it is with a heavy heart that i undertake to comment on the
release of the congressional report on official united states torture of those
captured in the course of the second iraq war.
the report and subsequent commentary make clear that this was explicit
state policy, initiated by the president and vice-president and carried out,
apparently without significant objection, by members of the government and
private contractors, including professional psychologists. the report indicates that the torture
resulted in no useful information. What
is perhaps noteworthy or unusual about this state-authorized torture is that it
was carried out on u.s. soil by americans, rather than by foreign governments
to whom prisoners had been sent to be tortured under 'rendition'
arrangements. senior members of congress
were informed of the torture as it happened, and defended it, kept it secret,
and protected those who carried it out.
there are important lessons to be learned from this episode,
none of which, i think, will result in any substantive change in american
torture practices.
1. contrary to
oft-repeated statements by public commentators who claim to be shocked and
appalled by the revelations, this is in fact who we are as a nation. it is who we have been since the nation was
founded on the labor of enslaved africans.
vastly larger numbers of americans than non-americans have been tortured
in the past four hundred years by and with the complete legal approval first of
the separate colonies and then of the states and the federal government.
2. the actions of the
united states government were in violation of u.s. law and treaties signed by
the united states government. everyone
involved is patently guilty of major crimes.
3. no one will be
indicted, tried, convicted, or punished for those crimes.
4. by its refusal to
hold anyone legally accountable for the torture, or even to fire people still
in government employ who were involved in the torture, president obama and the
obama administration make themselves complicit in the actions of their
predecessors.
5. no one will pay
any political price for having participated in the torture, or for having
failed to prosecute those who did.
6 comments:
It's remarkable to me that the CIA contracted out torture services. "Company Y," as the Senate report refers to it, was paid in excess of $75 million for services. In effect, torture has been privatized.
"1. contrary to oft-repeated statements by public commentators who claim to be shocked and appalled by the revelations, this is in fact who we are as a nation."
This is very important statement. Until Americans confront this fact and its implications, I don't think it is possible to have a transformative movement that would lead to a democratic political-economy.
Some of the torture continued to go on under Obama in Bagram prison in Afghanistan (and Bradley Manning according to the UN). So if he were to hold others responsible, he would have to hold himself responsible.
Academia's silence on these matters is deafening...
11 December 2014
"US Congress passes bill to impose Venezuela sanctions
"The United States Congress has passed a bill which would impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials found to have violated protesters' rights."
"Senator Robert Menendez [Democrat, NJ], who sponsored the bill, said it was an 'unequivocal message' to the Venezuelan government".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30426439
Unequivocal, indeed: It's only wrong when others do it. What are you gonna do about it?
Not only won't anyone involved in the torture program be brought to trial but the CIA official who leaked information about the program, John Kiriakou, was convicted of leaking classified information and is serving a jail sentence. Enough to blo your mind!
Robert Shore
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