Guest AuthorWe have known for the past 10 years that our government tortured prisoners in our war against terrorism. Our leaders told us that these were bad men, unworthy of the rights granted under the Geneva Convention. They claimed to have obtained valuable information that prevented further attacks, saved American lives and led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Senate’s report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program blew holes in those beliefs. The 6,000-page report detailed how the CIA tortured prisoners – using methods the politicians and bureaucrats called “enhanced interrogation techniques” – and how the agency misled government officials and the media about the program’s effectiveness.
The report reads like a sadistic horror novel. Some prisoners were force-fed orally and anally in order to establish “total control over the detainee.” Others with injuries to their legs were forced to stand on their injuries. Several prisoners almost died and became completely unresponsive or nearly drowned during waterboarding. Detainees were kept awake for more than one week. The interrogators placed a prisoner in a box the size of a coffin for more than 11 days.
The Senate report also revealed that torturing prisoners did not acquire “actionable intelligence.” At least 26 of the 119 prisoners (22 percent) held by the CIA were subsequently found by the CIA to have been improperly detained, many having also experienced torture.
Growing up in the 1960s, we prayed for our pilots and servicemen who were captured by the North Vietnamese. We were told tales of their mistreatment in the “Hanoi Hilton” and their acts of bravery resisting their captors. We wore bracelets in honor of those missing in action. We were the good guys.
When I read the executive summary of the Senate report, I was reminded of Samuel Clemen’s “The War Prayer.” Published after the author had died because it was deemed too controversial, the short story tells of a man who barged into a church service where the congregation was praying for victory in a war.
The man offered a prayer that showed what that victory meant, “… blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!”
The man was considered a lunatic.
I’ve listened all week to the political pundits on how our government was justified in using its “enhanced interrogation techniques.” I can’t accept their arguments. The fact that our government would treat human beings so cruelly bothers me to the very core.
I guess that makes me a lunatic, too.
Rick Outzen is the publisher and owner of the Independent News in Pensacola, founded in 1999 to provide an independent voice on the issues facing Northwest Florida. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
