The New York Times today released a story explaining the results of a Senate Arms Services Committee hearing on interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay. The hearing revealed the sad irony that interrogation tactics used by the CIA against detainees at Guantanamo Bay were ripped straight out of a playbook used by Communist captors against American soldiers in the Korean War. Back then, the United States denounced these tactics as torture.
How is it that the tools used by a state notorious for its human rights violations, and denounced by the United States are now being employed by the United States itself?
What’s worse, an American sociologist during the Korean War helped to create a training regimen to expose American soldiers to Communist techniques, to inoculate American soldiers against these techniques. Why? To counter military fears after reports revealed many American captives had been brainwashed and forced to falsely confess to crimes.
It is bad enough our government is using its old enemies’ tools against its new enemies. It is even worse that they justify using these techniques by saying it yields valuable information they need to protect our country, when they know full well that the information extracted from such methods is most likely false.
This confirms what Amnesty International USA has been saying all along: torture and harsh interrogations do not yield reliable information, violate human rights, and only damage our reputation throughout the world.
The United States was founded on the principle of justice for all. It is time to live up to that principle. Give the detainees fair trials – if they are found innocent, set them free, and if they are found guilty, punish them according to the law.
Why should we expect others to live up to standards we can’t meet ourselves?
–Ilana
