A new Pentagon directive released today prohibits the U.S. military from using “acts of physical or mental torture.” Mandating that detainees be dealt with in a humane fashion without specifying the meaning of “torture,” it does explicitly forbid the use of dogs in intimidating prisoners.
Although the government deserves praise for this policy decision, this directive is not enough. One might suppose U.S. citizens would intrinsically reject the use of torture and abuse as military tactics. U.S. soldiers captured during the Vietnam War endured the horrors of prolonged confinement and torture at the hands of an enemy that readily used such methods.
We are fighting an ongoing war in Iraq for which we need to interrogate combatants to gather intelligence information. Yet, as former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., points out, “subjecting prisoners to abuse leads to bad intelligence because under torture, a detainee will tell his interrogator anything to make the pain stop” and “mistreatment of our prisoners endangers U.S. troops who might be captured by the enemy.”
Unfortunately, some members of the U.S. military have repeatedly demonstrated ignorance of such concepts, as demonstrated last year by revelations of prisoner abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail.
As elucidated by McCain, it should be illegal to abuse detainees. The Senate passed legislation last month that prohibits methods banned by Army regulations and the Geneva Conventions, and the House of Representatives has yet to vote on the matter.
President Bush, however, continues to claim that the United States does not need such anti-abuse legislation, saying he will veto any measure to prohibit the inhumane treatment of detainees. Bush turns a blind eye to the recent accusations of abuse against Iraqi detainees, stating, “we do not torture. … Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people.” Apparently, Bush believes that punching and kicking detainees is an appropriate means to protect us.
While most recent claims of soldier abuse in Iraq remain allegations, Bush should approve an anti-abuse law. In denying the need for legislation, he turns a blind eye to documented abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
Interestingly, Gen. Peter Pace, principal military adviser to the president and the secretary of defense, supports McCain’s legislation. He recently told Jim Lehrer on “NewsHour” that “it is perfectly fine to have the Army field manual for the detention of individuals … for the senator to say that we should be following our own rules certainly makes sense.”
Bush officials should listen to their military advisor and to members of their party who support this legislation. The United States is currently holding almost 14,000 prisoners in Iraq. It is frightening to see the president take a firm stand against protecting their human rights. If the federal government wants to redeem itself from the national horror over Abu Ghraib and similar scandals and continue this “war of ideas,” the House must approve anti-abuse legislation.