Gwynne Dyer: Torture and the CIA—is it time to move on?
When somebody says it is time to move on, it means there is something deeply embarrassing that they don’t want to discuss in public. President Barack Obama said that about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report, published on Tuesday, about the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of torture in the years after 9/11.
He put the best face on it after Senator Dianne Feinstein’s committee released the 528-page report anyway, talking about how “part of what sets us (Americans) apart is that when we do something wrong, we acknowledge it.” But as recently as Friday U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Feinstein not to release the report now on the grounds that the “timing” was wrong. When would it be right, then?
Feinstein ignored him because she knew (as did he) that if the report was not put out now, it never would be. Next month a new Congress will take office, and the majority on the new Senate Intelligence Committee will be Republicans. They would certainly make sure that it never sees the light of day.
But there is one Republican Senator, at least, who thinks differently. John McCain, who ran against Obama in the 2008 presidential election, said bluntly that torture “rarely yields credible information....What might come as a surprise, not just to our enemies, but to many Americans, is how little these practices did to aid our efforts to bring 9/11 culprits to justice and to find and prevent terrorist attacks today and tomorrow.”
McCain was severely tortured himself while a prisoner-of-war in North Vietnam in 1968, and eventually made an anti-American propaganda “confession”. As he later said: “I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine.” But then, he knows more about this subject than any other American politician, and probably more than any CIA torturer. They were never at the receiving end.
Even McCain, however, confined himself to saying that torture was not a useful instrument of American policy. He avoided talking about the more important fact that it is also a grave crime under international law, because that would mean admitting that senior officials in former president George W Bush’s Republican administrations who authorised the torture in 2002-06—possibly even including Bush himself—should face prosecution.
Almost every senior American politician will avoid talking about that. The debate in the United States will be between those who insist that the waterboarding, regular beatings, “stress positions”, ice baths, sleep deprivation, “rectal feeding”, and other torture techniques used on captives in the CIA’s “black sites” yielded useful information and saved American lives, and those who say that it was all pointless and useless.
The Senate committee’s report provides fuel for this debate, examining twenty cases of counterterrorism “successes” achieved by torture that the CIA has used to justify its actions. Even now, CIA Director John Brennan defends the torture, claiming that “the intelligence gained from the programme was critical to our understanding of al-Qaeda.” But the committee concludes that not one case produced unique or otherwise unavailable intelligence.
But this is all beside the point. The law doesn’t say that torture is a crime unless it produces useful intelligence, any more than it says that murder is a crime unless it is profitable. It simply says that torture is a crime, always and in any circumstances. As it should.
The American Civil Liberties Union, to its credit, says that the attorney general should appoint a special prosecutor to conduct “an independent and complete investigation of Bush administration officials who created, approved, carried out and covered up the torture programme....In our system, no one should be above the law, yet only a handful of mainly low-level personnel have been criminally prosecuted for abuse. That is a scandal.”
But the discussion about punishing the people who committed these crimes will mostly be conducted outside the United States, and it won’t be conducted by governments. The several dozen American allies that were accomplices in the CIA’s “Rendition, Detention and Interrogation” programme, have all exercised their right to have information about their collaboration removed from the report.
The debate will therefore have to take place in the media and in the international organisations. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson, for example, said in Geneva that senior officials from the Bush administration who planned and sanctioned these crimes must be prosecuted, as well as CIA and U.S. government officials responsible for torture such as waterboarding.
“As a matter of international law,” Emmerson said, “the U.S. is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice.” Well, yes, but you would be wise not to hold your breath while waiting for this to happen. So far, only one former CIA official, John Kyriakou, has been jailed in connection with the torture programme— and he was prosecuted for confirming to reporters that the CIA was waterboarding prisoners.
Comments
11 Comments
Mosby
Dec 10, 2014 at 12:55pm
The US ignores international law whenever it serves their purpose, so the "rule of law" means nothing to them, and never has. Double standards are so deeply embedded within their system that "Hypocritical" should be the United States' middle name.
Ordinary taxpaying folks are becoming more aware of this day by day. If trust in the UHS continues to erode at home, eventually the majority of American citizens will no longer believe anything their government says.
