The Choices We Face

Sadism and indifference

The interrogator faces his choice when the order to torture comes down from on high. The people face their choice when reports of what he did are made public, as is happening. If the people choose denial, the pathology of torture tends to reproduce itself in the society at large. The result is a kind of cognitive dislocation, which can be more or less severe. Fundamental human capacities begin to atrophy or are impaired. Certainly, abuse of human beings and abuse of words go hand in hand. The words that name the deed fog over, or are driven from the language. Refusal to face the fact of torture has cost us the very word "torture," now widely referred to, as if in obedience to some general edict, as "enhanced interrogation techniques" or "harsh methods." Torture's writ thus runs in the editorial rooms of newspapers.  ~Jonathan Schell, Torture and Truth

Every teacher knows that what you do in front of the classroom is far more important than what you say; you can post any number of rules for classroom behavior, but if you comport yourself in a dignified and polite manner your behavior will be mirrored in your students' behavior. 

I believe that it is the same for a government. It is not enough for an administration to say that they believe in the rule of law and that they never would use torture against prisoners; if they act lawlessly and torture those who are in their power, they will soon see a lawless and uncivilized citizenry mirroring that behavior. In fact, I just read an article about a local crime in a New Hampshire newspaper called, "Invasion Victims Describe Torture Threats." Should we be surprised at these thugs' willingness to tie up, whip, and defecate on their victims, given the daily revelations we are hearing about the Bush Administration years? 

One of the best articles that I have read arguing for war crime trials is this one: Torture and Truth; Can the United States Really Get Things Right By Turning Away From the Past? by Jonathan Schell, writing for CBS News. I would highly recommend that you take a moment to read it.

The Dark Side; The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals

Here is the story of how we got to where we are today--each step that moved us from being a democracy run by the rule of law into a country that holds prisoners indefinitely without being charged, kidnaps people and takes them to secret prisons, and tortures those it holds through sleep and sensory deprivation, beatings, waterboarding, and all the other sorry phrases we've been hearing on the news. 

Here are a few quotes from the Afterword:

...a battle for America's security became, and continues to be, a battle for the country's soul.

... the Bush Administration was warned that the short-term benefits of its extralegal approach to fighting terrorism would have tragically destructive long-term consequences both for the rule of law and America's interests in the world.

... the Bush Administration invoked the fear flowing from the attacks on September 11 to institute a policy of deliberate cruelty that would have been unthinkable on September 10.

... President Bush and Vice President Cheney have continued to insist that they never authorized or condoned "torture," which they acknowledge is criminal under U.S. law. But their semantic parsing of the term began to seem increasingly disingenuous as details from the secret detention and interrogation program surfaced, piece by piece.