Just who are we, anyhow? Exactly what is our national identity?
a redacted page from The Senate Intelligence Committee executive summary the CIA's "Detention and interrogation Program."... more correctly called "The Torture Program"...
As individuals, most of us learned some concept of 'right' and 'wrong' as very little children. From the very beginning, we were led to understand certain ideas about this is ok, but this other thing is not ok. Don't hit... This belongs to that child over there... Tell the truth... Don't take what is not yours... were lessons we learned at home and in school. These moral directions were stressed because the need to understand was imperative for getting along in the world. Humans must have some commonly recognized moral code with which to conduct themselves among other humans.
Most of us continued to learn those lessons and to adopt them as guide-lines for our lives as adults. The leaders of our nation continually refer to moral reasoning for our domestic and international policy decisions.
Unfortunately, on occasion, we have leaders who are seriously deficient in this regard. They claim, and some of us believe, that we can re-write the moral code to suit whatever circumstances we feel best benefits our own desires at any particular point. They make-up multiple excuses to allow themselves, and us, to break with moral standards. They lead us to torture people... to inflict horrible and brutal pain on an individual of their choosing. They incorporate pain that is mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and every other type of pain that they are able to conceive.
They claim they are 'saving' us by inflicting this pain and suffering on this person. They claim that unless they use torturous techniques, we will not be saved. Some of us believe them.
But, there is a truth involved in all of this. There has been extensive research over and extended period of time regarding the effectiveness of torturing people to gain information from that person. The truth, as indicated by all of the evidence, is that torturing people will not get the information one seeks.
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The truth is that the person being tortured wishes for the torture to stop and will say whatever they are able to say to make the torture stop. The victim attempts, as best they are able, to say what they believe the torturer wants to hear whether it is true or not... they will say what they believe the torturer wants for them to say in the hope of causing the torturer to stop torturing them. The information gained through the process is not reliable information. We know this and have known it for a long time.
This is a truth that is well known. This truth has been well established over a long time.
With this truth in mind, one wants to ask, "what then would be the reason or the purpose for torturing people?"
There are many answers to the question and again, many of the answers have been well established for a long period of time. One answer is sadistic pleasure. Some people enjoy the power they have over the other person and enjoy inflicting pain and enjoy watching the person suffer. And, from a position of power, these types of people can joyfully sit around creating more imaginative methods of torture.
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A person who is filled with compassion for their fellow human being could not inflict horrible suffering on another human being. This is especially true given the knowledge that torture does not work toward the stated goals of securing valuable information.
There are wide variations between the person given over to compassion and the person given over to sadistic pleasure. There are wide variations between good and evil.
When the United States of America adopts certain principles as policy, we are all complicit to one degree or another. That most of us fall into the camp of believing that torture is 'wrong', but still sit at home and allow our national and state governments to conduct torture as official policy speaks very poorly for all of us.
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That we have tortured and do torture is one thing by itself. To face those within our midst who want to stop this torture with threats and lies is something again. That we seek to hide something of which the entire world is aware is unbelievably stupid. Everyone knows what we have done. Everyone knows it was not effective (by its very definition it is not effective). Everyone hears our incredible excuses with disbelief.
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To torture people is evil. That much is absolutely true!
The system of 'justice' used to select among the world's population those who are to be tortured can only bring tears to one's eyes. Justice was blinded by witnessing this type of scenario... arbitrary, prejudiced, capricious judgements.
At the top of this blog is a photo of a redacted page from The Senate Intelligence Committee 525-page executive summary of the investigative report which looked at the CIA's "Detention and interrogation Program."
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Please take a moment to look through the parts not 'blacked out' and notice that this page seems to be focused on those people who were tortured 'by mistake'... Abu Hudhaifa was tortured and then released because the CIA discovered he was likely not the person he was believed to be… Muhammad Khan, who like Zarmein, was among detainees about whom the CIA acknowledged knowing ‘very little’... Gul Rahman, another case of mistaken identity... Haji Ghalgi was detained as ‘useful leverage’ against a family member.
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If these 'mistakes' were so innocent as to not be 'blacked out', can one imagine what was so bad that the government sought to hide it by 'blacking it out"?
And the truth is that it is not hidden. The whole world knows the truth of our criminal actions. What the world would like to see at this point is our acknowledging our crimes and our dealing justly with the criminals involved... it is not a secret, everyone knows...
Trevor Timm at The Guardian: "Stop believing the lies: America tortured more than 'some folks' – and covered it up"
The executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation writes:
The torture defenders from the CIA and the Bush administration probably won’t even make a serious attempt to say they didn’t torture anyone – just that it was effective, that there were “serious mistakes”, but that “countless lives have been saved and our Homeland is more secure” – with a capital H.
This highlights the mistake of the Senate committee, in a way. Instead of focusing on the illegal nature of the torture, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s investigators worked to document torture’s ineffectiveness. The debate, now, is whether torture worked. It clearly didn’t. But the debate should be: Why the hell aren’t these torturous liars in jail?
The executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation writes:
The torture defenders from the CIA and the Bush administration probably won’t even make a serious attempt to say they didn’t torture anyone – just that it was effective, that there were “serious mistakes”, but that “countless lives have been saved and our Homeland is more secure” – with a capital H.
