Torture: An American Human Rights Concept?

Published in The People's Daily
(China) on 12 December 2014
by Chuan Qin (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Jessica Moore. Edited by Stephen Proctor.
On Dec. 9, the U.S. Senate published the executive summary of the CIA 9/11 counterterrorism report. The report revealed that the degree of cruelty was much higher than what was originally published. Soon after, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a declaration denouncing the use of torture as a misalignment with American values: "I hope that today’s report can help us leave these techniques where they belong — in the past."

Publishing the CIA torture report was the equivalent of bringing the skeletons out of the closet for investigation, which demonstrated the untrustworthiness of the CIA by the two opposing political parties. After the 9/11 terrorist tragedy, George W. Bush, the president at the time, started the war on terror. At this time, the published counterterrorism report was being conducted by the Democratic Party, which President Obama was very pleased to see.

Although there are more than 6,000 pages in the full report, not all of them were released. Only the 480-page summary report was released by the U.S. government, but it still shocked the American public and drove the rest of the world into a deep state of contemplation. The Independent, a British newspaper, also published an article denouncing the torture as “a program of cruelty, violence, secrets, and lies that did not work, and [that] has dragged the United States into a moral black hole.”

This event should be investigated from four different angles. First, each act of cruelty by the CIA is a clear violation of the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture. As a signatory, how can the U.S. not take this seriously? As a matter of fact, as early as 2006, the U.N. Committee Against Torture asked the United States to ban all forms of torture and close all secret prisons. The problem is, did the U.S. really want to change? Secondly, was it effective in the end? Because of the war on terror, they were able to justify the use of torture on legal grounds, but with little success. On the contrary, it was even counterproductive. The CIA’s use of torture to extort a confession failed to provide any major counterterrorism intelligence, which is highly faulted, but the problem is, even if forcing prisoners to provide information through the use of torture did provide answers, is this really the way to go about it? Third, what does the U.S. mean by "counterterrorism?" Terrorism is the enemy of the whole world. This means that the war on terror is necessary — there is no question about it — but in ten years of fighting terrorism the U.S. has invested a lot of manpower and financial resources, which has led to a state of confusion around the world. As a result, the more counterterrorism measures there are, the greater the fear. Isn’t this something to think about?

More importantly, how does the U.S. really view its idea of human rights? Holtermann, of Humboldt University's international politics department, believes that this incident will cause the United States to lose credibility on the subject of human rights. The United States is facing a turning point and needs to reflect on its own ideas on human rights policies. Indeed, the U.S. has been the self-proclaimed protector of human rights and is always making a big deal of other countries’ human rights violations, which has enabled them to rise to the level of international human rights safeguard. However, this report demonstrated that America has its own human rights problems. They themselves violate human rights, but are pointing fingers at other countries, which seems like a joke. As a matter of fact, when weighed against the fundamental human desire for freedom, what they did is a shame for humankind. No matter what country, there should never be any acts of cruelty. Although the Obama administration clearly prohibits torture, in practice they are not really showing any signs of stopping. The fact that America uses human rights as a tool seems ridiculous.

Someone said, “CIA torture chambers need sunlight.” But that’s not the only place that needs more sunlight. The report the U.S. just released is not enough; truly putting an end to torture, as well as moving one step closer to a further reflection on counterterrorism policy, leading to a change in U.S. human rights practices, is still a long way off.


新民晚报:酷刑报告拷问美国人权观
秦川
2014年12月12日15:33 来源:新民晚报 手机看新闻
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原标题:酷刑报告拷问美国人权观
美国参议院情报委员会9日公布“9·11”事件后中情局(CIA)对恐怖袭击嫌犯施行酷刑的调查报告,报告披露的酷刑残忍程度远超之前美方公布的信息。美国总统奥巴马随后发表声明,称酷刑不符合美国价值观,“将把这些刑讯方式永远留在过去”。

公布中情局酷刑,相当于自曝家丑,究其因,这与中情局不得人心有关,更与美国政党之争有关。“9·11”恐怖袭击后,时任共和党籍总统小布什发动“反恐战争”。而此次公布的酷刑报告,由参议院情报委员会的民主党人主导,而民主党籍总统奥巴马也乐见其成。

