Helping the CIA To Torture

Much of the U.S. Senate report on torturing suspected terrorists was heavily censored, but what did manage to see the light of day gives devastating insight into the horror cabinets of a superpower’s intelligence services in its “war on terror.” Amnesty International (AI) has dug more deeply and has again turned its attention to those European accomplices in torturing because absent willing helpers in Poland, Romania, Lithuania, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the CIA could have never operated its perfidious network of secret prisons. Amnesty International has rightly called for a comprehensive investigation into local assistance efforts and legal sanctions and punishment for those found to be complicit.

The praiseworthy German version of the CIA torture report, now published in book form, shows in oppressive detail why denials and cover-ups cannot be permitted. Not in Washington, not in Berlin and not in Warsaw. The stated goal of “national security” does not allow free rein in everything. There is neither a moral nor a legal basis for it. Torture is illegal under international law and therefore an offense that must be dealt with consistently – if for no other reason than to protect the rule of law for everyone.