U.S. Government for Torture
Now, let me get this straight. We in the West are the good guys, right? Because we stand up for human rights and democracy and the rule of law. Right? They, over there, in all those lawless dictatorships like Iran and Saddam Hussein's Irak, are the bad guys, because they don't respect human rights, they torture, and they violate the fundamental international legal principles of open, fair trials. Right?
Recently, there has been a huge debate in the U.S. over the authorization of torture in the "war against terrorism" [got to pinch myself, this is being seriously discussed in the year 2005, in the democratic West, right?]
Last Friday, U.S. Senators confirmed their support for an anti-torture amendment sponsored by Senator John McCain (Arizona Republican, himself a Vietnam War vet who was captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese) and attached to the 2006 defense spending bill. American President Bush has threatened to veto the defense budget if it contains the anti-torture amendment. McCain has stood his ground and specifically ruled out any plans to accept a Bush-demanded exemption that would allow the Central Intelligence Agency to use torture. U.S. V-P Dick Cheney has been the main proponent of this policy behind the scenes:
Recently, there has been a huge debate in the U.S. over the authorization of torture in the "war against terrorism" [got to pinch myself, this is being seriously discussed in the year 2005, in the democratic West, right?]
Last Friday, U.S. Senators confirmed their support for an anti-torture amendment sponsored by Senator John McCain (Arizona Republican, himself a Vietnam War vet who was captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese) and attached to the 2006 defense spending bill. American President Bush has threatened to veto the defense budget if it contains the anti-torture amendment. McCain has stood his ground and specifically ruled out any plans to accept a Bush-demanded exemption that would allow the Central Intelligence Agency to use torture. U.S. V-P Dick Cheney has been the main proponent of this policy behind the scenes:
- Vice-President for Torture (Washington Post editorial - free registration)
- Cheney urges exception to torture ban for CIA (MSNBC)
- White House pressures Congress to reject torture amendment (CNN)
- The Bush Administration Fights for the Right to Abuse Detainees (Crimes of War Project)
- Prisoner Abuse: Interrogation, Torture and the Law (Crimes of War Project)
- Torture Debate Spotlights Importance of Global Ban (Human Rights Watch)
- The Torture Question (PBS Frontline - includes legal expert panel - "Is Torture Ever Justified?")
- Torture and the War on Terror (video coverage of Frederick K. Cox International Law Center War Crimes Research Symposium in Oct. 2005, Case Western Reserve University School of Law)
- War, Terrorism, and Torture:Limits on Presidential Power in the 21st Century (conference at Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington, Oct. 2005)
- The Anti-Torture Memos (Balkinization blog by Jack Balkin, Yale Law School Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment)
- Denounce Torture Blog (Amnesty International USA)
- Government Documents on Torture (American Civil Liberties Union - documents released under court order on U.S. use of torture against individuals detained outside the United States)
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