Tenth Anniversary—Torture Memo

I have never met retired Air Force Colonel Morris (Moe) Davis, but I have read what he has written on the subject of torture and other issues regarding the war on terror and Gitmo.  At this link is an OpEd he has written on the subject of torture and its use by the Bush Administration in the days after the 9/11 attack.  The publisher is The LA Times.

There are two reasons to eschew torture.  For one thing, it doesn't work well.  Here is the quote from the OpEd:

Torture is counterproductive. Professional interrogators — Ali Soufan of the FBI, Matthew Alexander of the Air Force and Glenn Carle of the CIA — have said this clearly.

Then there is the even more important moral issue.  Again going to the OpEd:

Torture is also a moral abomination. As the National Religious Campaign Against Torture — made up of member institutions representing followers of the Bahai faith, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and more — attests, it runs contrary to the teachings of all religions and dishonors all faiths. It is an egregious violation of the human rights and dignity of each and every person and results in the degradation of all involved — the victim, perpetrator and policymakers.

If that doesn't do it for you, it is illegal, notwithstanding the US Department of Justice giving the CIA the go ahead back in 2002.  We didn't just sign the United Nations Convention Against Torture, back in 1994, we ratified it.

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

Weasel-wording that water boarding is not torture is weasel wording.

The "enhanced interrogation techniques" engaged in during the George W Bush Administration were a blot on that Administration.  We need a never again attitude toward this problem.  The premise of 24, that anything goes, is wrong.  Notwithstanding Commonwealth Senator Dianne Wilkerson declaring, after a Constitutional Convention, that the ends justify the means, they do not.

Regards  —  Cliff