I Chandler
Dec 10, 2014 at 4:07pm
DYER: "WHEN SOMEBODY SAYS it is time to move on...President Barack Obama said that"
Glenn Greenwald explains that the rationale from The Most Transparent Administration Ever™ for suppressing evidence of U.S. government crimes is always the same: transparency will “adversely affect security conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq” by enraging people around the world:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/09/live-coverage-release-sena...
DYER: "In our system, no one should be above the law"
The Law? The torture techniques were approved by the mob lawyers at the Justice Dept:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/05/-versch-auml-rfte-...
DYER: " The debate about punishing the people who committed these crimes, will have to take place in the media... "
What media? We have war by media; censorship by media; demonology by media; retribution by media; diversion by media – a surreal assembly line of obedient clichés and false assumptions. This power to create a new “reality” has been building for a long time:
https://consortiumnews.com/2014/12/07/propagandas-triumph-over-journalism/
Dyer: "senior officials from the Bush administration who planned and sanctioned these crimes must be prosecuted, as well as CIA and U.S. government officials responsible for torture such as waterboarding."
One of the worst myths of the CIA and its establishment media have told about the torture is that the controversy is limited to just three cases of waterboarding. There were more than just 3 cases:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/09/live-coverage-release-sena...
I Chandler
Dec 10, 2014 at 4:24pm
DYER: "Even now, CIA Director John Brennan defends the torture, claiming that “the intelligence gained from the programme was critical..."
Dan Froomkin wrote that for the CIA, Truth about Torture Was an Existential Threat:
"For the CIA officials involved in torture, one thing was clear from the very beginning: The only way they would be forgiven for what they did was if they could show it had saved lives.
It was the heart of their rationale. It was vital to public acceptance. It was how they would avoid prosecution."
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/10/cia-truth-torture-existent...
Bruce Knecht
Dec 10, 2014 at 4:32pm
No need to worry about holding your breath. The CIA will be happy to hold your breath for you.
Torture is the response of the weak, the cowardly, the morally corrupt. Contrary to myth, America is well supplied with such types. The two Air Force psychologists who consulted on the design of the interrogation program were compensated to the tune of $80 million. Turn in your conscience, collect 80 million. They've remained out of the limelight... understandably so,though a few years ago one was reported to have said he's "proud of what I did for my country." What else is he going to say at this point? Admit he's a monster? No, he'll simply resort to defense-mechanistic behavior. It brings to mind Alois Brunner, Eichmann's assistant recently declared to have died in Syria about four years ago. In an interview with German media, he was asked if he had any regrets. "Yes. That I did not kill more Jews." But he did his best. What more can you ask of a man and a patriot?
Ilan H
Dec 11, 2014 at 6:19am
There is something disingenuous about Mccain's position that torture does not yield good intelligence. It implies that there is no dilemma, morality and practicality converge. That is a cop out, in my opinion.
The real debate should be about the law and morals. This is not just an abstract appeal to justice. If torture is permitted or banned by virtue of its effectiveness, then it will be permitted in some limited sense. Since the CIA and all intelligence operations are classified, there is no way of enforcing a non absolute ban.
The only way to ban or even severely restrict the torture of prisoners of war, is to do so even if tactical and strategic advantages could be gained. Tactical and strategic advantages mean lives and victories, but that is the what war is. By any means, is by all means. Lives and victories can justify a lot of things banned by conventions, WMDs for example.
While we're on practicalities… Change in these circumstances often means amnesty, whether declared or just effective. If pursing this issue means prosecution of senior military, CIA & civilian officials, it means that all efforts will be entirely scuttled. No effective investigations will be conducted and no change will happen. This is not unlike reconciliation efforts that happen after civil wars. They must be pursued outside of normal conventions of justice where rapists, murderers and torturers are punished according to law. If the criminals are too many or too powerful, truth and change cannot be pursue if it means they go to jail because their participation is required.
Rule of law is self maintaining until it isn't. Once rule of law breaks down, you can't get it back by applying it retroactively. You need to declare bankruptcy and start again, like what happens after a civil war.
If the US want to do something about torture: (A) it has to be an outright ban based on a law without caveats and (B) The senior torturers will have to go free, maybe even anonymously. Obama is still head of the executive and Chief of Staff. He no longer has the authority to legislate, bit he has the authority fight this fight, if he wants to.
