* Comments by Gryphem are in black. Quotations and attributions are in blue.
* Please read with a sense of urgency.
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Why are we still having a debate about whether the United States should use torture?
The practice of torture is in direct opposition to our American values and traditions. It is completely in conflict with the values of the Enlightenment, that brought Western Civilization out of the Middle Ages and inspired the rights we Americans enshrined in our Bill of Rights.
The use of torture is affirmation that might makes right - a philosophy which we opposed in both World Wars and our American Revolution. It is rooted in the belief that the ends justify the means, a philosophy that America opposed in our Civil War and the Cold War.
No one who affirms American values can logically defend the use of torture. Torture is in essence a form of individualized terrorism. The use of torture by people who claim to believe in human rights is hypocrisy at best, an ethical abomination at worst.
It would be simple to use moral precedent, religious principles, humanistic arguments, and pure reason to refute those who approve of the use torture as a tool of national defense. There are so many arguments that a comprehensive statement would take a book, not a blog. But this is not a comprehensive statement against those who would build their own security on the broken backs of others. It is an attempt at a concise statement against the use of torture.
The following quotations present the main points in a few words - some of our own words and some that we have often claimed to believe or respect. They make the case that torture is despotic, tyrannical, illegal, unAmerican, and demonstrably wrong.
For every quotation presented, it would be simple to come up with a hundred more to condemn the practice of torture. The purpose of this is simply to remind us all that we should be better than this.
Let’s start at the beginning, with the documents that defined the American nation, and move forward from that point.
U.S. Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 9:
“The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
U.S. Constitution, Amendment 5:
“No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
U.S. Constitution, Amendment 8:
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
U.S. Constitution, Amendment 14:
“…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Contrary to the arrogant belief of many Americans, we are not the only ones who claim to believe in liberty and human dignity. In fact, since Americans began to use torture a few years ago not only is the United States not the world’s leading advocate for human rights, as we once were. Instead, the United States has become one of the few nations in the world that actively defends the use of the barbaric, dehumanizing practice of torture.
When did the tables get turned so dramatically, and how? And why is it that most Americans did not notice when we went from being the defender of human rights to one of the world’s worst violators? We have become, are becoming, the very thing we used to hate.
What does the rest of the world have to say about the use of torture?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations and ratified by the United States in 1948.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Preamble:
"Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Geneva Covention Against Torture, Part 1, Article 1:
"For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession…”
Here is a brief aside concerning the specifics of our current situation. This is directed at Americans who defend the use of torture. The Geneva Conventions, quoted above, clearly define torture. The waterboarding at Guantanamo clearly falls within the international legal definition. Here are a few other gems from the Geneva Conventions.
Geneva Covention Against Torture, Article 1, Part 2:
“Each [nation] shall take effective… measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.”
Note that “any territory under its jurisdiction” includes overseas bases such as Guantanamo.
Geneva Covention Against Torture, Article 1, Part 2:
“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”
That’s pretty clear.
Geneva Covention Against Torture, Article 1, Part 3:
"No [nation] shall… extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
This confirms the blatant illegality of the practice of “rendition,” the removal of prisoners to other countries who do the dirty work for us.
Now back to the general conversation, beginning with affirmation of the universal application of principles of human rights by a revered American Judge and a Supreme Court Justice.
Judge Learned Hand:
“Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution."
Justice Arthur Goldberg, “The Perilous State of Human Rights” (1984)
“A foreign policy that is morally right protects human rights everywhere. It is a policy that is righteous rather than opportunistic… that gives due respect to our own Constitution…”
It does not matter that the potential victims of our twisted policy of torture are not U.S. citizens. It does not matter that we do not like them. It does not matter that they hate us and all we stand for. The question is one of right and wrong, and also of our own moral character. Are we the kind of people who will intentionally inflict pain and suffering for personal gain?
Despite more than a century of honor and commitment to human rights – not as perfection realized but as an ideal to pursue - the United States has over the past decade utterly lost the moral high ground.
What happened to the American social consciousness that used to affirm the dignity and the inalienable rights of each individual? Where are the ‘abolitionists’ of torture? Where is the conscience of the American people?
Whatever the torturer’s rationale, by denying the humanity of his victim he erodes the sanctity of human life and becomes, himself, less human. Are we so Machievelian? So immoral? Do we value human life so little?
Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, as paraphrased by David Banach:
“In order to be free ourselves, we must desire the freedom of other people. To treat another person merely as an object for my use is to make an object of myself. To be free I must respect the freedom of others.”
Chief Seattle:
“Whatever we do to the web [of life], we do to ourselves. All things are bound together."
We need to ask ourselves…
What do we really value?
What kind of people are we?
What kind of nation and society condones torture?
Is that the kind of nation and society we really want to bequeath to our children?
A closing comment…
Judge Learned Hand:
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.”
I wonder if we still hold liberty in our hearts. Are we still worthy of our American heritage of dignity, freedom, equality, and human rights? We will answer that question not only with words but by what we do, how we live, and whatever behavior we demand from our leaders.
Gryphem
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