Torture. The word conjures images of the Middle Ages, the Spanish Inquisition, and feudal tyranny. But it also mars modern warfare. And the War on Terror is no exception.
The New York Times reported last week on secret documents authorizing the CIA to take some extreme measures when interrogating suspected terrorists. Surprised? Me neither. In fact, I’d have missed it entirely were it not for my Web-newsletter, which sends stories containing headlines with the words “torture,” “spandex” or “Pat Robertson” straight to my inbox (I’m still holding out for a three-in-one).
Now I know what many of you are thinking: This sounds like agitated liberal banter! The truth is, though, I feel little pain for members of al Qaeda who are getting a taste of their own medicine. But does torturing a suspected terrorist make us safer? The consensus among interrogation experts – those not on the White House payroll, anyway – seems to be no. To understand the reasoning behind this, you’re going to need to put on your imagination caps.
Imagine you’ve been accused of being a terrorist. You’re being interrogated, but aren’t saying much. So your captors attach small electrodes to your genitals. Now you’re scared, because you like your genitals. So you think up anything you can. You tell them how you feel about Public Enemy’s “Welcome to the Terrordome,” and the Planet Terror segment of Grindhouse. Realizing that’s not getting you far, you do what anyone in a similar situation would do: lie. The method is moot – whether it’s electrocution, waterboarding, or sleep deprivation. The point is, a person being tortured will say anything and everything to make that torture stop.
Finding someone in power that understands the immorality of torture requires looking no further than U.S. Senator and decorated war hero, John McCain. He spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. To this day, he cannot lift his arms over his head, due to the vicious physical abuse he was subjected to. In a 2005 article written for Newsweek, McCain spoke of the propensity of tortured prisoners to give his captors false information, simply to make them stop.
“I was once physically coerced to provide my enemies with the names of the members of my flight squadron,” McCain said in the article. “But I did not refuse, or repeat my insistence that I was required under the Geneva Conventions to provide my captors only with my name, rank and serial number. Instead, I gave them the names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line, knowing that providing them false information was sufficient to suspend the abuse.”
So when McCain proposed a Senate amendment in 2005 limiting excessive interrogation methods, the bill passed 90-9. Let me repeat that: The bill passed, 90-9. Which of course would explain why Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Director Porter Goss approached McCain with a proposal exempting the CIA from measures outlined in the Senate amendment (which passed, 90-9). McCain flatly rejected it, but in the wacky world that is the Bush white house, none of that matters.
So do yourself a favor and forget about McCain’s five-plus years as a prisoner of war. Forget about his Silver Star and his Purple Heart. Forget about his Legion of Merit and Distinguished Flying Cross awards. Dick Cheney received deferment from being drafted into the war McCain fought in. In fact, Cheney was deferred five times. The closest Cheney came to combat was when he shot a campaign contributor in the face on a hunting trip in 2006. Vietnam may just as well have been a video game as far as Bush and Cheney are concerned.
Which takes us full circle, to the documents uncovered last week. Responding to criticism from Congress and from the media, President Bush offered the same tired rhetoric he’s been tossing up since the war’s outset:
“I have put this program in place for a reason,” he said. “And that is to better protect the American people.” So you keep on gathering your “intelligence,” George. And I’ll keep rolling my eyes. After all, it’s Bush’s and the CIA’s intelligence that led us into Iraq in the first place.
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