Some may call it a dead topic that should stay dead, but I think that a national discussion of torture needs to continue. Andy Worthington\u2019s March 13 posting<\/a> on Truthout<\/a> offers an excellent summary of the issue.<\/p>\n

As for me, I think American citizens need to know if their government is living up to its stated ideals or violating the same standards to which it holds other nations. When the U.S. government touts its Army Field Manual<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0or signs on to the Geneva Conventions<\/a> or other international treaties\u2014do we mean it, or do we reserve the right\u2014via American exceptionalism<\/a>\u2014to change the rules when it\u2019s convenient for us?<\/p>\n

The recent ruling by Justice Department official David Margolis\u2014effectively absolving Bush Administration lawyers from responsibility in enabling \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques\u201d in Iraq and Guantanamo\u2014makes this dialogue even more imperative.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what Margolis\u2019 motivation was, and he\u2019s not talking. His ruling overturned four years of investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Perhaps he\u2019s protecting his own, circling the wagons around\u00a0the fraternity\/sorority of \u00a0lawyers. Perhaps he\u2019s been instructed\u2014as the Obama administration has emphasized many times\u2014to focus on the future, not on the past. After all, if the Obama administration prosecutes, or censures, or even criticizes the previous administration, it could set in motion\u2014horror of horrors\u2014future efforts at holding government officials accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say for sure why they\u2019re doing what they\u2019re doing. But we do know that the UN Convention Against Torture,<\/a> signed by President Reagan in 1988 and incorporated into US federal law, defines torture as:<\/p>\n

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, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the infamous \u201ctorture memo<\/a>,\u201d John Yoo and Jay Bybee \u00a0tortured that definition into submission\u2014probably at the behest of the Bush administration\u2014and now, they\u2019ve gotten away with it.<\/p>\n

When I watched portions of the Congressional hearings on torture<\/a> in 2009, it occurred to me that one sure way to define torture would be to ask the defenders of \u201charsh interrogation techniques\u201d a simple question: \u201cIf someone did that to you, or to your friend or family member, would you<\/span> call it torture?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, President Obama took action,\u00a0shortly after being inaugurated, to reverse the most egregious interrogation policies of the Bush Administration, announcing, in January 2009, that America was reverting to the Army Field Manual’s rules. <\/a><\/p>\n

But President Obama’s welcome policy shift is not the end of the story.\u00a0 A terrible precedent has been set, both by the original torture memos and by David Margolis\u2019 recent ruling. Even if we follow the Obama administration\u2019s apparent predilection for not looking backward or placing blame, we will face these issues again in the future. This administration\u2019s unwillingness to establish accountability will undoubtedly come back to haunt us. The Justice Department\u2019s ruling effectively gives cover to future foes to torture our soldiers with impunity.<\/p>\n

Blame and punishment\u00a0for the perpetrators of the Bush Administration’s foolhardy and inhumane policy is probably not the answer. Particularly in today’s\u00a0political climate,\u00a0such a strategy would most likely be counterproductive, resulting in\u00a0endless political warfare.<\/p>\n

There is, however, an alternative.\u00a0It’s called “truth and reconciliation<\/a>,” and the process–though sometimes painful and complicated–has had good results in\u00a0post-apartheid South Africa and other\u00a0regions where conflict and alleged war crimes have divided the community. There’s even a precedent for this process here in\u00a0the U.S., in Greensboro, North Carolina, where a\u00a0local Truth & Reconciliation Commission <\/a>was organized in 2004 to examine and learn from a divisive event in Greensboro’s past, in order to build the foundation for a more unified future.<\/p>\n

I acknowledge that\u00a0getting a truth and reconciliation process in place\u00a0to examine\u00a0what happened during the Bush Administration, and to try to\u00a0promote\u00a0national healing, is a long shot. \u00a0But if we don\u2019t address this issue now, then when will we?<\/p>\n

-Photo credit: Bill Concannon<\/em>, Burning Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some may call it a dead topic that should stay dead, but I think that a national discussion of torture needs to continue. Andy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,172,265],"tags":[211,212,262,209],"yoast_head":"\n