Our silence on US torture looks like approval
IN 1957, the French journalist Henri Alleg was tortured by the French in Algeria. In The Question, the famous book that he wrote about his experiences, he described the following ordeal. He was laid out over a wooden plank, his head wrapped in a rag and positioned beneath a tap, which was then turned on.
"The rag was soaked rapidly. Water flowed everywhere: in my mouth, in my nose, all over my
More.. face. But for a while I could still breathe in some small gulps of air. I tried, by contracting my throat, to take in as little water as possible and to resist suffocation by keeping air in my lungs for as long as I could. But I couldn't hold on for more than a few moments. I had the impression of drowning, and a terrible agony, that of death itself, took possession of me."
What Alleg is describing here is the practice known as "water-boarding", sometimes also called "simulated drowning". These euphemisms conceal a disgraceful reality, one powerfully exposed by Alleg's anguished testimony.
On any measure, "water-boarding" constitutes torture. One could be forgiven for thinking that such an odious practice could never be used by civilised societies. It's time to think again.
Just over a week ago, US Vice-President Dick Cheney said: "The United States is a country that takes human rights seriously. We do not torture." This was not a new theme. In December 2004, the US Justice Department stated that torture was "abhorrent", a statement that appeared to mean that the Bush Administration prohibited the practice.
But according to a recent New York Times report, nothing could be further from the truth. Just a few months later, in February 2005, the then US attorney-general Alberto Gonzales issued a secret opinion that authorised the CIA to use tactics against terrorist suspects that clearly constitute torture. As well as the practice of dousing detainees in water and exposing them to freezing temperatures, the opinion also authorised water-boarding.
Gonzales approved these practices over the objections of then deputy attorney-general James Comey, who told his colleagues in the department that they would all be "ashamed" when the world eventually discovered what had been done.
Proponents of water-boarding argue that it is not really like the act of drowning the prisoner because it is executed under controlled circumstances. But from a moral perspective, the element of control and supervision magnifies rather than ameliorates the crime. To slowly drown another human being who is restrained, disoriented and utterly helpless is an act of unspeakable barbarity.
From a medical point of view, water-boarding is similarly indefensible. According to a recent report by Physicians for Human Rights, the practice induces a massive stress response in the victim that can include rapid heart beat and hyperventilation. The victim can also suffer nosebleeds, bleeding from the ears, facial congestion and mouth infections. Studies show that survivors continue to suffer pain in the back and head for years after the event.
They also experience devastating psychological consequences, such as respiratory panic attacks, depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder.
But the suffering caused by water-boarding is even more profound than these lists of symptoms. Survivors of this practice have to deal with the fact that they live in a world in which other human beings are prepared to inflict excruciating pain and suffering on them, and ignore their pleas for help.
Such knowledge is devastating. As described by another famous writer on torture, Jean Amery: "Whoever has succumbed to torture can no longer feel at home in the world. The shame of destruction cannot be erased. Trust in the world … will not be regained. That one's fellow man was experienced as the anti-man remains in the tortured person as accumulated horror. It blocks the view into a world in which the principle of hope rules."
For all of these reasons, we should be deeply disturbed by the news that the Bush Administration authorised this odious practice.
Despite the gravity of this matter, the revelation has met with silence in the Australian media. Apparently, we either don't want to talk about the fact that the US has been using torture, or it's too painful to face. Such a response is clearly inadequate.
Silence about torture is morally corrosive. We need to have a national conversation about its practice of torture in the "war on terror" and our role as a major ally to a country that persists in doing it. As it stands, the public and political silence on this issue constitutes a de facto endorsement of the crime. It wrongs us all.
Dr Nina Philadelphoff-Puren is a lecturer in the school of English, communications and performance studies at Monash University.
Less..
Added: Nov 2 2007 In: education
By: Interloper 
- Views: 3633 |
- Votes: 0 |
- Recommendations: 0 |
- Comments: 29
Comments - sort by newest to oldest
well if its like that reporter who did it the other day,i say go for it...ask John McCain,if he would have rather went threw what he did in veitnam,or that
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "radgy" (R)
Yeah it would suck to be "water boarded" but Id take that over the drills, broken bones and gun shots.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "Darock" (R)
I would propose that all our Government Officials that condone such tactics undergo such first themselves. This ensures its complete effectiveness as a useful means to extrapolate information.
But I digress! We'd simply learn that a great majority of them are hypocritical closet homosexuals, and we already know that now don't we?
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "cobalt187" (R)
I'm not a bad guy (read terrorist), but I'd rather fight and kill americans than being captured as a potential terrorist, because I know that I'll be tortured.
Congrats on making your country a safer place.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "rumplestiltskin" (R)
I'm not a bad guy (read terrorist), but I'd rather fight and kill americans than being captured as a potential terrorist, because I know that I'll be tortured.
Congrats on making your country a safer place.
Well ypu probably will never have to fight and kill Amercans. But one day i'm sure Americans will fight and die for you..
