A Disgrace to the
West: CIA Doctors Helped With Torture
"An
American Truth Commission could attempt to shine some light into the darkness.
But the likelihood is that this would only confirm what most of us already
suspect - that the behavior of the CIA after 2001 was a disgrace to the Western
community of values"
A report by the Red Cross about the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay offers a glimpse into a world that fails to live up to the standard of a nation one would like to be joined with in an alliance of values.
Two things are undoubtedly
clear with regard to the interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects. For one, the
Americans who interrogated these prisoners would have treated them far more
brutally if there had been no medical supervision. Secondly, the report
concludes that the many locations in which CIA-interrogations took place
suggest that international law is far less unambiguous than one might have
thought.
To be sure, since 1945,
Germans have been in no position to condemn other with the staff of morality.
But a [recently leaked 2006] Red
Cross report offers insight into a world that fails to live up to the
standard of a nation one would like to be joined with in an alliance of values.
Even though the report is based entirely on statements by members of al-Qaeda -
it’s safe to assume that the Red Cross Rapporteursknow how to distinguish truth from exaggeration.
'ENHANCED INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES' BELONG IN THE PAST
"Enhanced interrogation
techniques" belong in the past. Their application had as much to do with
the shock of September 11th, as the months-long torture of CIA Beirut Station Chief
William
Buckley by doctor and terrorist Imad Mughniyah - who
filmed the torture sessions. This plays a considerable role in CIA tradition. [In
1984, in part due to Buckley's torture by Mughniyah - a member of Hezbullah - President
Ronald Reagan authorized National Security Decision Directive 138. The
still-classified directive reportedly permitted pre-emptive strikes,
retaliation, expanded intelligence collection, and when necessary, the killing
of guerrillas in 'pre-emptive self-defense']. But whether they were exacting
revenge or strategizing or both, some in the CIA today say that these methods
would have led U.S. agents down the wrong path because those being interrogated
lie under pressure.
Others, like former Vice
President Dick Cheney, seem unimpressed. An American Truth Commission could attempt
to shine some light into the darkness. But the likelihood is that this would only
confirm what most of us already suspect - that the behavior of the CIA after
2001 was a disgrace to the Western community of values.
