US President Obama Calls
Post 9/11 Interrogation Tactics Torture
According to a recent report on Yahoo and Al Jazeera, United States President Barack Obama came out and called some CIA interrogation techniques that were conducted shortly after the September 11th, 2001 attacks torture. Such language is critical, since prior administrations and individuals continued to label these actions as anything but torture; terms such as “enhanced interrogation methods” were often used to label what the government officials were doing to detainees. And there is a reason for this, from their perspective. They recognize the legal consequences of carrying out torture. Torture is clearly prohibited under international law. For example, in 1984, states, through the United Nations, passed the Convention Against Torture (CAT). This convention clearly prohibits torture, under any circumstances. In Article 2 of the Convention Against Torture, it states that
“Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. 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.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.”
The CAT also calls for prosecution of the individuals that were accused of having committed this crime. However, international law is not the only reference to the illegality of torture; as the Al Jazeera article points out, “torture…is a felony under US law.”
And despite the fact that Obama contextualized the actions given the then immediate post-attacks climate, there is never any justification for torture. Along with the moral and ethical issues with torture, many studies have also found that those tortured actually do not give up more information, or at least, more accurate information; individuals will often tell the interrogators what they want to hear in order to end the interrogation.
It is therefore important to keep an eye on if Obama or others will call for arrests and criminal trials of anyone accused of committing torture. However, the likelihood of this is low, as it was stated in the Yahoo article that
“In 2009, Obama said he preferred to “look forward, not backwards,” on the issue, and he decided that no CIA officer who was following legal guidance–however flawed that guidance turned out to be —should be prosecuted. A long-running criminal investigation into whether the CIA exceeded the guidance_which is an allegation of the Senate report_was closed in 2012 without charges.”
But while this is the case, trying those accused of torture would uphold notions of justice, and send a clear signal domestically and internationally that torture is indeed wrong, and that no one is above being held accountable for their actions.
