Recent Torture News

Think Progress reports on CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson who quit in protest of the Bush administration’s torture policies. Apparently CIA Director Michael Hayden has started an unusual investigation into Helgerson.

The New York Times had an editorial condemning Bush's policies. "Truly banning the use of torture would not jeopardize American lives; experts in these matters generally agree that torture produces false confessions. Restoring the rule of law to Guantánamo Bay would not set terrorists free; the truly guilty could be tried for their crimes in a way that does not mock American values. Clinging to the administration’s policies will only cause further harm to America’s global image and to our legal system. It also will add immeasurably to the risk facing any man or woman captured while wearing America’s uniform or serving in its intelligence forces. This is an easy choice."

Andrew Sullivan pointed me at this account of a reunion of WWII interrogators. "'We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture,' said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.'"

"I am deeply honored to be here, but I want to make it clear that my presence here is not in support of the current war," said Weiss, chairman of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and a human rights and trademark lawyer in New York City.

"During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."

FYI, the interrogations took place at a secret installation in Fort Hunt, VA that went only by the designation "P.O. Box 1142". 4,000 POWs were questioned for days or weeks before being registered with the Red Cross, which violated the Geneva Conventions. "During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity." In addition, none of the interrogators have mentioned anything about their top secret work until a few years ago.

Meanwhile William Quinn was a US interrogator in Iraq just a couple of years ago and he's already compelled to say Never forget that our enemies are human, too "I suspect that, when we are successful, it will be because we recognize our enemies as human and develop plans that recognize their humanity. We need to be tough, and we shouldn't back down from a fight, but we also need to learn that empathy can be as powerful a weapon as missiles."

The BBC reports not on US torture of terrorism suspects but of inmates of the US prison system. "Our findings were not based on rumour or suspicion. They were based on solid evidence, chiefly videotapes that we collected from all over the U.S. All the lawyers I spoke to during our investigations shared Carlson’s belief that Abu Ghraib, far from being the work of a few rogue individuals, was simply the export of the worst practices that take place in the domestic prison system all the time." The videos are horrible.