Posts Tagged ‘new york times’

Kristof Calls for a National Truth Commission on Torture

Sunday, July 6th, 2008

In this morning’s New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof responds to Major General Antonio Taguba’s call for accountability in the Preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives.

When a distinguished American military commander accuses the United States of committing war crimes in its handling of detainees, you know that we need a new way forward.

“There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” Antonio Taguba, the retired major general who investigated abuses in Iraq, declares in a powerful new report on American torture from Physicians for Human Rights. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

The first step of accountability isn’t prosecutions. Rather, we need a national Truth Commission to lead a process of soul searching and national cleansing.

That was what South Africa did after apartheid, with its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and it is what the United States did with the Kerner Commission on race and the 1980s commission that examined the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Today, we need a similar Truth Commission, with subpoena power, to investigate the abuses in the aftermath of 9/11.

Kristof lists some of the reasons why a truth commission is called for:

It’s a national disgrace that more than 100 inmates have died in American custody in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo. After two Afghan inmates were beaten to death by American soldiers, the American military investigator found that one of the men’s legs had been “pulpified.”

Moreover, many of the people we tortured were innocent: the administration was as incompetent as it was immoral. The McClatchy newspaper group has just published a devastating series on torture and other abuses, and it quotes Thomas White, the former Army secretary, as saying that it was clear from the moment Guantánamo opened that one-third of the inmates didn’t belong there.

McClatchy says that one inmate, Mohammed Akhtiar, was known as pro-American to everybody but the American soldiers who battered him. Some of his militant fellow inmates spit on him, beat him and called him “infidel,” all because of his anti-Taliban record.

Kristof mentions in passing the fundamental problem:

[T]he US military taught interrogation techniques borrowed verbatim from records of Chinese methods used to break American prisoners in the Korean War — even though we knew that these torture techniques produced false confessions.

The SERE program, through which such techniques were adapted and disseminated as a matter of policy, fostered an environment in which torture appears to have become standard operating procedure. As PHR President Len Rubenstein has said, “once torture starts it can’t be contained.” Despite the many earlier revelations, Broken Laws, Broken Lives provides medical evidence of such abuses. With only 11 former detainees as the subjects, the report may only be scratching the surface.

The truth must be told, the criminals prosecuted and, as PHR CEO Frank Donaghue emphasizes, reparations to the victims must be made, including compensation and medical and psycho-social services.

Bob Herbert on the “landscape of broken bodies, ruined lives and profound shame”

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

In his Saturday column in the NY Times, Bob Herbert commemorated the 21st anniversary of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which was this past Thursday. He discussed the methodology and findings of Broken Laws, Broken Lives and called on the US Congress and on the American public to demand the full truth about post-Sept 11 US interrogation practices. Herbert’s closing paragraphs are especially powerful on the ramifications of US interrogation practices (emphasis added).

The sheer number of different ways in which detainees were reported to have been abused was mind-boggling. They were deprived of sleep, forced to endure extremes of heat and cold, chained in crouching positions for 18 to 20 hours at a time, told that their female relatives would be raped, that they themselves would be killed, and on and on. All to no good end.

The ostensible purpose of mistreating prisoners is to inflict pain and induce disorientation and despair, creating so much agony that the prisoners give up valuable intelligence in order to end the suffering. But torture is not an interrogation technique; it’s a criminal attack on a human being.

What the report makes clear is that once the green light is given to torture, the guaranteed result is an ever-widening landscape of broken bodies, ruined lives and profound shame to all involved.

Nearly all of the detainees profiled in the report have experienced excruciating psychological difficulties since being released. Several said that they had contemplated suicide. As one put it: “No sorrow can be compared to my torture experience in jail. That is the reason for my sadness.”

Congress and the public do not know nearly enough about the nation’s post-Sept. 11 interrogation practices. When something as foul as torture is on the table, there is a tendency to avert one’s eyes from the most painful truths.

It’s a tendency we should resist.