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "razorwired" (R)
I'm not a bad guy (read terrorist), but I'd rather fight and kill americans than being captured as a potential terrorist, because I know that I'll be tortured.
Congrats on making your country a safer place.
naw,they are just mad,somebody is finally washing their face....why not try to fight kill Americans,you wont have a problem to begin with,hmmm?
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "radgy" (R)
I wish all you "americans" will get over yourselves, you are fed so much crap from day 1 ,you seem to live in a totally different world. Your country should stop making films that have happy endings with americans winning the day and saving the world. That sort of thing gives you a false sense of security. Your country is what I would call superficial. we will not win a war on terror, so get over it! Torture in any language is bad news.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "death2believers" (R)
Well said.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "Interloper" (R)
I wish someone like Mc Cain wispers in GWB ear: torture is terrorism azzhole!
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "roosterbooster" (R)
And you my friend should not surrender so easily.."we will not win the war on terror."??? All wars can be won. They just have to be fought well and without your kind of thinking.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "razorwired" (R)
And you my friend should not surrender so easily.."we will not win the war on terror."??? All wars can be won. They just have to be fought well and without your kind of thinking.
War on Terror is a mere campaign slogan no more.. Everyone knows its bullshit! GWB would have received some respect had he waged war on Iraq FOR PERSONAL REASONS campaign... Why not war on Hunger, Aids, illiteracy.. We should wage war on bullshit perhaps water board GWB!
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "roosterbooster" (R)
And you my friend should not surrender so easily.."we will not win the war on terror."??? All wars can be won. They just have to be fought well and without your kind of thinking.
you just still don't get this one do you. Let me explain. Wars are won on the battlefield, in the skys, and on the water, basically you can triumph when you feel your enemy has surrendered or has been defeated. You my friend are trying to win a war, against the hearts and minds of most of the world. Yes you may hate it but this is the reality of things.
Your films, television, the war in Iraq, your iresponsible actions against the enviroment, all these have a bearing on how others perceive your country. You are making enemies and you don't even know it! You will not win as you are making the world recruit everyday more attackers against your way of life and government. Never before has so many people (mostly muslims) felt more strongly about the subject of america.
Tell me when it's over, so I can watch the film!
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "death2believers" (R)
And you my friend should not surrender so easily.."we will not win the war on terror."??? All wars can be won. They just have to be fought well and without your kind of thinking.
War on Terror is a mere campaign slogan no more.. Everyone knows its bullshit! GWB would have received some respect had he waged war on Iraq FOR PERSONAL REASONS campaign... Why not war on Hunger, Aids, illiteracy.. We should wage war on bullshit perhaps water board GWB!
hear hear
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "death2believers" (R)
And you my friend should not surrender so easily.."we will not win the war on terror."??? All wars can be won. They just have to be fought well and without your kind of thinking.
you just still don't get this one do you. Let me explain. Wars are won on the battlefield, in the skys, and on the water, basically you can triumph when you feel your enemy has surrendered or has been defeated. You my friend are trying to win a war, against the hearts and minds of most of the world. Yes you may hate it but this is the reality of things.
Your films, television, the war in Iraq, your iresponsible actions against the enviroment, all these have a bearing on how others perceive your country. You are making enemies and you don't even know it! You will not win as you are making the world recruit everyday more attackers against your way of life and government. Never before has so many people (mostly muslims) felt more strongly about the subject of america.
Tell me when it's over, so I can watch the film!
Actually I know more of war and sacrifice,(both personal and that of others) than any man should have to. I've seen the absolute best and worst, this world has to offer. And to believe that if Americans come home and withdraw from Iraq and Afgan, will make the rest of the love us, well thats just an extrordinarily blind veiw of reallity. Europe has already been infiltrated by Islamic extremist whom threaten violence if not allowed to build mosques on every square mile of London. It is you that need to wake up and realize, some things are worth fighting for. If you will not stand for yourself, your country, or your family.....well then there is nothing worth standing for then is there? Islam hated the west long before Iraq, and they will continue to hate us long after. How many more bus bombings and hijackings have to happen in your back yard until you realise. How many more friends and family must you lose to realise. They have no interest in being your friend and have no intrest in sharing this world with you. They want a world without western culture.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "razorwired" (R)
And you my friend should not surrender so easily.."we will not win the war on terror."??? All wars can be won. They just have to be fought well and without your kind of thinking.
"war on Terror" is a slogan. No more. One cannot have a war on a technique. two things must be done to combat terrorists. One: We have to acnowledge that it's largely a law enforcement issue. We need agents on the ground, ones that speak the native languages and know the culture. We also need to use lawfull survelence techniques more effectively. Assualting the Bill Of Rights is not the way to go. Secondly we need to address the reasons people take up arms against us. Just sending out a person like the recently "retired" Karen Hughes who knew nothing about middle easter culture, is not a good approach.
Posted Nov-2-2007 by "Yukkione" (R)