Clif CleavelandSince World War II, three international treaties have addressed the subject of torture.
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article Five states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Article Two of the International Covenant on Civilian and Political Rights, ratified in 1966 by the UN, restates the condemnation of torture.
The most detailed prohibitions are found in the Convention Against Torture, unanimously passed by UN in 1984. President Ronald Reagan signed the treaty on June 26, 1987; the U.S. Senate ratified it on April 4, 1988. The covenant defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, physical or mental” that is inflicted for punishment or the obtaining of information.
Article Two of the Convention Against Torture states that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification of torture.” An order from a superior officer or public authority does not justify torture. Article Three prohibits transfer or extradition of a prisoner to another country where torture may be employed.
Following the attacks of 9/11, President George W. Bush’s administration decided that international treaties prohibiting torture did not apply to captured members of al-Qaida and the Taliban. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez stated the treaties were “obsolete.” In 2005, Bush argued that the Convention Against Torture was not relevant to overseas prisons operated by the U.S. military and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Subsequent investigations uncovered specific techniques of torture used at these overseas detention sites, including electric shock and waterboarding, which involves the repeated pouring of water onto a cloth covering the face of a restrained person to create the sensation of drowning.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order in early 2009 that banned torture and limited interrogation of prisoners to the methods of deception and isolation as outlined in the Army Field Service Manual.
Concerned over methods used against captives, the Senate Intelligence Committee undertook a lengthy investigation that culminated in a report released in December 2014. In a 528-page executive summary, the panel’s majority concluded that, of 119 prisoners held in custody by the CIA, 26 had been arrested in error. The report concluded that the program did not work, yielding no information of value. CIA operatives repeatedly deceived the White House and Congress about the operation of interrogation sites. Six Republican members of the committee rebutted the report, as did CIA Director John Brennan.
Lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act led to the public release this summer of previously classified CIA files related to the investigation. The documents reveal the secret contracts given to operatives, including mental health professionals, to set up and operate so-called “black site” prisons. The files include concerns raised by some observers about the roles of psychiatrists and psychologists in the interrogations. A graphic description of the deliberate freezing to death of one inmate was included in the report
Sadistic behavior carried out by agents of the U.S. demean all of us. I find the involvement in torture by doctors who presumably took pledges for ethical conduct at some point in their careers to be especially troubling. Are they that much different from Nazi physician Josef Mengele? When prisoners are transferred to countries where torture is permitted, the officials approving that extradition are no less guilty than the actual torturers.
At a campaign event in March, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated his support of waterboarding and other methods of interrogation because “torture works.” He quickly reversed that position after widespread criticism ensued.
We cannot under any circumstance condone torture. Any candidate for elected office in the U.S. who advocates torture in any form violates international law embodied in the Convention Against Torture as well as moral codes that are fundamental to our culture.
Contact Clif Cleaveland at ccleaveland@timesfreepress.com.