Former Vice President Dick Cheney in his new memoir, “In My Time,” defends torture techniques like water-boarding, claiming they saved lives. “Tough interrogations,” he calls them. They have another name under the Geneva Conventions: war crimes.
It saddens us to be still debating this issue 10 years after Sept. 11, but we cannot remain silent. We know firsthand that torture violates American values and makes us all less safe.
The renewed debate over torture shows that a strong anti-torture consensus hasn’t taken hold — quite the contrary. Polls show the percentage of Americans supporting torture has increased in recent years, and a slim majority now favors it in some cases. Several of the Republican presidential candidates want to make torture U.S. policy again.
In this environment, Americans need to know the truth about torture — and they won’t find it in the pages of Cheney’s memoir. He claims that torture techniques “kept the country safe” and that “a lot of Americans are alive today” because of them.
In fact, the cost to the United States of engaging in torture — the cost to the country’s national security and reputation — was staggering. The country is still paying it — and will be for many years.
To review: Amid the fear following Sept. 11 government officials instituted a program of official cruelty that authorized torture techniques. The message from the top was clear: Interrogators should, in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous phrase, “take the gloves off.”
The result was a degree of suffering that dishonors the country. As Human Rights First details in a coming report, more than 200 hundred people died in U.S. custody, and more than a few were tortured to death. Many others, perhaps thousands — how many no one will likely ever know — endured severe physical and emotional wounds.
The words “torture” and “harsh treatment” look dry in a survey question. But the reality is bloody, and we’re confident that most Americans do not want it done in their names...
It saddens us to be still debating this issue 10 years after Sept. 11, but we cannot remain silent. We know firsthand that torture violates American values and makes us all less safe.
A return to the “dark side” would be disastrous for the country. It would undermine the ability of to the United States to lead the struggle against terrorism. And it would endanger Americans — including servicemen and women.
In this environment, Americans need to know the truth about torture — and they won’t find it in the pages of Cheney’s memoir. He claims that torture techniques “kept the country safe” and that “a lot of Americans are alive today” because of them.
In fact, the cost to the United States of engaging in torture — the cost to the country’s national security and reputation — was staggering. The country is still paying it — and will be for many years.
To review: Amid the fear following Sept. 11 government officials instituted a program of official cruelty that authorized torture techniques. The message from the top was clear: Interrogators should, in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous phrase, “take the gloves off.”
The result was a degree of suffering that dishonors the country. As Human Rights First details in a coming report, more than 200 hundred people died in U.S. custody, and more than a few were tortured to death. Many others, perhaps thousands — how many no one will likely ever know — endured severe physical and emotional wounds.
The words “torture” and “harsh treatment” look dry in a survey question. But the reality is bloody, and we’re confident that most Americans do not want it done in their names...
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