OPINION & EDITORIAL
Rights forgotten, torture unjustified
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Also by Jason Ebin:
- Students must protest military policy (March 6, 2006)
- Sensenbrenner wrong on immigration (March 27, 2006)
- Remember Reagan as school year comes to close (April 11, 2006)
- Media paint flowery picture (April 17, 2006)
- Students can help bring change in Darfur (May 1, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Wise up voters: Move past Iraq (September 28, 2007)
- Domestic readiness takes backseat to foreign entanglements (September 14, 2005)
- Bush's pre-war intelligence reflects gossip magazines (April 4, 2005)
- Democrats wimp out, change little (October 10, 2007)
- Candidates spew monotone rhetoric in absence of much-needed Nader (October 4, 2004)
by Jason Ebin
Monday, September 25, 2006
Mr. Bush is in a desperate spot: the war in Iraq is a disaster, bin Laden can't be found dead or alive, according to the latest polls only 39 percent of Americans approve of the way Mr. Bush is leading this county, and according to the New York Times, the latest National Intelligence Estimate reports that the United States is probably less safe from terrorism now than it was before Sept. 11, 2001.
Interestingly enough, the 39 percent approval rating was the same number that President Clinton had before the Democrats were booted out of congress in 1994.
So, Republican members of Congress this week are going to make one final push to help their diminished re-election hopes. One of the important debates will be whether or not detainees should be allowed habeas corpus and how to interpret Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which prohibit torture.
First, through a writ of habeas corpus, a detainee is supposed to be able to seek relief from unlawful imprisonment by petitioning the court to review whether or not he is being lawfully detained. According to the Christian Science Monitor there are about 460 detainees currently housed at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, many of whom have been held for more than four years. Also, just last week the Guantanamo 14 arrived, supposedly the worst of the worst, after being kept for years in secret CIA prisons.
Post-9/11, the White House suspended habeas corpus for certain non-citizens suspected of having a connection to terrorism. These detainees can be held indefinitely, without being charged, without knowing why they are being held, without access to counsel and without access to the courts.
The White House probably fears that the courts would be overburdened and that national security might be compromised if detainees permitted to see the evidence against them, and present their case in court.
Many in Congress disagree, including the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who is scheduled to hold a hearing on the merits of denying habeas corpus to detainees.
Secondly, Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions provides that all combatants who are out of the fight "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, including prohibition of outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."
The debate before Congress is what power the president of the United States should have to interpret Article 3 and define torture.
The president endorses legislation that prohibits "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions but leaves to the White House to decide by executive order which techniques are not "grave breaches," and, thus permitted. Some examples of arguably borderline interrogation methods used against detainees by the United States, as uncovered by an ABC investigation in November, include: the belly slap, a hard, open-handed slap to the stomach that causes pain but no internal injury; forcing prisoners to stand for more than 40 hours with hands cuffed and feet shackled to the floor; dousing a prisoner with cold water as he stands naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees; and water boarding, a technique that produces a sensation of drowning.
The St. Petersburg Times in Florida reported last week that "Water boarding is so terrifying that military tribunals created after World War II considered it a crime." In fact, according to this article, "Some of the Japanese who used water treatment and other forms of torture on Allied prisoners were executed."
Under the compromise reached last week between leading Republicans and the president, these techniques are likely to continue, as Mr. Bush vowed to only accept a bill that allowed the Central Intelligence Agency to continue to interrogate major terrorism suspects. The major compromise, if it holds up, seems to be that the president must publish in the Federal Register which techniques do not raise to the level of "grave breaches."
Though torture has its merits in revealing information to stop further terrorist attacks, the reality is that torture seldom has the impact on revealing the truth that justifies its use. Most recently, Canadian Maher Arar, as reported in a Toronto newspaper, spent 10 months in a Syrian jail before being cleared of any connection to terrorism. He told the Toronto newspaper that he would have confessed to anything to stop the torture.
If we go down the road that Mr. Bush suggests, we had better be prepared to accept the consequences. The world is going to be further polarized against the United States, and keeping the moral high ground in the eyes of our allies, if not lost already, is just one more challenge our generation is going to have to face.
Jason S. Ebin (jasonebin@aol.com) is a third-year law student.
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 7:51am):
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this president consider all human life sacred? Isn't he against destroying clusters of cells that could one day become human?
Here's where the hypocrisy becomes apparent: The radical right, who reveres the Prince of Peace, is pro-war and pro-torture. The prospect of terrorism has caused our country's prominent religion to turn its back on its basic principles.
Ask yourself: Have you turned your cheek, or have you turned your back?
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 8:33am):
The US Supreme Court recommended Congress clarify the Geneva Convention provision applications to foreign terrorists.
