United States of ...Torture?

On 26 June 2003, President George W. Bush proclaimed to the world that "the United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example".

Yet the Washington Post reports;

In November 2002, a newly minted CIA case officer in charge of a secret prison just north of Kabul allegedly ordered guards to strip naked an uncooperative young Afghan detainee, chain him to the concrete floor and leave him there overnight without blankets, according to four U.S. government officials aware of the case.

The Afghan guards -- paid by the CIA and working under CIA supervision in an abandoned warehouse code-named the Salt Pit -- dragged their captive around on the concrete floor, bruising and scraping his skin, before putting him in his cell, two of the officials said.

As night fell, so, predictably, did the temperature. By morning, the Afghan man had frozen to death.

After a quick autopsy by a CIA medic -- "hypothermia" was listed as the cause of death -- the guards buried the Afghan, who was in his twenties, in an unmarked, unacknowledged cemetery used by Afghan forces, officials said. The captive's family has never been notified; his remains have never been returned for burial. He is on no one's registry of captives, not even as a "ghost detainee," the term for CIA captives held in military prisons but not registered on the books, they said.

"He just disappeared from the face of the earth," said one U.S. government official with knowledge of the case. The CIA case officer, meanwhile, has been promoted, two of the officials said.


That is just one of many stories about the torture that has arisen since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. The US has used many techniques which are considered to be torture. One interrogation technique is called "water-boarding". It involves the submersion of a detainees head in water to the point of perceived drowning. I think that constitutes torture. And in cases where we don't want to get our hands too dirty, we send the detainee to a secret prison in another country and let them do the torturing for us.

Alberto Gonzales was recently sworn in as the Attorney General for the United States. Prior to this, he served as counsel to the White House and reportedly advised the White House on how US interrogators could escape criminal liability for torture, on how to narrow the definition of torture, on how officials could get away with using cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that purportedly fell short of torture, and on how the President could override international or national prohibitions on torture. For more info on Gonzales, click here.

Also, remember the detainees from the Afghanistan war held down in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? Well, they are still there. They have been held for four years now. Amnesty International has a full report on the situation. Also, don't forget about Abu Ghraib.

Torture often provides inaccurate and untrue testimonies. Statements coerced by torture are typically false, as the prisoner is willing to say anything to make the pain stop. The United States of America should be the shining example to the rest of the world on human rights. lf we torture others, what is to stop others from torturing US soldiers held captive.