The Torture Lobby
The Torture Lobby
The release of the OLC torture memos by the Obama administration last week has proven to be a deeply clarifying event in American politics. Dedicated supporters of torture have responded with a number of tired arguments in favor of torture, the most common being:
1. Waterboarding is not torture.
Waterboarding was invented by torturers as a method of torture. It does not magically become “not torture” just because America is attacked by terrorists. Leaving aside his regrettable past vote against prohibiting CIA torture, Sen. John McCain performed an important service today, stating flat-out that “waterboarding is torture, period.”
2. “Enhanced interrogations” were an effective tool in obtaining intelligence about Al Qaeda.
There is in fact no evidence — apart from the claims of people like Dick Cheney, who I think we can safely say at this point is one of the least credible people in the United States — that “enhanced interrogation” produced any actionable intelligence. All such intel was gleaned before “enhanced interrogation” began, using methods approved in the Army Field Manual, whose standards President Obama has stated will now govern interrogations. Last February, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples of the Defense Intelligence Agency said torture was unnecessary, and that he believed “that the approaches that are in the Army Field Manual give us the tools that are necessary” for conducting effective interrogations.
3. By releasing these memos, President Obama has alerted our enemies to our interrogations methods, allowing them to train to resist them.
All of the methods mentioned in the OLC memos had been publicized long before now.
Simply put, there is not credible argument for the use of these “enhanced” techniques. Whatever information they produced — and again, there’s no evidence that they produced any — is surely outweighed by their functioning as a recruiting mechanism for terrorists.
So the question that needs to be answered is: Why are so many conservatives so committed to torture?
4 Responses to “The Torture Lobby”
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And why is our center left White House so committed to not investigating and holding anyone accountable?
Why is Congress AWOL on the issue? Are they complicit, having seen the legal basis for Bush’s sadistic practices?
April 20th, 2009 at 3:22 pmWhy are republicans committed to torture? Because they are an evil blight on our society.
Why are Democratic leaders so reluctant to do anything about it? Because they are deluded.
Americans, both progressive and conservative, understand consequences and responsibility. It is the duty of the law-breakers to admit their wrong-doing, repent, and suffer the consequences.
For the Obama administration to say otherwise is, in my opinion, a betrayal of those like me that supported him. I want to see people going to jail for the last 8 years of destroying the America I knew and loved. It wasn’t al-Qaida that did that; it was republicans.
April 20th, 2009 at 5:11 pmThank you for posting this and providing examples. Sen. McCain makes an excellent point in reminding Americans that these methods ARE torture and that they can easily be used as propaganda by terrorists, usually without contributing any true information in the process. McCain does bring up the issue of whether or not these memos should have been released to the public–in his opinion, no–and potential dangers it could hold for America’s security. Yet, as you point out above, there had already been much publicity on these torturing methods over the years. The memos were the proof but not the true knowledge of these issues. There’s an interesting video on all of this at newsy.com. The video summarizes the controversy and cites different viewpoints. Take a look:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/making_sense_of_the_memos/
April 20th, 2009 at 6:53 pmThis is why we desperately need congressional hearings. I want the repilicans to have to stand up and say “I support waterboarding prisoners. I support causing long term physical and psychological harm to persons not indicted or convicted of crimes. I am a republican and this is where I stand.”
When can we start?
April 20th, 2009 at 7:26 pm