In 2004, the United Nations declared an International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. President Bush issued an official statement about the importance of investigating and prosecuting those who engage in torture. No, seriously. He did.
Today, on United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the United States reaffirms its commitment to the worldwide elimination of torture. The nonnegotiable demands of human dignity must be protected without reference to race, gender, creed, or nationality. Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right, and we are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law.
To help fulfill this commitment, the United States has joined 135 other nations in ratifying the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. America stands against and will not tolerate torture. We will investigate and prosecute all acts of torture and undertake to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment in all territory under our jurisdiction. American personnel are required to comply with all U.S. laws, including the United States Constitution, Federal statutes, including statutes prohibiting torture, and our treaty obligations with respect to the treatment of all detainees.The United States also remains steadfastly committed to upholding the Geneva Conventions, which have been the bedrock of protection in armed conflict for more than 50 years. These conventions provide important protections designed to reduce human suffering in armed conflict. We expect other nations to treat our service members and civilians in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. Our Armed Forces are committed to complying with them and to holding accountable those in our military who do not.
The American people were horrified by the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These acts were wrong. They were inconsistent with our policies and our values as a Nation. I have directed a full accounting for the abuse of the Abu Ghraib detainees, and investigations are underway to review detention operations in Iraq and elsewhere.
It is often American men and women in uniform who fight for the freedom of others from tyrannical regimes that routinely use torture to oppress their citizens. From Nazi Germany to Bosnia and Afghanistan to Iraq, American service members have fought to remove brutal leaders who torture and massacre. It is the American people and their contributions that have helped to rebuild these traumatized nations to give former victims hope.
A little over a year ago, American service members and our coalition partners freed the Iraqi people from a dictatorship that routinely tortured and executed innocent citizens because of what they believed in or what ethnic or religious group they came from. In torture chambers, innocent Iraqis were brutalized and the bodies of the dead left in mass graves. Throughout the past year, Americans have assisted the Iraqi people in establishing institutions to ensure accountability so that such acts do not occur again and to help victims recover.
Despite international efforts to protect human rights around the world, repressive regimes continue to victimize people through torture. The victims often feel forgotten, but we will not forget them. America supports accountability and treatment centers for torture victims. We contribute to the U.N. Fund for the Victims of Torture and support the work of nongovernmental organizations to end torture and assist the victims. We also provide protection, counseling, and where necessary and possible, relocation in the United States. We stand with the victims to seek their healing and recovery and urge all nations to join us in these efforts to restore the dignity of every person affected by torture.
These times of increasing terror challenge the world. Terror organizations challenge our comfort and our principles. The United States will continue to take seriously the need to question terrorists who have information that can save lives. But we will not compromise the rule of law or the values and principles that make us strong. Torture is wrong no matter where it occurs, and the United States will continue to lead the fight to eliminate it everywhere.
And we wonder why the rest of the world sees us as lying, sanctimonious blowhards who say one thing and do another. Maybe because we often are.
11 comments
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Marcus Ranum
December 9, 2011 at 10:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wish someone would hit that fucker with a predator drone.
daveau
December 9, 2011 at 10:22 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Cognitive dissonance rules!
Stevarious
December 9, 2011 at 10:27 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I just wish that Bush would be tried, by an international court, for the war crimes that he has already admitted to committing. And Cheney, and the rest of them.
Like maybe they would forget that they have hungry lawyers in Switzerland and go there on vacation or something and bam! Led away in cuffs.
Having him tried for his crimes would go a long way towards restoring our international credibility. Unfortunately, Obama will never go for it, because if he admits that torturing terrorists is wrong and punishable, he has far fewer legs to stand on his ‘it’s okay to murder american citizens that are terrorists’ stool.
mikelaing
December 9, 2011 at 10:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Fuck, even his lies are tortured
spacecadet
December 9, 2011 at 11:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m guessing he never delivered this statement in speech, since there’s no possible way he could’ve kept a straight face for the duration.
Marcus Ranum
December 9, 2011 at 11:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There’s no possible way he could have articulated such complicated sentences without falling off the podium.
Michael Heath
December 9, 2011 at 11:15 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
daveau:
Actually I think it’s denialism instead, where it’s arguably delusional or purposeful and in some cases, a combination of the two.
A possible example of publically-voiced cognitive dissonance by President Bush was his advocacy we reform social security. He claimed he was open to all suggestions while also simultaneously claiming he would never consider any proposals which raised taxes. He consistently repeated this rhetoric in the same paragraph.
I’ve been a long-time critic of people in the media who focused near-exclusively on waterboarding when confronting the Republican party leadership and the Bush presidency. For a variety of reasons the public was not appalled by waterboarding where I’m convinced they are appalled the few times the media had instead framed the abuse in terms of the entire list of atrocities the Bush Administration committed against detainees. For example, detainees who suffered: sleep deprivation, naked in cold/hot temps while wet (if cold) and in stress positions, sensory deprivation, beatings, and waterboarding.
Yes what the Bush Administration did was evil, I think what they did was easily a capital crime worthy of a life sentence in the very conditions the so-called Shoe Bomber suffers for those at the top like President Bush, VP Cheney, and David Addington (I’m reluctant to put Don Rumsfeld in this with this group). However the fact we don’t have a viable media is our collective fault. The fact we need to be spoon-fed the news like I advocate above is also an example of what poor citizens we make. The New York Times is Exhibit A of an organization which was too cowardly to call what they did torture while using the very same word when such practices were done by other countries. Of course Exhibit B must be Fox News who actively promoted and now defends the use the torture; so their depravity goes far beyond mere cowardice but into outright evil equivalent to the Bush Administration.
D. C. Sessions
December 9, 2011 at 11:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Not a problem. It’s not torture when we do it. We know this because the Administration hired a lawyer to write a letter that said so.
I understand that this new doctrine is going to be a key part of Whitey Bolger’s defense, by the way.
rork
December 9, 2011 at 12:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The people have a tough time understanding why torturing your enemy (who talks or looks different) might be dumb, cause it’s trickier than 2+2. I’m not even talking about wicked, I mean stupid – expected to be against your own long-term self interest. I want to place some blame on our military brass for not screaming about the issue – those are not supposed to be timid, unstudied, or unthinking people. They’ve been to Carlisle or the other fancy war schools, and I can’t imagine the issue goes untouched. Same for the issue of what your duty requires – it may require you to get fired.
Silent Service
December 9, 2011 at 12:51 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m sure you realize that the reason that our leaders conside what we have done is because they are stupid enough to believe that anybody we tortured was not inocent.
heironymous
December 9, 2011 at 1:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wish we didn’t need international courts to do it. I wish US courts or the House of Representatives at the time would prosecute.