Yes, Torture is Counterproductive….and a Stain on America’s Reputation

There has been a massive uproar in the past few weeks regarding the release of Justice Department memos detailing the means used for interrogations of terrorist suspects.  This is a touchy subject for all, primarily because of the constant balancing test we need to strike in this country between pragmatic security concerns and the morals, ideals and civil liberties our country was built upon.  Too often this country has in the past ignored its founding principles; this is the true essence of being un-American.  Often these principles are discarded in a time of threat, however looking back they have always been an overreaction to current events, ultimately to be regretted by future generations.  Notable past examples of this include the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during WW2, jailing of protesters during the First World War (Socialists/Anarchists) all the way back to the Alien & Sedition Acts.  This current period of torture in the post 9/11 landscape has once again set us against our morals and founding principles.  I don’t care what anybody says – if you are tying someone to a board and simulating drowning — then there is no doubt this is torture, even if it leaves no physical marks on the victim.  It’s time America puts this behind us, as President Obama has indicated he will.  The people who wrote the legal opinions who contorted the law into supporting these actions should be prosecuted.  What people don’t realize is how often the law is used to justify the unjustifiable.  The genocide perpetrated by the Nazi Reich was orchestrated through the legal justifications of lawyers.  So was the Bosnian genocide. Today’s attorneys have a moral and professional duty to prevent the legal system from being used to justify such actions.  As such, the Congress should establish a panel to investigate these attorneys for violations of the Professional Responsibility Code.

But what about our security?  Doesn’t that override these petty concerns of civil liberties?  This is the speech often being preached by people such as Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh.  These arguments are inherently flawed.  In fact, this type of torture is likely to be counterproductive.  Torture is painful.  When people are being tortured they will tell you anything you want to hear in order to get you to stop.  As such the information is not particularly reliable.  A much more reliable route is using leverage (such as protecting the person’s family from repercussions).

A few months ago, I met a friend of a friend who was an Army interrogator in Iraq.  He worked for military intelligence, and actually was based at Abu Ghraib (apparently way after the incidents there)  I had to know if these tactics were really necessary, and produced vital information, so I asked him about them.  He told me what worked best was being friendly with informants, treating them as an equal and guaranteeing protection for their family.  He said that most informants would then be willing to cooperate after these sessions.

Now i’m not arguing that terrorist suspects are necessarily going to bend to kindness, that’s not very likely.  I am however arguing that violating our country’s 300 year old moral values is a lot more damaging long term than any short term gains achieved by using these techniques.  I wasn’t totally sure of this.. perhaps this interrogation method had prevented imminent terrorist attacks, Jack Bauer/24 style.  However this new article in the NY Times today clearly contradicts that belief and argument. Ali Soufan, an FBI agent, was intimately involved in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, who I believe is one of the individuals that Cheney and Rove indicated had provided valuable information regarding terrorist attacks due to the new torture tactics.  Soufan debunks the unknown here, by pointing out how these tactics had the possibility of backfiring on the United States, along with the loss of our mantle as the world’s guardian of Human Rights. Soufan further claims that this information that extracted from Zubaydah could have been achieved in other ways.

Due to these revelations on the part of Soufan and other interrogators (most of whom appear to be against the tactics) I am glad the Obama administration has brought this stain on America’s reputation to light.  Release of these memos will allow the new administration, and the American people to regain their rightful role as a moral leader in the world once again.  That is, as long as we take action against the lawyers authorizing these gross breaches of human rights.