Why? Because extending Geneva Convention protections to illegal, non-uniformed combatants violates not only the spirit, but the letter of the Conventions. The clauses about non-protection of illegal combatants are specifically designed to protect civilians, from terrorists and brigands who would otherwise hide among civilian populations to escape justice. The harshest penalties are allowed for those who abuse this convention, up to and including summary execution on the field of battle.
It was absolutely vital that Congress craft US law clarifying our intentions in using coersion on terrorists.
Moreover, there is no "torture" implicit in current methods employed by the United States. That is an odious slander Leftists have gotten away with lying about for far too long.
The Guardian(UK) blew the cover on the nightmarishly brutal torture techniques the CIA sought permission to use.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1874823,00.html
My friends, can your hearts stand the shocking facts about ... the belly slap?
"The techniques sought by the CIA are: induced hypothermia; forcing suspects to stand for prolonged periods; sleep deprivation; a technique called "the attention grab" where a suspect's shirt is forcefully seized; the "attention slap" or open hand slapping that hurts but does not lead to physical damage; the "belly slap"; and sound and light manipulation.
"Several of those techniques chime with information gleaned about interrogation methods used against some serious terror suspects. The New York Times recently reported that Abu Zubaydah, the first al-Qaida member captured after the September 11 attacks, was kept in a freezing cell until he went blue, and later assailed with loud Red Hot Chili Peppers music."
Anyone who reads this stuff and still believes America has lost the moral high ground has truly lost their mind to Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 8:35am):
Secret CIA interrogation techniques revealed! America's shame just keeps growing.
The Faux Shirt Stain: Interrogator points at suspect's chest: "Look, you've got something on your shirt." When suspect looks down, interrogator brings up index finger, tweaking suspect's nose. Interrogator laughs. [This grievous affront, a loss of honor in the eyes of Allah, administers massive psychic trauma to suspect. Repeat as needed.]
The Urkel: Suspect is locked in room lined with 72-inch plasma screens showing non-stop Family Matters episodes featuring '90s "urban nerd" Steve Urkel. [Longest recorded breaking time: 2.3 hours.]
The Echo: Interrogator repeats all of suspect's statements in snotty voice...
Suspect: All unbelievers will fall before the sword of Allah!
Interrogator: [Flouncing about room in effeminate fashion] All unbelievers will fall! Before the sword! Of Allah! Who is my boyfriend! Pppbbbbbbhhht!!
[Interrogator's failure to be struck down instantly places suspect under extreme psychological stress. In case of emergency, interrogator may deploy Nyah-Nyah-Nyah Protocol.]
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 10:28am):
Come on, I've endured worse treatment in high school. Besides, should one side adhere to the Geneve Convetion, while the other side blows up women in children? The most important thing is to win; to defeat terrorism. If that means giving up our "morals" then so be it. I'd torture a few muslims if it meant my family was safer.
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 11:34am):
Is this insanity surprising? This nation has been taken over by sociopaths who believe that might, arrogance, and stupidity make right. What a wonderful world we live in!
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 1:01pm):
"I'd torture a few muslims if it meant my family was safer."
That's just it! You are NOT safer because you torture. You are not one microscopic bit safer; in fact, you're less safe. Listen closely, the effort you support IS making your family less safe.
The policies of this administration are making us the object of world hatred. Torturing suspected terrorists a) makes us safer because when absolutely know when the next attack will occur or b) makes us less safe because it continues to enrage the culture that already hates us.
P.S. Sorry about your high school experience. You should have hung out with the future Democrats; they have more fun and aren't so angry, like you.
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 4:08pm):
Should a nation extend the Conventions to those who do not respect the Conventions themselves? Is the belly slap really so horrible a thing to a man who would gladly butcher innocent women and children in the name of a God he claims to represent?
If this torturous behavior truly does not make us safer at a degree commensurate with the amount of international derision it seems to cause, it must cease.
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 4:10pm):
I say bring the troops home from everywhere (including Germany, Japan, Korea, etc.) and put them on the borders. Start building nuclear power plants as fast as possible and then run everything we can on electricity. Get to the point we need no foreign oil and then start working on needing nothing else from anywhere else. Close the borders completely - I'm thinking that the USA could get along just fine without the rest of the world.
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 5:51pm):
Should America respect free speech for those who do not respect America themselves? Is Patriot Act surveillance really so horrible a thing to Leftists who aid and abett America's enemies in the name of Godless liberalism?
If traitorous Leftist behaviors truly don't make America more secure at a degree commensurate with the amount of "international derision" they gleefully encourage, then their hate-America protests must cease.
http://www.zombietime.com/hall_of_shame
Anonymous (September 25, 2006 @ 8:01pm):
"...according to the latest polls only 39 percent of Americans approve of the way Mr. Bush is leading this county..."
I bet those same Americans stare at the paper clip figure instead of looking at what they're typing. Thaaaank you.