AncasterMike
Dec 11, 2014 at 8:29am
So it should be. At the least, the Bush league higher-ups who authorized this should live in fear of foreign travel lest they get extradited to The Hague. Nation arrest, if you will.
P.Peto
Dec 11, 2014 at 9:57am
Discerning people should know by now the the Americans are not what they claim to be but just the opposite! The Torture Inquiry is a case in point. It was probably though reluctantly commissioned to appease outraged Liberals who could not abide the covert breaking of national and international laws on the use of torture. What they are now presented with is a heavy redacted report which refuses to give names,details,etc and is thus not actionable in law. What did you expect -Justice? Governing elites don't abide by laws that do not serve their interest however they apply the "laws" rigorously to their own subjects or to the actions of noncompliant countries. It is an unwritten rule that ruling elites don't prosecute or punish present and former members of the ruling class. Class solidarity is vital to maintaining and securing their privilages within society. So they just go through the formalities of pursuing justice for the sake of keeping up appearances and just "whitewash" criminal accountability. most Americans just don't seem to care enough to hold their rulers accountable. After all they would have to confront the "Law Enforcers". Your average American redneck couldn't give a shit about Torture after all it was only applied to foreigners or better yet "Muslims". So,"who Cares", "let's just move on."
McRetso
Dec 11, 2014 at 10:24am
Nice of the American government to finally admit what's been widely suspected- even known- for ten years. I hope we in Canada don't let Harper and (maybe) Chretien and Martin off for any parts they may have played in these abuses.
I liked hearing Iran, Russia, and China criticizing the US over this though. I wonder if any of them would be brave enough to commission an independent inquiry into the use of torture by their intelligence services.
scissorpaws
Dec 13, 2014 at 9:07am
I'm delightfully surprised that this report ever saw the light of day. That is remarkable. I can't imagine such a thing appearing out of Russia or China. Europeans have selectively removed themselves from the report. The Shultz "I Know Nothing" defence. I would even be surprised were the Canadian government to produce and release such a report. Mahar Arar and Omar Khadr come to mind. Khadr still in prison after all these years. Had to - ironically - lie to get out of Guantanimo. Orwell could be smiling somewhere about that. I wonder if the Canuckistan Harper(C) Government is one who removed its own involvement. And since we have the Republicans taking over in January, and Bush III likely running for the presidency in 2016 I encourage you all to enjoy it while it lasts.
@McRetso
Dec 13, 2014 at 10:52am
Foreign minister Baird:"Canada doesn’t torture. Period! Period!”
Canada acted as a transit route for rendition flights to CIA black sites for torture.
Canadian intelligence passed information to the US on Maher Arar, A Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was arrested in New York in 2002. Arar was then flown to Syria, where he was imprisoned for a year and tortured. During this time, Canadian intelligence gave information to the Syrian regime to be used in his interrogation, including a list of questions he was to answer. False confessions were extracted from him..he was awarded over $10 million following his release.
Another infamous case is that of Omar Khadr, who was arrested in Afghanistan as a 15-year-old and transferred by the US to Guantanamo Bay where he was tortured. Canadian agents visited him at the prison camp to carry out their own interrogation, even though they were fully aware that he had been subject to sleep deprivation immediately prior to their visit. Despite strong government opposition, he has since been returned to Canada. The Harper government is currently engaged in an attempt to have the Supreme Court overturn a lower court decision to consider him as a young offender, because were it to stand, Khadr would likely be released.
Canada’s military is also complicit in torture. Canadian forces in Afghanistan passed detainees on to both the US and Afghan troops, although Ottawa and the military knew there was a strong likelihood they would be tortured. Approximately 400 detainees were handed over by Canadian troops to the Afghan army, while 40 were transferred to US custody, according to a report in the Toronto Star. This is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, which make it illegal to transfer persons to authorities where there is a reasonable belief that they will be tortured.
A UN report in 2012 issued a condemnation, accusing the Canadian government of “complicity in torture.” The UN committee also called on Ottawa to pay compensation to three torture victims, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abu Almaati and Muayyed Nureddin, who had been the subject of a public inquiry over their arrests in Egypt and Syria. These cases provided examples of how Canadian intelligence worked directly with authoritarian regimes, to have their nationals detained, and tortured.
seeCanadian Government Complicity in CIA Torture