Physicians for Human Rights, 2 Arrow Street, Suite 301, Cambridge, MA 02138 | brokenlives[at]phrusa[dot]org | Tel 617.301.4219

Keamanan dan Kenyamanan Bermain di Agen Togel Terpercaya

Agen Togel Terpercaya yang populer di kalangan pemain Indonesia dan Asia menawarkan pengalaman betting yang nyaman dan aman. Situs-situs ini menyediakan peluang menang besar dengan hasil yang dapat dipercaya, karena mereka memiliki lisensi resmi dan selalu memastikan keamanan serta keandalan permainan.

Situs judi online yang menyediakan bonus togel dan diskon terbesar memberikan keuntungan tambahan bagi para pemain. Dengan adanya bonus dan diskon, pemain dapat menghemat biaya taruhan dan mendapatkan peluang lebih banyak untuk menang. Link Togel seperti ini sangat mengutamakan kenyamanan para member dengan memberikan promosi menarik yang bisa dimanfaatkan setiap hari. Berbagai penawaran menarik ini dirancang untuk memberikan keuntungan lebih bagi para pemain setia dan membuat pengalaman bermain semakin menyenangkan.

bandar Kami adalah bandar resmi yang menawarkan berbagai promosi menarik dan diskon tinggi untuk setiap taruhan. Nikmati keuntungan tambahan dari diskon yang tersedia di Bandar Togel Hadiah 4D, sehingga Anda bisa lebih banyak bertaruh tanpa harus mengeluarkan biaya yang besar. Jadikan pengalaman bermain Anda semakin menyenangkan dan menguntungkan.

Agen Togel Terpercaya dengan Hadiah Menarik dan Bet Minimum Rendah

Beberapa agen togel menawarkan hadiah besar dengan modal yang sangat minim, seperti Bo Togel Hadiah 2d 200rb. Hal ini memberikan kesempatan bagi para pemain pemula untuk mencoba peruntungan mereka tanpa harus mengeluarkan biaya besar. Hadiah untuk kombinasi 2D bisa mencapai ratusan ribu, menjadikan pengalaman bermain togel lebih mengasyikkan dan menguntungkan.

Menonton hasil angka secara Live Macau adalah pengalaman yang membuat taruhan semakin mendebarkan. Dengan fitur Live Macau, pemain dapat langsung mengetahui angka yang keluar tanpa harus menunggu lama.

Tips Slot Gacor: Dapatkan Maxwin dengan Mudah

Sensasi bermain Slot Gacor Gampang Menang akan semakin terasa saat jackpot besar meluncur dengan mudah hanya dalam beberapa putaran, memberi Anda kesempatan untuk menang besar dengan cara yang menyenangkan.

Slot Depo 5k memberi Anda kesempatan untuk bermain lebih sering dan meningkatkan peluang menang dalam jangka panjang. Modal sebesar 5 ribu cukup untuk mengakses berbagai permainan slot yang menawarkan bonus, putaran gratis, dan peluang jackpot menarik. Strategi bermain dengan biaya rendah namun sering dapat membantu Anda menemukan pola kemenangan dan memaksimalkan keuntungan.

Kunci kemenangan di Slot Mahjong dengan scatter hitam adalah konsistensi dalam putaran dan observasi. Pahami ritme game dan berhenti saat mencapai target, sehingga kemenangan bisa dikunci dan menghindari kerugian berlebih.

Nikmati Keseruan Bermain Slot Gacor Menggunakan RTP Live Tertinggi

Menggunakan rtp slot tertinggi hari ini untuk membuat keputusan bermain yang tepat kini menjadi bagian dari strategi bermain slot online yang efektif. Dengan rtp live, pemain bisa langsung menemukan slot gacor yang menawarkan rtp slot gacor tertinggi, memastikan peluang menang mereka lebih besar. Slot rtp tertinggi memberikan keuntungan kompetitif bagi pemain yang tahu cara memanfaatkannya. Dengan demikian, pemahaman tentang rtp slot online bisa menjadi kunci kesuksesan jangka panjang.

Related Links