This recent editorial in the Washington Post has been making a splash. Among other things, the author (self-described as having "led an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006") argues, among other things, that the number of US military personnel likely killed as a consequence of US torture policy is at least as great as those killed on 9/11. So if US torture is being defended as a way to "save American lives," he insists, that calculus must not be including US military personnel. A good read, and great ammunition for those debates where pro-torturists try to frame the debate in a way that puts everyone in the military in the position of supporting the policy...
2 comments:
Here is hoping that the President-elect adheres to his campaign position and takes a definitive stand against the use of torture from the starting gate.
While I’m happy that John Brennan is no longer being considered for the CIA director position in the Obama administration, I was distressed today by a suggestion in U.S. News & World Report that Obama might just leave General Hayden in the position, which would be absurd. Obama voted against confirming Hayden to the position back in 2006 and Hayden’s position on torture is deplorable, as he maintains that the CIA can’t effectively interrogate prisoners if it is restrained to using only the techniques in the Army Field Manual.
The Maher Arar case may also be one to watch depending on the ruling by an en banc panel of the Second Circuit US Court of Appeals, after the Court decided sua sponte (very interesting) to hear the case. Arguments take place tomorrow, 12/9 and if the Court reverses and remands the case, the Obama administration will have to choose how to defend the extraordinary rendition policy that led to months of torture for Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen, after he was sent by the U.S. to Syria on the basis of erroneous information from the Canadian government.
And I am eager for those in Gitmo and other military facilities to be given the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus and given the opportunity for a fair trial (giving a defendant the right to actually know and defend against the evidence being used against him - wow, what a novel concept). I am going to be sorely disappointed if it takes the new administration a lengthy amount of time to fix this ongoing atrocity.
Thanks for the update on the Arar case...we're actually talking about him this week in class and I wasn't aware of these developments.
And I agree on some of the more "recent developments" in the to-be Obama administration. It seems that particularly in the area of "security," this is looking more like the same than "change"... : /
Ditto on Gitmo. Why more people don't understand these issues not simply as human rights/civil liberties violations, but stupid foreign policy/security decisions as well. The longer these abuses go on, the longer Osama and radical Islamists sit back and watch the recruits file in...
Post a Comment