Drilling through the captive’s palm then severing the arm with a meat cleaver. Taking a blowtorch to the skin, and if that doesn’t get him to talk, sticking his head in a vice and tightening it until his skull cracks.
These aren’t American interrogation techniques; they’re a few of al-Qaida’s preferred torture methods. Cartoon drawings depicting these and several more torture options were found when soldiers raided an al-Qaida safe house in Iraq. Alternatives include removal of the eyes, as well as breaking bones.
Surprisingly, no documentary film that shed light on these horrific and well documented torture techniques was nominated for an Oscar this year. Out of the five documentary films recognized, only two didn’t depict America in a negative manner, and I’m not so sure about “Operation Homecoming’s” true intentions.
The eventual winner, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” examined America’s use of “torture” and other interrogation techniques used to extrapolate information from prisoners. It documents the secret roles of high ranking government officials such as Vice President Dick Cheney and Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, and offers “rare never-before-seen” images from inside Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons.
I can understand why a filmmaker would want to create a documentary of America’s dark side. Stories like this sell, and nobody expects this type of behavior from a nation that prides itself on human rights.
What I don’t understand is why we place a film like “Taxi” on top of a pedestal as if it represents today’s American intelligence gathering agencies. By placing “Taxi” on an international stage like the Oscars and rewarding it, the world will come to believe that these rare instances shape America. All the while, al-Qaida comes away looking like the good guys.
I believe our intelligence agencies have tortured people, and I’m glad we have public debates about these issues – it’s what makes us stronger than any other nation. But that doesn’t mean we have to present these several incidences in a documentary to the world.
Why aren’t films that show al-Qaida for what they are nominated for Oscars? I mean, clearly whoever selects the nominees for these awards made their hatered for the Bush administration clear. The night was filled with anti-Bush rhetoric. But don’t you think a filmmaker could produce a pretty damn interesting documentary about al-Qaida’s horrific use of torture?
I want to emphasize the fact that I have no problem recognizing and castigating America’s use of torture when it is clear and present. The debate continues as to what torture really is. Clearly the list at the start of this column constitutes torture. But where should America draw the line to not only comply with international law, but also ensure we live up to our own expectations?
A federal anti-torture statute enacted in 1994 defines torture as an “act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control” (Emphasis mine). In law it is important to use direct language, which, while within its context can have only one meaning. In this case, the word “severe” is not clearly defined.
If you review America’s interrogation techniques the ambiguity of the law becomes apparent. For the sake of being taken seriously let me quickly get waterboarding out of the way and declare it to be a clear violation of the law. Moreover, it yields unreliable information as the prisoner believes he will suffocate if he doesn’t tell the interrogators what they want to hear.
There are five other techniques the CIA employs: The prisoner is grabbed by the shirt and shaken, an open hand slap to the face, a belly slap, forcing the prisoner to stand for up to 40 hours, and finally forcing the prisoner to stand naked in a cold cell (cold being 50 degrees).
While these are all legal and what I consider to be effective techniques, they are constantly being challenged. Making the prisoner listen to Eminem’s “Slim Shady LP” is considered by many adept individuals to be torture. If one can argue that torture can be construed to making a prisoner stay in a cell at all, is it not torture then to make that prisoner believe he will never get back what prior freedoms he had before?
These are questions that should have been answered a hundred years ago, but never were. The military needs to interrogate the enemy they capture on the battlefield in order to protect us from future attacks. It is important that we quickly and correctly come to a consensus on what techniques are effective and “humane” in the context of war.
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