This highlights the mistake of the Senate committee, in a way. Instead of focusing on the illegal nature of the torture, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s investigators worked to document torture’s ineffectiveness. The debate, now, is whether torture worked. It clearly didn’t. But the debate should be: Why the hell aren’t these torturous liars in jail?
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein's official statement highlights four key findings of CIA torture report
The study’s 20 findings and conclusions, according to Feinstein's statement, can be grouped into four central themes, each of which is supported extensively in the Executive Summary:
1. The CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” were not effective.
2. The CIA provided extensive inaccurate information about the operation of the program and its effectiveness to policymakers and the public.
3. The CIA’s management of the program was inadequate and deeply flawed.
4. The CIA program was far more brutal than the CIA represented to policymakers and the American public.
The study’s 20 findings and conclusions, according to Feinstein's statement, can be grouped into four central themes, each of which is supported extensively in the Executive Summary:
1. The CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” were not effective.
2. The CIA provided extensive inaccurate information about the operation of the program and its effectiveness to policymakers and the public.
3. The CIA’s management of the program was inadequate and deeply flawed.
4. The CIA program was far more brutal than the CIA represented to policymakers and the American public.
Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders said:
“A great nation must be prepared to acknowledge its errors. This report details an ugly chapter in American history during which our leaders and the intelligence community dishonored our nation’s proud traditions. Of course we must aggressively pursue international terrorists who would do us harm, but we must do so in a way that is consistent with the basic respect for human rights which makes us proud to be Americans.
“The United States must not engage in torture. If we do, in an increasingly brutal world we lose our moral standing to condemn other nations or groups that engage in uncivilized behavior.”
“A great nation must be prepared to acknowledge its errors. This report details an ugly chapter in American history during which our leaders and the intelligence community dishonored our nation’s proud traditions. Of course we must aggressively pursue international terrorists who would do us harm, but we must do so in a way that is consistent with the basic respect for human rights which makes us proud to be Americans.
“The United States must not engage in torture. If we do, in an increasingly brutal world we lose our moral standing to condemn other nations or groups that engage in uncivilized behavior.”
Legal Director of Center for Constitutional Rights: "Criminal Prosecutions Must Follow Senate CIA Torture Report Findings"
Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Baher Azmy issued this statement:
The long-delayed Senate report proves what we have been saying since 2006: that the CIA engaged in a sophisticated program of state-sanctioned torture, notable for its elaborate planning and ruthless application. We have witnessed firsthand the devastating human consequences in meetings with our clients at Guantanamo. The report also exposes the CIA’s lies about how the program operated and the utility of the information obtained: False claims about the usefulness of that information were used to justify and cover up monstrous crimes. We renew our demand for accountability for those individuals responsible for the CIA torture program. They should be prosecuted in U.S. courts; and if our government continues to refuse to hold them accountable, they must be pursued internationally under the principles of universal jurisdiction.
Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Baher Azmy issued this statement:
The long-delayed Senate report proves what we have been saying since 2006: that the CIA engaged in a sophisticated program of state-sanctioned torture, notable for its elaborate planning and ruthless application. We have witnessed firsthand the devastating human consequences in meetings with our clients at Guantanamo. The report also exposes the CIA’s lies about how the program operated and the utility of the information obtained: False claims about the usefulness of that information were used to justify and cover up monstrous crimes. We renew our demand for accountability for those individuals responsible for the CIA torture program. They should be prosecuted in U.S. courts; and if our government continues to refuse to hold them accountable, they must be pursued internationally under the principles of universal jurisdiction.
Ray McGovern responds:
"It is bizarre; the Executive and Congress both live in fear of the thugs of the CIA, who have now been joined by Secretary of State John Kerry (probably after checking with the White House) issuing spurious warnings regarding the dangers of releasing the report -- as if the 'bad guys' have not yet heard of CIA torture! No one -- Democrat or Republican -- wants the truth to get out about torture techniques authorized by the Bush/Cheney administration, techniques actually |  |
demonstrated multiple times in the White House itself to the administration's most senior national security and justice officials, and then implemented by CIA thugs.
"Far too many 'notables' approved the torture or, at least, had guilty knowledge -- House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, for example. Likely, an eviscerated ('redacted' is the euphemism) Senate report on CIA torture is all we will be permitted to read. At that point, the ball will be squarely in lame-duck Sen. Mark Udall's court. Will he feel bound by the Omerta-style oath of silence typical of Establishment Washington, or will he have the courage to get the truth out, using his Constitutionally protected right to do so without legal jeopardy?"
"Far too many 'notables' approved the torture or, at least, had guilty knowledge -- House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, for example. Likely, an eviscerated ('redacted' is the euphemism) Senate report on CIA torture is all we will be permitted to read. At that point, the ball will be squarely in lame-duck Sen. Mark Udall's court. Will he feel bound by the Omerta-style oath of silence typical of Establishment Washington, or will he have the courage to get the truth out, using his Constitutionally protected right to do so without legal jeopardy?"
The list of people and their quotes could go on and on because there is a large world-wide outcry against what we have done. That we continue to deny it and continue trying to hide the truth only demonstrates that we really don't know the difference between right and wrong... and that's the truth !!!
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