Editors' Note
From the March/April 2008 Issue
what is america? It is a chunk of land; it is a racial and cultural kaleidoscope; it is a market. But more important and essential than any of these definitions, and the basis for them all, America is a legal and moral framework. It is the expression of those self-evident rights of man that Jefferson wrote about in 1776, and the fitful strides toward real equality we've been making ever since. And central to our rather arrogant notion of American exceptionalism has always been that our journey toward justice for all is not just America's journey, but a path for the rest of the world to follow.
So what example are we setting for the world, and for Americans coming of age in this time of terror and torture? In many respects we have devolved to a pre-Enlightenment state. Take waterboarding, a practice recognized as torture since the time of Torquemada and, as such, banned in most European countries by the early 1800s. An American officer, Major Edwin Glenn, was court-martialed and punished for using the method on a Filipino "insurgent" during the SpanishAmerican War. The practice was officially banned by the U.S. Army after World War II, because of pow protections spelled out in the Geneva Conventions, but also because Allied soldiers had been subjected to waterboarding by German and Japanese soldiers—several of whom were sentenced to decades of hard labor, and even life, by war-crimes tribunals. This prohibition did not mean that Americans never used waterboarding: In 1968, the Washington Post published a front-page photo showing a GI holding down a North Vietnamese prisoner as South Vietnamese soldiers waterboarded him. But the soldier was immediately drummed out of the Army. And when Texas sheriff James "Humpy" Parker and three of his deputies repeatedly used the technique on accused thieves—some of whom gave false confessions to escape further abuse—the federal government investigated, a jury of a dozen Texans voted to convict, and in 1983 the men were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
The point is that while torture still happened, when incidents became public, they were condemned, not condoned. But not only has the Bush administration stridently defended the use of "harsh interrogation techniques," the American public has signed off on such euphemisms. When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, pundits predicted it might mean an end to the war, or, at the very least, a national conversation on just how far America was willing to depart from its core values to fight terrorism. Yet, four years after the photos of naked, debased detainees first emerged, the debate over torture has dissipated. The highest-ranking officer charged in the scandal got off with a slap on the wrist in August, but you could be forgiven for not knowing—we were the only publication to send a reporter to cover the full court-martial ("The Final Act of Abu Ghraib"). There are three federal investigations into the cia's destruction of videotapes of agents waterboarding Al Qaeda travel agent Abu Zubaydah—but none into waterboarding itself. When it was revealed that administration officials and congressional leaders of both parties knew all along that waterboarding was being used on prisoners, the nation let out a collective yawn. The only criminal investigation into the cia's extraordinary rendition program has come courtesy of an Italian prosecutor ("The Body Snatchers"). Each week, Fox's 24 codifies the ticking-time-bomb justification for torture, while its reality TV show Solitary ("Voluntary Confinement") pits isolated contestants against each other to see who can withstand the most torment. And then there are the other assaults being perpetrated against the Constitution. These days American citizens are being entrapped into participating in fake plots and locked up for simply thinking anti-American thoughts ("Department of Pre-Crime").
What does our ambivalence toward our founding legal values mean in the long term? Social scientists note that most people—not just "a few bad apples"—are capable of committing torture. That they do so when encouraged by authority figures and joined by their peers, when the victims are dehumanized and the group's inhibitions fall away. Once such cruelty is deemed acceptable under exceptional circumstances, its use often becomes institutionalized: The exception becomes the norm. The only remedy is true accountability, a real reckoning with what was allowed to happen and how we can get our moral compass back. We owe that much to soldiers like Ben Allbright, who's caught between a community that hails him like a hero and the torment he feels over the abuse he doled out in Iraq ("Am I a Torturer?" ).
If we allow fear itself to rule, if we justify methods used by Spanish Inquisitors and roll back legal protections enshrined as far back as the 13th century, we lose everything we claim to be fighting so hard to protect. That's why we must be vigilant against the creep of torture. Not just because it produces questionable results. Not just because condoning its use might increase the odds that it will be used on our own soldiers and citizens. But simply because it is un-American.
