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Torture post 9/11
Torture has become a matter of current events rather than a quaint practice from people long ago or far away.
Since the al Queda attacks of 11 September 2001 on the Pentagon and the World Trade Towers, American involvement in accusations of torture range from treatment of enemy combatants at Gitmo (the US military base at Guantanamo on the island of Cuba) to the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, to "extraordinary rendition" (or secret transporting) of suspect terrorists by the CIA to black sites (secret facilities in foreign countries where torture may be carried out).
But according to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (also at <http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/39/a39r046.htm>
or
<http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html>, proposed in 1984, in force by 1987, ratified by the USA in 1994): "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a
threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may
be invoked as a justification of torture."
See also the UN
Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1975 <http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f1c030.html>
<http://www.un-documents.net/a30r3452.htm>
or <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/h1dpast.htm>
or <http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/100296.pdf>.
America's Attempt to Change the Definition of Torture
To get around legal limitations agianst torturing captured suspected terrorists or "enemy combatants," members of the George W. Bush administration began to redefine what counted as torture or not. The 2002 memo by John Yoo arguing that torturing detainees was not a war crime, quotes the Geneva Convention defining some of those crimes as "torture or inhuman treatment, including biologial experiments, wilfully casuing great suffering or serious injury to body or health." The Bybee Memo of 2002 tried to redefine torture, as "equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death," thus prohibiting only "extreme acts."
Members of Congress acted to prevent torture. One effort was the Military Commissions Act of 2006 from the 109th Congress, referenced as S. 3930.ENR), which defined torture as "an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind"and stated that cruel and inhuman treatment included inflicting "severe or serious physical or mental pain or suffering" "a substantial risk of death... extreme physical pain;... a... significant loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.... "
Another effort (as mentioned in the McCain Amendment to the Dept. of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006 (listed as H.R. 2863 of the 109th Congress, Senate Amendment s. 1977), sought to prohibit "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" of detainees.
President George W. Bush, through signing statements, refused to acknowlege limits on his authorization to torture, (For problems with such signing statements, see this article, or this article).
At the international level, the "Optional Protocol" to the 1985 UN Convention against Torture was proposed in 2002 and became active in 2006. The United States tried to prevent its passage and has refused to sign partly because of its treatment of detained people categorized as "enemy combatants."
In July 2014 the European Court of Human Rights held Poland accountable for its involvement in these "extraordinary renditions" (see articles here, here, or here).
In 2010-2011 there was the case of Private Manning as reported by the Baltimore Sun or Salon and the 2012 ruling of a United Nations commisioner on Human Rights.
President Obama acknowledged and explained the issue of torture since 9/11 on August 1, 2014, saying "We tortured some folks." For a cartoon commentary on that speech, click here.
In December 2014, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a redacted report on torture. Much still of their argument and data remains classified and still unpublished.
The United States is alone among modern industrialized Western states still to execute criminals, defined by those other governments as inhumane. (Curiously as well, the 13th Amendment still allows slavery "as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted"). Even so, contemporary capital punishment in America officially aims to reduce the suffering of the condemned, compared to execution methods of the past. Methods still used in the various state and federal executions include hanging, firing squad, the electric chair, the gas chamber, and, most commonly, lethal injection. While the last method aims for efficiency in causing death, it has its problems.
Some Useful Links:
David Cole, Torture: No one said No. An analysis of how the Bush Administration's policy evolved.
David Cole, No Accountability for Torture. A review of the failure to prosecutesuccessfully members of the Bush Administration's for torture.
Mark Danner and Hugh Eakin: The CIA: the Devastating Indictment. Beginning of a review of the The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture.
John Oliver, Torture, Last Week Tonight (HBO, June 14, 2015). Satiric look at Senate Intelligence Committee Report and US policy.
Dustin Volz, The One Important Fact John Oliver got Wrong About Torture. Corrections to Oliver's and others confusion about the report.
20 Key findings about CIA interrogations. Notable points of the Senate Intelligence Committee Report.
Igor Volsky, 17 Disgraceful Facts Buried In The Senate’s 600 Page Torture Report. Selection of problematic details.
Mark Shea, What Torture Broke Was Us: An Examination of Conscience for American Catholic Torture Defenders. Critique of US torture from a faith point of view.
Steven Reisner, CIA on the Couch. Professional psychologists role in torture.
Timeline of the torture practices by the Bush Administration.
World Organization Against Torture. An non-governmental agency trying to reduce tortre and promote human rights.
Andrew Sullivan. The Truth About Torture, Revisited (December 10, 2014). Opinion piece.
Video of Torture in UAE, 2009: and excerpts from a tape of the torture of an enemy of the UAE regime. Full story here.
Reggio, Michael H. History of the Death Penalty: Good brief history connected with a PBS Frontline show about the execution of a double murderer in Texas.
Chinese Practitioners Reenact Torture Methods Used in Jiamusi Forced Labour Institute, Heilongjiang Province (Photos): Recent experiences.
| What is torture? | Why is torture done? | What are the methods of torture? |
| Primary Source: Letters from the Witch Trial of Rebecca Lemp: a family deals with accusations. |
Torture post 9/11 | Suffer your own persecution! Try a witch hunt simulation: make choices to survive or not. |
