When I first heard about the CIA use of torture and rendition, I thought it had to be illegal. It is clearly against international law, Geneva Convention, US Law (why else go to other countries to do it?), and normal laws of humanity. I've also questioned the benefits gained through the torture programs. Yes, I understand situations such as those depicted on the TV series 24 where information had to be extracted to prevent an IMMEDIATE nuclear explosion in the center of a city. However doing it months or years after capture would seem to be doing nothing but attempting to extract revenge, or act as a form of "terrorism" ourselves. It would, for example, be saying: "If you participate in an attack on the US you will be tortured."
During the Vietnam war era, the Vietnamese treated US soldiers terribly and did perform acts of torture on POWs. The US at that time claimed that it was against the Geneva Convention etc. What worried me about this recent torture by the US was that now we have legitimized torture, so now other countries can torture American POWs without fear of violating international law. I was also very skeptical that the US would be able to obtain any actionable intelligence from these acts of torture.
This latest article below describes the report that is possibly going to be released by the Government concerning the torture. REPORT: CIA MISLED ON INTERROGATIONS | UTSanDiego.com: It bothers me that the US did this. It confirms my suspicion that the CIA didn't obtain much useful from years of a very active and expensive torture program. Not only was the program expensive, it also ruined the US record of fairness, justice and compliance with international law. It also really bothers me that the CIA would lie to their Congressional and Senatorial oversight committees.
I've always thought that torture was against the Geneva Convention for warfare. Most agree that terrorism is a form of war, and that the terrorist "foot soldiers" are, in fact soldiers. Those individuals are risking, or giving up their lives for a cause. There is a very fine line between a suicide bomber blowing himself on a bus, and a US drone firing a missile that blows up a bus. Through my whole military career, I was taught and I believed that the act of torturing a prisoner would be an illegal act. If ordered to do so by my superior, I would have to refuse to carry out that order, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) would support me. A soldier is supposed to refuse to carry out an order believed to be illegal. If any of the people involved in the torturing were active military, they could be court-martialed for their participation. If any of the participants were veterans or retirees, they could lose their benefits if convicted. I believe that is why the "dirty deeds" were done by civilians or civilian contractors in other countries.
During the Vietnam war era, the Vietnamese treated US soldiers terribly and did perform acts of torture on POWs. The US at that time claimed that it was against the Geneva Convention etc. What worried me about this recent torture by the US was that now we have legitimized torture, so now other countries can torture American POWs without fear of violating international law. I was also very skeptical that the US would be able to obtain any actionable intelligence from these acts of torture.
This latest article below describes the report that is possibly going to be released by the Government concerning the torture. REPORT: CIA MISLED ON INTERROGATIONS | UTSanDiego.com: It bothers me that the US did this. It confirms my suspicion that the CIA didn't obtain much useful from years of a very active and expensive torture program. Not only was the program expensive, it also ruined the US record of fairness, justice and compliance with international law. It also really bothers me that the CIA would lie to their Congressional and Senatorial oversight committees.
I've always thought that torture was against the Geneva Convention for warfare. Most agree that terrorism is a form of war, and that the terrorist "foot soldiers" are, in fact soldiers. Those individuals are risking, or giving up their lives for a cause. There is a very fine line between a suicide bomber blowing himself on a bus, and a US drone firing a missile that blows up a bus. Through my whole military career, I was taught and I believed that the act of torturing a prisoner would be an illegal act. If ordered to do so by my superior, I would have to refuse to carry out that order, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) would support me. A soldier is supposed to refuse to carry out an order believed to be illegal. If any of the people involved in the torturing were active military, they could be court-martialed for their participation. If any of the participants were veterans or retirees, they could lose their benefits if convicted. I believe that is why the "dirty deeds" were done by civilians or civilian contractors in other countries.
The Senate is supposed to vote on a proposal to declassify a 400 page summary of the 6200 page report. (See this link) I hate to see our 'dirty laundry" get hung out on an international stage. However, since the fact of the torture is no longer a secret, so the cat is out of the bag. I think it would be advisable to declassify at least the recommendations from this report, and initiate a meaningful dialogue about what the United States should do now and in the future concerning these activities.
The CIA made a serious error when they blocked the Senate oversight committee from seeing the documents, and then made the situation even worse by tapping into the computers used by the committee members. David Ignatius, from the Washington Post wrote a good editorial on April 3rd that describes how the "war" between CIA and Senate happened. The CIA and NSA have recently been thumbing their nose at congressional oversight. The whole process of supervision requires complete openness to reviews. It is clear that NSA knew what facts about their wiretap surveillance program they were hiding from congress. It was also clear that CIA did not want their report concerning torture released to the committee. Had both agencies been completely open with the Senate and House select intelligence committees, there wouldn't have been any problems.
The CIA made a serious error when they blocked the Senate oversight committee from seeing the documents, and then made the situation even worse by tapping into the computers used by the committee members. David Ignatius, from the Washington Post wrote a good editorial on April 3rd that describes how the "war" between CIA and Senate happened. The CIA and NSA have recently been thumbing their nose at congressional oversight. The whole process of supervision requires complete openness to reviews. It is clear that NSA knew what facts about their wiretap surveillance program they were hiding from congress. It was also clear that CIA did not want their report concerning torture released to the committee. Had both agencies been completely open with the Senate and House select intelligence committees, there wouldn't have been any problems.
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