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We also have to remember how central torture is in relation to American 'democracy'. Torture involves the ability to dehumanize, and so does the deliverance of American basic rights; in short, specifically American rights are defined by their ability to negate the humanity of those who don't enjoy them. The caveat too is if we make torture a matter of abstract values and democracy, then we forget about the people being subjected to torture, and we elevate ourselves and our values above their torture. Torture occurring abroad is also evidence of torture at home, so we must make this a multi-pronged analysis that unites the torture felt by the incarcerated of American prisons with that of 'enemy combatants'.
Twenty six Fort Bragg troops implicated in interrogation deaths of detainees went unnoticed, un-named, un-punished, and they remained "on duty" while those who posed in pictures (probably as ordered by the Fort Bragg interrogators) are serving time in prison. PFC Lynndie England's trial/hearing was sent to Fort Bragg. GASP! They are Army Reservists. It seems that practically all the soldiers being tried and sent to prison or punishied are Army Reserves or Army National Guard. It therefore, begs the question - why?
It should be obvious to any rational person that America, the United States, is and has been for some time under the control of a criminal gang. They have repeatedly committed crimes against humanity. It should, therefore, be no surprise that crimes such as torture, wars of aggression, and utter disregard of the constitutional protections of our citizens and basic human rights of the peoples of the world are not only perpetrated regularly, but are even boasted about with only the shallowest, almost tongue-in-cheek, pretense of disguise. Terrorism must be known to be feared, and that applies to American terrorism as to any other brand. "America Doesn't torture." Except that the entire rest of the world knows America does torture, that George Bush and his Administration are proven, serial liars, and that the Bush gang represent a global plutocracy which will do everything in its power to control the world.
I knew these forces existed in other countries lacking a history and tradition of freedom and civil rights, and also to a limited degree in the United States, though I thought constitutional law could hold them in check in this country. I was wrong.
That the constitutional requirements for declaring war can so easily be cast aside, that the provisions of the constitution concerning habeas corpus, unwarranted and illegal search can be so blithely ignored, that the body of international law, laws addressing aggressive war, treatment of prisoners of war, torture, kidnapping, etc., can be trampled on as if it were nothing more than the obsolete, "quaint," musings of idealistic fools is ample proof to me that our constitutional democracy is all but over. The lack of outrage and fury by the "so-called" opposition party and by the citizenry as a whole seals the deal. If they are content to allow these crimes in their name, then they are no more than accomplices to those crimes.
Michelle Obama has taken severe criticism for having said only recently that she felt pride in her country as an adult. I am shocked that she could feel no pride in the invasion of the hapless island of Grenada, the secret funding of the Contra narco-terrorists in Nicaragua, the same in regard to the death squads in El Salvador and Guatemala, the support for the dictator and murderer Augusto Pinochet, the bombing and killing of thousands of Panamanian civilians, the same in regard to the Balkans, the avoidable killings of thousands of Iraqis during the Gulf War I, the avoidable deaths of possibly up to a half a million children during the sanctions regime after Gulf War I, and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brought about with lies and deceptions. She is not old enough to have vivid recall of the U.S. dropping hundreds, thousands of tons of bombs on population centers so McNamara and Johnson could “send a message,” and later so Nixon could support his “madman strategy.” Michele Obama was too young, but I am not as I was a conscript soldier then. I am shocked that she can feel no pride that until only recently-they claim-one of the major political parties practiced a "Southern Strategy" which was a plan based on the appeal of racism. She has been attacked viciously from the right for making this statement. I can't help wondering how she can make the statement that she is now at last proud of this country. Try as I might, I can't.
Torture, in any way, shape, or form is WRONG. Let's admit it and get on with correcting it-which means getting rid of a great majority of Congress and this present administration.
surround the gouses of gov/t haul them out 1 at a time and feed them dollar bills til hey ehats torture. Expose them and shun them like the rest of the free world/
Just as the invasion of Iraq has been a boon to recruitment in the terrorist industry, I'm sure that as long as people like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz keep drawing breath, the ranks of freelance snipers will surely swell also. Where can we make a contribution to their cause?
