Don't forget Torture Migration
Day
"'enhanced interrogation' by U.S. authorities
endangers American troops"
By Chuck Fager
The Fayetteville Observer, September 28, 2008
go to original
See Article
II.3 Failure to Uphold Accountability
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Olga Talamante: Argentine torture survivor:
"the administration's constant fear mongering
has rendered it acceptable to debate the appropriate-ness
and viability of torture. In that sense, we
have taken a giant step backward as a people."
source: Oread
Daily
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FAYETTEVILLE — In this military town, much
attention is given to important dates in military
history: June 6, D-Day; Nov. 11, formerly Armistice,
now Veterans Day; Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day.
Earlier this month, another major anniversary passed,
with no notice but of huge importance, especially
locally: Sept. 16. Migration Day. Torture Migration
Day.
On Sept. 16, 2002, a conference began at the Special
Warfare Center on Fort Bragg. At the session, the
staff of the rapidly filling detention camp at Guantanamo
were treated to detailed “demonstrations”
of the Special Forces’ SERE techniques.
SERE: Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. It’s
the part of Special Forces training where aspiring
operators are “captured” and then abused,
under controlled conditions, to see how long they
can resist breaking down and signing false confessions.
Reports are that the techniques, which grew out of
the abuse of U.S. prisoners of war in the Korean War,
can include waterboarding, religious assaults, sensory
and sleep deprivation, and extremes of heat and cold.
Reports also say they are extremely effective at breaking
down the trainees’ will to resist, usually quickly.
The goal of the Bragg demonstration, according to
Army investigators and the important new book, “The
Dark Side,” by New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer,
was to show the Guantanamo officials how to get their
prisoners to talk. Until then, the complaint was that
the hundreds of detainees there were producing very
little useful information.
From that fateful Sept. 16 meeting here, the SERE
techniques, say investigators, “migrated”
to Gitmo. And then to Afghanistan and Iraq, at Abu
Ghraib and elsewhere. And then to the “black
sites” operated by various OGAs, or Other Government
Agencies — read CIA.
With this “migration,” evidently many
detainees started to talk, and didn’t stop.
That’s not surprising because these techniques
really are not about interrogation. They’re
about torture. So yes, those subjected to them talked.
They spewed reams of “confessions” and
detailed “intelligence.”
But over time, as numerous investigations have shown
and Jane Mayer’s book chillingly summarizes,
little of this “intelligence” has proven
authentic or useful.
And hundreds of the detainees, after such abuse,
were released without charges — because they
had no involvement with terrorism.
That is, they were not only innocent, they also were
ignorant of the details of terror. Their confessions
were mostly fabricated, to get the torture to stop.
Also in “The Dark Side,” Mayer recounts
that numerous administration officials — solid
anti-terror conservatives and high military officers
— came to see this “migration” as
a tragic wrong turn and tried to stop it.
Without success.
Ending Torture
There are many reasons to deplore the torture migration
that was launched Sept. 16, 2002. Some, such as respect
for the Geneva Conventions, the Constitution, U.S.
federal anti-torture laws and God, can be dismissed
as the cavils of bleeding hearts such as myself.
But others come from battle-seasoned military leaders.
One of these was former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen.
John Shalikashvili. He said that such practices “fostered
greater animosity toward the United States, undermined
our intelligence-gathering efforts, and added to the
risks facing our troops serving around the world.”
That’s right: torture or “enhanced interrogation”
by U.S. authorities endangers American troops.
This is “the Golden Rule” argument: if
it’s OK for the U.S. to torture and abuse detainees
and prisoners — that makes it OK for our adversaries
to do the same to our forces. “Do unto others
...”
Shalikashvili also states what can be called “the
Bad Seed” argument:
Remember all those hundreds — more like thousands
— of released detainees who weren’t part
of al-Qaida or other terror groups when they came
in? Whose side do you suppose they’re on now?
Right again: Torture helps recruit new terrorists
and sympathizers. Which means, torture not only increases
risks to our soldiers. It also endangers our national
security.
While I hope the tide is beginning to turn against
torture and so-called “enhanced interrogation,”
it’s clear that this matter is far from over.
The efforts to root it out will likely take years.
So while those efforts continue, I propose we add
Sept. 16 to the calendar of unhappily memorable days
on the military history calendar.
Torture Migration Day.
Let it not be forgotten.
And may it never happen again.
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