Opinion
Those responsible for torture must be held accountable
Published: Tuesday, June 9, 2009

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By Jamila Rasheed

The use of torture as part of the war on terror was a painful reality that we must confront.

President Barack Obama has been quoted as saying that torture is illegal and has released memos detailing the use of torture by the CIA on suspected terrorists.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made a commitment to prosecute those guilty of committing torture. Evidence implicating high-level officials would warrant trials and prosecution.

In an interview in December 2008, then-Vice President Dick Cheney stated that he was aware of, and assisted in, the process to implement the program involving torture and was instrumental in getting the procedures cleared.

He is quoted as saying that he did not feel that the techniques went too far. And, he feels that water-boarding was appropriate.

In 2002, U.S. intelligence agents picked up Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan and transported him to a secret CIA detention facility in Thailand. The International Committee of the Red Cross documented his treatment.

Over several months the CIA used techniques primarily to keep him from sleeping. For three weeks he was stripped naked and shackled to a chair. Blisters formed on his ankles due to immobility. The room he was kept in was extremely cold to the point where he began to turn blue. Loud music was played 24 hours a day and if he appeared to be falling asleep an interrogator would splash cold water in his face.

Eventually, he was subjected to water-boarding, which involved strapping him to a gurney with his head lowered, placing a cloth over his face and pouring water on the cloth from a bottle. The ICRC documented this as suffocation by water.

The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. These four treaties are the basis for humanitarian law across the world.

The third Geneva Convention deals specifically with international protocol in regard to war crimes. Specifically, it states that the following acts are prohibited: violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.

These provisions were meant not only to protect the rights of the captured, but also of those who would fall into enemy hands from the other side, including American servicemen and women.

The idea of torture — since our preemptive war on terror was launched more than seven years ago — was to glean from suspected captives information that would thwart future attacks.

President George W. Bush claimed that “there will be no outrages upon human dignity.”

Unfortunately, Obama seems to be carrying forward the policies of his predecessor by keeping under wraps the photos that reveal more detail of our use of torture on detainees in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram.

His using “national security” as an excuse to conceal them is a safe way to say we don’t want to deal with the serious flaws of our past history. Many have died after being tortured. In 2002, a taxi cab driver from Afghanistan named Dilawar was a victim of torture. He was a typical Afghani struggling to provide for his family who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He was rounded up like so many innocent men were and taken to Bagram, a prison that Obama refuses to shut down. Over five days, he was beaten to a pulp. Techniques such as sleep deprivation, standing for hours at a time without rest, loud noises and physical blows to his body brought about his death.

Retired Major General Anthony Taguba said in June 2007: “There is no longer any doubt that the current (Bush) administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

Our security does not lay in our hiding our faults. It rests in our admitting where we were wrong and putting forth a plan to avoid the wrong in the future.

Obama must follow through on his campaign pledge of a transparent administration. Investigate and prosecute those who violated the law. This will go along way to increase our security and allow America to become the standard bearer for truth and justice.

Jamilah Rasheed of New Haven is coordinator of the Connecticut Islamic Speakers Bureau. Readers may write her in care of the Register, 40 Sargent Drive, New Haven 06511. Her e-mail address is in4truth@comcast.net.