Hey Roland,
Have you read"The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein? She addresses much of what you allude to...Pinochet, Suharto, Bush. You know, the usual criminals. Seems that there is a way to fend off this kind of ideology according to the author. Organization. This is why, for instance,Hugo Chavez is having such success and Bush has labeled him a bad guy. Countries in S. America remember what our gov't sanctioned against them years ago. They, and others like them around the world, are finding ways to cope without the IMF and the World Bank so that they can't be held hostage by Global corporatists again. The point is there must be enough folks like ourselves who want to find a way to fight back. A parallel voice of the people that is obviously not being heard thru our elected officials. There needs to be a way to organize all of us of the same mindset that waterboarding ought to be in the future of the executive branch ! Sound off, Mother Jones readers! If you're not pissed, you're not payng attention!
I support Mother Jones with money and yet for almost a year I have been unable to get the email offered on this page. Help People my email address is gimmejim@excite.com
... "and that the Bush gang represent a global plutocracy which will do everything in its power to control the world."
Without a doubt, the stupidest, most ridiculous and idiotic statement I have ever read. Congratulations moron.
I think I hear Dr. Evil and Mini Me now... "We are going to control the WOOOOOORLD!"
dear did my partetc ,try yahoo answers you must have mistyped
peacelover,
Sorry, I'm not into doing your homework. Why don't you go try yahoo answers and report back with what you've found.
They Live, We sleep "They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of snakes is under their lips. Their mouths are full of bitterness and curses and in their paths nothing but ruin and misery and the fear of God is not before their eyes! They have taken the hearts and minds of our leaders. They have recruited the rich and the powerful and they have blinded us to the truth. Our human spirit is corrupted! Why do we worship greed!? Because outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us; perched on top of us from birth to death are our owners, our owners, they have us, they control us, they are our masters! Wake up! They are all about you, all around you!" From the blind street preacher in "They Live" by John Carpenter
Treating these "patriots" in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places is a wonderful idea. Lets give them full access to our lawyers and legal system. Let them sue us if they feel they are discriminated against. In fact we should start paying them to not hurt us.
Of course that could send a bad message. But, who are we to judge. It's not like they want to just stay over in their country and enforce Sha'ria law. They want to come over here and enforce it too. That means that if they disagreed with your art or lifestyle choice they could decapitate or gut you. It seems to me that the people that should support stronger activities in the "war on Terror" are the people that the Artists, Gays and individual rights people. It's comical in that the same people seem to have a suicidal streak in dealing with the world. Hint, stop dragging decent Americans down with you. We will dump you off of OUR boat.
Bravo, Chris G.
Bravo!
It is going to be very difficult to reclaim America's position in the world after the Bush thugs leave office.
It will be doubly difficult with such a willfully ignorant population.
I admit to some surprise reading the pro-torture posts here. Trolls, for sure, obviously brutal, ignorant Bush supporters.
Nuremburg, anyone?
Torture is the new playground for the creatively violent, and is coming to a neighborhood near you. Remote, through-the-wall high tech torture is being rapidly developed through involuntary testing on American citizens. One victim's account is found at http://www.badexperiment.com
"So, now we've reached torture on the goal post. Where do we go from here? Internment camps for Americans? Whose government is this anyway? I believe we are in a sort of nightmare, a strange bizarre electric-blue'1984'which unfolds for us day by day, a kind of police state as it were,in a few places in the US,and the on-going trouble at our air ports, but then I'm paranoid, after all it couldn't happen here. Help!
I'm in the wrong movie!".
all over the world they go
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There are many books that explain the process we are involved in, "Dark Ages America" by Morris Berman is a good example. There is a deterioration we are witnessing. How the courts treat the incapacitated (particularly those with an estate) amounts blatant corruption. It is court approved embezzlement. It is an open cadre of the Good Old Boys.
دردشة منتدى منت
There is a better way
You know we say are the correct way and we go ahead and commit these crimes it's not right
value for HUMAN life
We must have learned nothing from Nuremberg. Neither side values human life, we torture, they torture and we all collectively loose in the end :(
what we live
Try to live in peace, every one hope so!
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