torture

First printed in Socialist Worker on 22 November 2009

THE STUBBORN refusal of the Democrats in both Congress and the White House to deliver on their promise to hold the Bush administration responsible for torture offers a sobering reminder of the party's ability to hide conservative politics behind liberal rhetoric.

Public opinion has been demanding answers on this issue for more than five years now. In August, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration's latest concession to this public pressure would be an independent review into specific interrogations conducted by the CIA.

While the mainstream media may have wanted to ignore all this, public sentiment has forced it to keep the issue alive. Much of the credit for this goes to individuals and people working with groups like the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which kept a spotlight on the issue of torture and the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay. Likewise, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh's articles detailing abuses at Abu Ghraib and other revelations have added to the public questioning.

According to a USA Today/Gallup poll earlier this year, 62 percent of the population wants an investigation into "the possible use of torture while interrogating terrorism suspects" (38 percent wanted a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, while 24 percent wanted an independent panel that would investigate, but not necessarily prosecute).

Politicians, human rights activists, citizens and soldiers around the globe are debating whether the treatment of prisoners by U.S. forces is consistent with international and national laws. Although the U.S. government refuses to extend Constitutional protections or treat them as 'prisoners of war' or 'civilians under enemy control', officials repeatedly claim that they are treating prisoners in a manner 'consistent with international law'. Conversely, repeated reports of abuses and illegal practices from soldiers, FBI agents, prisoners and foreign governments have created serious doubts about whether the U.S. government is being entirely truthful in these claims. Given the current administration's history of misrepresentation, the fact that many reject claims that the government is in compliance with international human rights laws as outright lies is not at all surprising.

Originally posted on A contrario on 27 May 2008

On 2 May, I received a response from Congressman Steve Buyer to my 16 April letter requesting an independent investigation into the abuse and torture of prisoners by U.S. forces. He included an 'Issue Position Statement' with his response, which I have reproduced in its entirety below1:

1. 1. To the best of my knowledge, a position statement is by definition intended for public distribution, and can therefore be freely distributed. As it claims to reflect the views of its original author, however, any intentional alteration to such a statement could probably be construed as libel.

Originally posted on A contrario on 5 May 2008

The letter requesting that certain politicians be subpoenaed for testimony that is quoted below was sent by the ACLU on my behalf to the House Judiciary Committee and several other members of Congress on 5 May. The ACLU provided the introductory paragraph, and I wrote the rest of the letter. This letter was one of many petitions delivered to Congress as part of the ACLU's 'Citizen's Subpoena' campaign. Hopefully, the Judiciary Committee's call for testimony marks the beginning of a serious investigation into Executive policies on the use of torture or 'aggressive interrogation techniques'.

I demand to know the truth about torture. It's time to conduct a full investigation to determine what laws may have been broken and whether war crimes or other torture crimes were committed. John Ashcroft, John Yoo, George Tenet, Douglas Feith and others must testify. It's time to legally compel Bush's torture team to tell the truth.

Originally posted on A contrario on 16 April 2008

In the letter quoted below, I request that Steve Buyer, the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 4th district, take the necessary steps to stop the U.S. government's use of torture and to identify and reprimand the officials responsible for this obscene policy. This letter is in response to Bush's latest statement that he personally approved the use of torture (see the Washington Post's summary of the interview), and the structure of this letter is based loosely on the form letter that ACLU is hosting over here. If you wish, you are welcome to use any part or all of the below text (except my signature!) in your own letter. According to the House web site, all physical mail is currently being screened for biological agents, so the fastest way to contact your Representative is probably through the House's Write Your Representative form.

Originally posted on A contrario on 22 March, 2008

This is the extended and original version of a letter I submitted to the editor of the local paper. It is the first of a growing series of documents to come out of my research into the human rights violations that are being committed by or in the United States. While I am disgusted by my government's behavior, I am even more incensed by the general public apathy (at least in my area) toward the issue . I wrote this letter in an attempt to dissolve that apathy and implore people to start attending to what the U.S. government is doing in our name. Democracy will not survive in this nation if we do not monitor our own government at least as vigilantly as it seems to be monitoring us.