Journalist Christopher Hitchens undergoes water-boarding in
the summer of 2008.
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany
Obama: Inviting
the Next Torture Scandal
"Obama doesn't want to
prosecute CIA agents for methods of torture that his predecessor approved.
That’s understandable. However, it would be a scandal if this were the end of
the subject. And the words of the U.S. president don’t bode well."
By David Böcking
Translated By Jonathan Lobsien
April 17, 2009
Germany - Financial Times Deutschland -
Original Article (German)
Berlin: Barack Obama doesn't
want to prosecute CIA agents for methods of torture that his predecessor
approved. That’s understandable. However, it would be a scandal if this were
the end of the subject. And the words of the U.S. president don’t bode well.
Christopher Hitchens wouldn't
for one minute stand for this. In the summer of 2008, the British journalist
voluntarily subjected himself to the interrogation technique of simulated
drowning employed by CIA agents - so-called water-boarding. Two masked helpers poured
water just a few times over a hand towel, which they had pulled tight over
Hitchens’ face. Then and there, Hitchens, a resolute defender of the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, gave up. "Believe me, its torture," he
subsequently wrote in a description of his experience.
The new U.S. President shares
this sentiment. Among Barack Obama’s first official acts was to issue an order to
end water-boarding. His rationale that such methods undermine the moral
authority of the country had fallen on deaf ears during the former administration
of George W. Bush.
Four CIA
memos approved by the administration, which have just been released by the
U.S. Department of Defense, show that under Bush, methods like water-boarding
were part of political doctrine. The techniques range from sleep depravation to
"slaps to the face," to "confinement with insects."
'NO WORSE THAN A DIET'
To anyone who would listen, intelligence
officials have indicated why each of these issues isn't torture: giving
prisoners unappetizing liquid nutrition isn't much worse than what many
Americans do voluntarily when on a diet. Forced nudity - as occurred in the prison
at Abu Ghraib - despite "cultural sensitivities" - would not produce
serious "mental pain." Finally, water-boarding works - even if, in
the view of the CIA, it creates an "imminent fear of death." Lasting psychological
damage need not be feared.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
'YES ICON! (ALTHOUGH ON REFLECTION, NO WE CAN'T …)'
[Guardian Unlimited, U.K.]
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany:
Obama: Inviting the Next Torture Scandal
Jornal de Noticias, Portugal:
Poverty and Torture: Bush Has Company in Europe
Le Figaro, France:
Obama's Moral Crusade: A Few Words of Caution
The Independent, U.K.:
America Doesn't Need a Witch-Hunt
BBC News, U.K.:
U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Calls CIA Exemption 'Illegal'
Ottawa Citizen, Canada:
Torture the 'Chicago Way'
Toronto Star, Canada:
Winking at CIA Abuse
That this is nonsense has
already been shown by Hitchens' example: The journalist, known to be robust,
reported recurring nightmares and panic attacks related to suffocation after his
experiment. But when a government itself accepts these kinds of justifications,
it makes little sense to bring those who were following orders to justice. It
is therefore understandable that Barack Obama has now ruled out prosecuting CIA
personnel.
Very worrying, however, is
the U.S. President’s rationale: "Nothing will be gained by spending our
time and energy laying blame for the past," Obama said. That sounds as if
he essentially wants to avoid any review of the Bush era. He may stand a good
chance - the unity in times of crisis so often invoked by Obama seems ultimately
far more important. But if this president draws a line under this "dark
and painful episode" in U.S. history, the country will soon land in its
next torture scandal.
CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US April 19, 7:14pm]
