Truthout: Don't Let Torture Become the Norm

Don't Let Torture Become the Norm
By Phillip Butler
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor

Tuesday 30 January 2007

Many peace and justice organizations have been promoting and demonstrating lately for awareness of torture and related issues. I'm amazed and profoundly disappointed that this has apparently become necessary in our country.

I spent eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, from 1965 to 1973. During that time, I and more than 90 percent of my fellow POWs were repeatedly tortured for the extortion of information to be used for political propaganda and sometimes just for retribution. We were not recognized by Vietnam as POWs, but as criminals, because the Vietnamese had not signed the 1949 "Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War."

Later, in 1975, the United Nations created the "Convention Against Torture." Both conventions were ratified by Congress and became laws of our land. Unfortunately, Vietnam - along with numerous other countries who are still partially stuck in the 15th century - had institutionalized torture to punish and extract information from prisoners.

We received great moral and psychological strength during our incarceration from telling each other, "Our country is civilized and would never knowingly treat people like this."

We felt we had the moral high ground and took great pride in being American, above such barbarity. Besides, we all knew from experience that torture is useless, because under torture we told our tormentors whatever we thought they wanted to hear. Whenever possible we slipped in ridiculous statements like one I used in a torture-extracted "confession," that "only officers are allowed to use the swimming pool on the USS Midway." Another friend wrote in a "confession" that "my commanding officer, Dick Tracy, ordered me to bomb schools and hospitals." These are just two examples of the kind of culturally embedded nonsense people can expect to extract through torture.

We are hearing arguments that support coercion in various forms. One is that "unusual body positions" aren't really torture. Well, if you don't think so, try going out on your driveway or sidewalk, without clothes on, one of these cold nights. Kneel down on the concrete, holding your body erect with your arms extended above your head. In a very few minutes you will begin to feel real pain. Imagine several big tormentors ensuring with whips that you stay in that position. That's torture. .....(more)

The rest of the piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013007M.shtml

I've been looking for the perfect reply to this e-mail:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=76859&mesg_id=76859

and I found it in this article.

Thanks for posting.

In an attempt make 'torture' digestible to the American public, it is necessary to lie and avoid complicity in 'torture'

Later, in 1975, the United Nations created the "Convention Against Torture." Both conventions were ratified by Congress and became laws of our land. Unfortunately, Vietnam - along with numerous other countries who are still partially stuck in the 15th century - had institutionalized torture to punish and extract information from prisoners.

See how the trick works -- right now in 2007, the executive of the United States of America has OFFICIALLY authorized the use of torture. That and that alone is the ONLY reason why 'torture' is an issue and being discussed by this writer. IN fact that IS the issue ... Presidential authorization of torture...not torture itself.

But note the above statement -- he is implying that in back in 1975, the Convention Against Torture because countries like Vietnam still act like they did back in the 15th century.

Cute trick hey? The writer doesn't have a clue about 15th century Vietnam, so he takes the outlines of European history (which his audience would know) as a example from good old strawman 'history' to make a point about his country's current policy (right now!!) that wasn't even in existence in the 15th century, which never give a rat's ass about UN conventions (right now!!) and was IN FACT the country that invaded and killed 3 million Vietnamese under an entirely arbitrary foreign policy called 'containment' and is doing the same thing RIGHT NOW...

So he's try to frame all this as if it was some 'ethics' debate, when IN FACT this has been settled logic for everyone including administrations during the Vietnam war NEVER officially authorized torture of the many thousands and hundreds of thousands of prisoners held in South Vietnam NOR does he quite shockingly mention the fact that UNOFFICIALLY the US government has been training thousands upon thousands of military personnel in torture techniques for decades. I won't even bother with the writers' erasing of Abu Grahib or Maher Arar -- that is too disgusting to stomach even for Truthout.

Typical American perspective -- in spite of mountains of evidence of direct complicity involving the US in authorized or unauthorized torture (right now!!) he wants to suggest that torture is a universal problem that faces all of humanity. Of course it isn't and is something that has been dealt with by 'humanity' quite sometime ago.

The reality is that 'torture' is current US policy and out of his list, it is the ONLY country that considers itself a 'western' democracy. Why exactly would the writer want to compare the current US policy in a well-developed democracy to 15th century Arabia? -- I don't know -- it WOULD make far more sense to his 'case' if he pointed out that the US itself was settled by religious groups that were regularly tortured and killed by religious fanatics in '15th century' England -- a country in Europe; not the Middle East.

That WOULD make a lot more sense to an American reader and would build upon his or her sympathies much more that suggesting the the 'torture' file is a rope over an abyss and tied to one end is the 15 century and tied to the other end is the pen of George W. Bush. The rest of the five hundred years is irrelevant of course for the purpose of this tasteless civic lessons that really comes down to "you don't want the US to be thought of worst than Saudi Arabia, do you?"

But unlike people in "15th century Vietnam" or "regress(ing) to the 15th century by acting like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, Syria," the people in the US can do something about it RIGHT NOW.

What this writer wants to avoid is that the current President is insane and breaks American law and violates the Constitution and people like him haven't done a fucking thing about it...and would much rather talk about 15th century Vietnam and the axis of evil.

There is a much simpler way of going about all of this without making democrats look like hypocrites and that is impeach the son of bitch -- BUT writer doesn't feel THAT strongly about torture or (get this) in "keep(ing) the promise for ourselves and all humanity, the promise that is our United States of America." to interfere with the mindless pandering of political partisanship which, like him, treats this subject with all the seriousness of a football game.

Who's crazier down there...liberals or neo-cons?

what we most loathe and fear. I saw a documentary made by BBC 4 where a journalist interviewed a 20 year career CIA interrogator. He asked the man, "Was there ever a time when you felt that you needed to use physical coercion or torture because the information was so time sensitive that you couldn't wait to use regular interview techniques." This CAREER CIA OFFICER'S ANSWER WAS "NO."

The reason that torture is legal is that *all* the GITMO prisoners have been tortured and fed information to cop to "some crime" even if they were just a cab driver in Kabul and sold off for a reward of $5000. (like the majority in Afghanistan at the time)

Very few of the men at GITMO are combatants, much less terrorists - but *all of them* have confessed (were fed the confession) of at least one war crime. If we had NOT used torture and followed Geneva Conventions, they would not have been forced to make false confessions, there wouldn't be a few million larger facility that Halliburton has built, and Dear Leader would not have anything to frighten the people - save for the homeless cell in Miami. :eyes: