New Voice Media | Associated Baptist Press
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
| Opinion: Torture: Our first major 21st-century scandal |
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| By David Gushee | |
| Friday, September 19, 2008 | |
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(ABP) -- The week of Sept. 11, 2008, I had the privilege of hosting a national summit on torture at Mercer University in Atlanta. (To learn more about the program called “Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul,” and what happened there, see www.mercer.edu for news summaries.) In this column I want to reflect on what the torture summit meant to me and where our movement will go from here. The combination of military, legal, national security, and religious speakers have convinced me that the practice of torture by the United States marks the first major American scandal of the 21st century. It is a governmental scandal, necessitating investigations, accountability and policy change for at least the next several years. But it is also a religious scandal, involving the compromised loyalties of a majority of American evangelicals. Here is the basic story that was told at the conference: After 9/11, top officials in the United States government, driven by the vice president, concluded both that long-standing legal and moral constraints on torture needed to be set aside to prosecute the “war on terror,” and that the executive branch must be free to pursue this effort with as little congressional and judicial review as possible. Systematically cutting dissenting voices out of the policy-making process, Dick Cheney and his “war council” crafted a policy that set aside or weakened human-rights protections provided in the Geneva Conventions, in the law and traditions of the U.S. military and in domestic laws explicitly banning torture. A series of secret legal memos were written -- primarily by a small cadre of ideologically driven lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel -- that provided the dubious legal permission for the executive branch to pursue these policies. These memos narrowed the definition of torture so as to permit a number of cruel and inhumane interrogation techniques that aroused extraordinary alarm among senior military and civilian officials within the government once they were discovered. But the die was cast. These techniques were employed at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, Cuba, where terrorism suspects captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere were held. They migrated to Iraq and then showed up in Afghanistan. Worse techniques were employed by nations, such as Egypt and Syria, to whom we outsourced some of our prisoners. We still do not know fully what has happened at the so-called “black sites” and ghost prisons -- clandestine detainment centers run by U.S. intelligence agencies. But it is highly unlikely that treatment was or is better there, given the administration’s insistence on the need for “enhanced interrogation techniques” by the CIA even today. It appears that the weakening of human-rights protections not only permitted cruel techniques that were explicitly authorized, but also created a degraded environment in which unauthorized sadism and cruelty ran rampant. For example, according to original research done by graduate student Michael Peppard and presented at our conference, religious desecration and humiliation of sacred Muslim objects and practices appears to have been widespread at Guantanamo, at least for a time. Not that this is the bottom line, but it must be noted that these cruel techniques were employed against hundreds or thousands of prisoners who were either innocent of any terrorist activity or had no particularly valuable information to give up. Many of the people we are holding at Guantanamo were sold to us by bounty hunters in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan and never have been charged with any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, we were reminded at the conference of a number of cases in which detainees tortured in other conflicts from around the globe told their captors anything they could think of that would make the torture end, as most of us would do in the same situation. This yielded worthless information and misdirected our intelligence efforts in pursuing false leads. When the secrets are all out and the documents are all released, prosecution of government officials who authorized torture will be a real possibility unless foreclosed by pardons. Even then, international criminal prosecutions are possible. In the meantime, we have compromised our values, forfeited our claim to the moral high ground, damaged our most important alliances, implicitly authorized torture by other governments and created or deepened an everlasting hatred toward our nation by those most affected by our actions -- all for a negligible intelligence benefit. The American human-rights community, including many groups represented at our summit, will continue to press for policy changes to be adopted immediately by the new president and Congress. (See www.campaigntobantorture.org to sign on to the major policy principles we are promoting.) There is a serious chance that these principles will be accepted, given the general policy stances of Sens. McCain and Obama on torture. But nothing can be taken for granted -- especially in light of the disturbing results of the poll of Southern evangelical Christians that Mercer University and Faith in Public Life released at the conference. Perhaps the most shocking number is that only 22 percent of white Southern evangelicals say that torture is always wrong. Fifty-seven percent say it is often or sometimes justified. The sliver of good news from the survey is that, when presented with the option of affirming the Golden Rule principle -- we should do nothing to our detainees that we would not want done to our troops if captured -- opposition to torture increased strongly across all demographic groups. I was shocked to hear that only 28 percent of all those evangelical Christians we polled said that their faith provided the primary source to which they turned when thinking about the morality of torture. Most cited common sense or life experience. Southern evangelical Christian leaders apparently have failed to communicate an understanding of the Christian faith and its moral demands that would prohibit believers from embracing the torture of their fellow human beings in the name of national security. This emerges from a faith community whose Founder was tortured and murdered by the state, and most of whose original leaders were also tortured and murdered by the state. What an incredible collective amnesia! Who would Jesus, Peter, John and Paul torture? Not long ago I was in northern Georgia at one of those ubiquitous interstate gas stations. Interspersed among the tacky trinkets and mugs was a T-shirt with the slogan, “Waterboarding is my favorite sport.” I wonder if the creator of that T-shirt goes to church? We are indeed in a fight for our national soul. That fight begins in the church, whose complicity with torture is far more scandalous than any government wrongdoing. -30- -- David Gushee is distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. http://www.davidpgushee.com/ Read more: Poll: On torture, evangelicals not looking to Bible, doctrine (9/11) Experts: National security not ensured by torture (9/11) Opinion: Torture: A moral issue (8/26)                 Comments (7)
 comment to doruradu
written by Dr. J, September 19, 2008
Thank you doruradu for your statement. It was good to hear from your first hand experience. I am confident the US military does not practice nor condone torture. The statements you rebut are rather commonplace with this author and other ABP writers.
...
written by Jeanne, September 19, 2008
With humble awareness that I've made the same kind of goof before, the article does not say "hundreds of thousands" - it says "hundreds OR thousands" (my capitalization). In addition, there are voluminous records from open government sources of abuse at the Guantanamo Bay facility - reports by FBI agents, reports in prosecution and CSRT files, reports from translators and witnesses (other than Doruradu's acquaintance) that detail the abusive conduct at Guantanamo Bay and other detention facilities, and that also provides factual credence to how widespread these practices have been. And, while I hold Dr. J in the Light as I write, ad hominem attacks do not advance our national conversation - they merely prolong the process of discernment.
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written by doruradu, September 19, 2008
Jeanne:
Thank you for your correction; it says hundred OR thousands, indeed. It makes a huge difference. You wrote: "In addition, there are voluminous records from open government sources of abuse at the Guantanamo Bay facility - reports by FBI agents, reports in prosecution and CSRT files, reports from translators and witnesses (other than Doruradu's acquaintance) that detail the abusive conduct at Guantanamo Bay and...". I hope this is indeed true and you were able to view these reports! My friend did not tell me too much; the only hard technique he admitted was slipping depravation...(I think that the article made a gross estimation "hundreds or thousands", anyhow).I would add a few things: 1-I doubt there was a high number flown around the globe with special retention. It should cost a lot; it was risky and difficult to do. I suspect there were high profile cases sent to Egypt or Syria, etc... I doubt too much resources were dedicated for all the "Mohammeds" arrested in Iraq and/or Afghanistan 2- International Law is one thing and what would be ethically from a Christian point of view is something else. I do not think that force-feeding is torture: imagine what attacks we had to face if 20-30 hunger strikers would have died... Or, desecration of the Koran is not the same as torture.. It should have not been done!! Believe me, I had suffered a lot when our communist regime transformed Bibles in toilette paper and it was a poor quality work (one still could read)...but it was not the same as when my brothers were beaten to death in prisons, etc...I do not know how trustworthy the complaints of those held at GBAy are. If they were not guilty, they have all the reasons to be angry! How trustworthy they are, it is another thing! I have read many articles (some written by foreign journalists that visited GBay).. One thing surprises me: how come, some of the detainees filed for political asylum in the US. Were they not afraid?.. I have no problem with a tougher legislation regarding torture. However, a lot of thos detained as "terrorists" were not ordinary misdemeanor or even felony offenders we are used to deal in the US. Thanks for the correction. attachs
written by Dr. J, September 22, 2008
Dear Jeanne:
I made no ad hominem attacks. I simply stated the truth. I've read several recent articles by Dr. Gushee. Most contain unwarranted, undocumented shots at the Bush administration. When reading an article by a professor of ethics in a Baptist school, I expect more than repetitions of bloggers. Articles such as this one only serve to "prolong the process of discernment". A little more light and less smoke really helps with discernment. And thank you for holding me in the Light. I very much appreciate it. ...
written by Nabhi, October 06, 2008
The truth hurts, does it not? Funny things about "pre-'enlightment-era American' constitutionalists":
1.they not only mix metaphors, but also usually demonstrate incredible ignorance about the constitution as well as American history; 2. they can "dish it out" when calling the paradigms of others "inferior" and/or unChristian, but cannot take it and squeal like stuck pigs when their own approach is questioned. That against which Gushee cautions is an unGodly civil religion which equates Americanism with Christianity. response to Nabhi written by Dr. J, October 06, 2008
Come on Nabhi. I did not call Gushee's paradigm inferior. He called most of us who don't live his in paradigm inferior. Plus I never squeal, especially when reading words from someone as knowledgeable and condescending as you.
Those of us in the lower ranks of humanity are capable of separating our trust in the Lord from our patriotism. I know, this is tough for one of your obvious superiority to understand. We simple people believe the Lord has blessed this country and blessed us. We believe He is intimately involved in our lives. We believe we are in His hands. Call it ignorant, naive, whatever. In addition, we appreciate this great country and the freedoms we have. I did not realize that being patriotic and having a belief in the Living Christ is unGodly civil religion. Wow, I have so much to learn from one so superior. We do not demonize our government because the government is we. Plus, it helps to have a few facts before we demonize anyone or any institution. Unlike you and Gushee, untruths by bloggers, don't really motivate us. You see, most of us who are "pre-enlightenment era" Christians would vote against true torture. In fact, many of us think the torture of unborn babies is abominable. Aggressive interrogations are not even close to the torture caused by abortion. In fact, aggressive interrogations do not cause death and save lives. So, why not use time and effort for more valuable pursuits rather than castigating all of us neanderthals who think it more important to protect unborn babies (in Obama's case- born babies of botched abortions) rather than terrorists. Also, I think your comments were unkind and unnecessary. But of course, you already knew you were being condescending and mean. Oh yes, please don't confuse me with this mixed metaphor stuff. I'm a simple man. Readers alone are responsible for the content of the comments they post here. The comments are subject to the site’s terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of the ABP News. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.
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GBay- I know a Christian translator who worked there for 2 years 24/7 (except for vacations). He's trustworthy person and a medical doctor (immigrant from Jordan) and he told me he did not witness things like that. He had spoken to manny incarcerated people and translators. I think I can trust him and I do not say things as those described in the article did not apply, but to leave the impression of such a large scale teror.. it is unethical, at least.. I grew up in communism and I am sensitive to torture... but I am afraid there's much exageration on these statements.