is an issue that should be discussed often as possible, as over the 200 plus years since we established our independence (to escape tyranny), people around the world have looked to us for guidance and indeed, looked up to us.
It's up to us - you and I - to help remind them why.
One of those things that I hate is torture.
I hate torture in all its forms, wherever and however it is practiced. Specifically, this post is to address the fact that torture has been approved and in fact, committed by the United States Of America. I certainly don't understand that and reading some of the stories from people who were prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other such facilities makes me very sad. It makes me sick, but perhaps more than anything it makes me upset, because we're America and we're supposed to be better than that. We are better than that.
Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as:
"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."
The Geneva Convention, which the United States has ratified, explicitly condemns torture in no uncertain terms. In fact, it doesn't permit "violence", "cruel treatment", "humiliating and degrading treatment" against a detainee "at any time and in any place whatsoever." In fact, the War Crimes Act of 1996 made any "serious breach of the Geneva Convention" a felony and punishable under U.S. law with serious consequences. There are supposed to be serious consequences anyway, but so far, there have been little to none.
Only those who are either criminally naive or seriously interested in deluding themselves would pretend that the United States didn't torture people in Iraq and throughout the world. There have been enough witness, enough testimonies, enough pictures, enough documentation and hopefully just enough so that this never occurs again.
President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and others have admitted that torture was used, although it is claimed that “The techniques…were necessary and are necessary to be used on a rare occasion to get information to protect the American people,”as Bush said during an interview with Fox News on January 11 of this year. Techniques such as water-boarding and others were defended here, using this and the ever-popular "ticking time bomb" scenario.
As far as I'm aware of, the "ticking time bomb scenario" has never happenned and if so, why haven't they told us when it has?. On the popular show "24", which I love, which also appears on Fox, it frequently happens. For the sake of plot points, keeping up the shows breathtaking pace and indeed to save the world, Jack Bauer frequently employs some methods which are certainly torture. At the beginning of Season 7 (which started off so strongly), Jack Bauer was being tried for his actions and he responded to those who accused him that things aren't always so black and white out in the field where the action happens and that it's a lot easier to judge when you're not part of that situation.
Jack was right. I have never been part of the military and in fact, am unlikely to. I've never been there in a situation where the pressure to save lives is a reality and where you feel that there is legitimately no other recourse than torture. I sympathize with those charged with gathering information, for those tasked with protecting the American people and to those serving in our military both at home and abroad. I can hardly imagine the situations that they were placed in. However, both Jack Bauer and President Bush, are also wrong.
Some things are black and white. I believe torture is one of those things. Torture is never necessary. It's not just a law, but if you're a Christian, it's a Biblical command as well. The Bible says very clearly "to love your enemies." Notice what it says there - to love your enemies. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say "except if your enemies are Islamic terrorists, then it's okay not to love them". It's pretty clear to love them.
Torture is both illegal and immoral. It violates numerous laws and values of American society that we hold dear. Torture is something that the American people can't tolerate or approve of. So far, President Obama has discussed with various news outlets that he has a desire to "look forward" and not focus on the "mistakes of the past." While I think it's very admirable and commendable to look forward to the future, but we can't compromise ourselves by ignoring the past, which is exactly what we would do there. In doing so, we're implicitly approving of what they did and setting a dangerous precedent for the future.
In the film Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne is put into a similar situation where he is told to perform an act that he finds contrary to his own values. Bruce Wayne is told that by a man named Henri Ducard that "Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share."
In response, Bruce Wayne, the man who would later become Batman, states: "That's why it's so important. It separates us from them."
Don't mistake the compassion of the United States for any sort of weakness, but we can't condone torture, especially not on the level that the United States has engaged in the past and can't afford to do so in the future. It has cost us dearly in American lives, our standing in the world and have sacrified many American ideals in the process. Torture is contrary to what America stands for and should not stand for ever again.
America has tortured. In fact, we have stood by and allowed it to happen as OUR government (after all, we are a democracy) has performed in secret detention facilities throughout the world. President Obama has said on one hand very clearly that America does not torture people, while on other hand doesn't want to be caught up in policy differences between the incoming and outgoing adminstrations.
People being murdered, beaten to death, sexually abused, raped, physically humiliated, waterboarded, undergoing sleep deprivation, stripped of their dignity, burned with cigarettes, attacked by dogs and other such indignities is not simply a policy difference. People leaving with scars, both psychologically and physically, that they may never fully heal from is not a policy difference. Torture is not a policy difference.
It is the difference between right and wrong.
Those who committed torture, those who condoned torture, those who approved and indeed ordered torture, should be held accountable. I realize that we're in a war, but we need to keep those standards no matter what, because 'it separates us from them. ' Amnesty International recently began a campaign that is the inspiration for those post which is called Ten Against Torture, which features ten letters, which are thought provoking, moving and in many instances, heart-breaking, that you can send to President Obama to make him think about how important an issue this is. Even if you don't participate in the campaign or whatever your opinion is concerning torture, I would urge you to take some time to read some of these letters. They are powerful words and hopefully they inspire you to participate in the campaign to make the issue of torture one that President Obama can't ignore and to hold those who engaged in torture accountable.
In my opinion, this isn't about revenge, justice or a trial for those responsible for these crimes. It's about sending a very clear signal, setting a precedent for our current and future Presidential adminstrations that torture will not be permitted. If we don't, in the future, we may encounter another situation, another ethical collapse, and they will see an opportunity to do this again. I strongly feel that this is important to regaining the credibility of our country and helping to restore our integrity as a nation. I love America, no question about that, but this is not our proudest moment here and we should deal with it, not simply ignore it and hope it goes away.
More importantly than getting people involved is just making people aware of this issue and I hope that regardless of how you feel, you're now at least a little more aware of the issue. If this is an issue that resonates with you, feel free to let me know and I'd be more than happy to help you get involved or help you to become more informed. Even if you disagree, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with you. I think this is an issue that should be discussed often as possible, as over the 200 plus years since we established our independence (to escape tyranny), people around the world have looked to us for guidance and indeed, looked up to us.
It's up to us - you and I - to help remind them why.
0 comments:
Post a Comment