尽管长达6000多页的刑讯逼供报告,并未全部公布,仅有480页的摘要报告公之于众,还是让美国朝野震惊,更让全世界陷入错愕与沉思之中。英国独立报也刊文批评:“一个充满残酷、暴力、秘密与谎言的审讯项目没有奏效,却把美国拖入道德的黑洞”。

在此际,应从四个层面追问此事。其一,中情局的种种酷刑,明显违背了1984年通过的《联合国禁止酷刑公约》。作为签署国,美国何以一再拿公约不当回事?其实,早在2006年,联合国禁止酷刑委员会就曾要求美国取缔一切形式的酷刑并关闭秘密监狱。问题是,美国真的愿意改变吗?其二,酷刑究竟是否见效?以反恐的名义大动干戈,并名正言顺地动用酷刑,但效果不大。甚至适得其反。中情局刑讯逼供未能提供常规审讯所不能得出的重大反恐情报,这是备受诟病之处,问题是,即便获得了重大反恐情报,就可以使用酷刑吗?其三,美国如何评判反恐?恐怖主义是全世界的敌人,这一点毋庸置疑,美国反恐有必要,这一点也无需质疑,但是十多年的反恐,美国投入大量的人力财力物力,将世界折腾得鸡犬不宁,却出现了“越反越恐”的状况,难道不该反思吗?

更为重要的是,美国如何真正反思自己的人权观?德国洪堡大学国际政治学者霍尔特曼认为,这一事件将使美国对其他国家人权的批评显得无力,美国面临一个转折点,需要反思自己的人权政策。诚然,美国一直以人权保卫者自居,往往对其他国家出现的个别现象,大书特书,提升到保护人权的高度质疑,而酷刑报告却证明美国人权存在不小问题,自己侵犯人权,却指责他国没有人权,听起来像是笑谈。其实,酷刑背后,是人性中未受到约束的魔性。这样的做法,为美好的人性不耻,无论哪国都不应该存在酷刑。奥巴马政府虽已表示明确禁止酷刑,“但在实际操作层面,并没有任何停止的迹象”,美国把人权当工具的做法显得不无滑稽。

有人说,“美国中情局刑讯室需要阳光”。需要阳光的何止刑讯室?美国仅仅公布报告还不够,如何真正杜绝酷刑,以及进一步反思反恐政策、人权工具化,美国仍有不短的路要走。
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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1 COMMENT

  1. As a citizen of the United States , I am appalled by the CIA torture scandal. The guilty here must face an international war crimes tribunal. But the main stream world news media does almost nothing to explain the roots of terrorism Is anti-U.S. terrorism like the Ebola virus-highly contagious and mysterious in its origins ? Do sane individuals in these Middle Eastern countries wake one morning with a fanatical desire to fly jet airliners into tall buildings in New York City ?
    Both China and Russian have forgotten the cause of mass misery for several centuries now: the unchecked rule of the rich.
    In America, oddly enough, any mention of SOCIALISM usually comes from right wing sources. Long after the collapse of the Soviet Union they still hate and fear the very idea of a socialist society.
    What can be more ludicrous than to believe that terrorists are motivated by some insane hatred of American Freedom and Democracy ?
    Our now Republican Senate and our now Republican House are the real voice of the common people in America ?
    The use of torture in American military prisons speaks of a lack of faith in the stability of the American Way of Life.
    Did the threat of torture by the old Catholic Inquisition finally establish the TRUTH of Aristotle physics and the ERROR of the impudent free thinker Galileo ?
    But there is PROGRESS even the world of metaphysics. Today the Catholic Church completely accepts the findings of modern science. And just recently Pope Francis said that the Church has no problem with Charles Darwin or Stephen Hawkins, with Evolution or the Big Bang.
    Some day in the near future the political world will have no problem with SOCIALISM and Karl Marx’s CLASS STRUGGLE view of history.
    ( http://radicalrons.blogspot.com/ )