Torture is Torture

New England Dunking Stool / SeacoastNH.com
GUEST EDITORIAL

Portsmouth attorney John Perrault takes a literary and literal look at the controversy over the American use of torture techniques. Should we throttle out confessions or take the higher road? The author of ‘The Brief on Bush" makes his case.

You remember-in Through the Looking Glass-the exchange between Humpty Dumpty and Alice? Humpty has been twisting words; Alice takes exception:

‘But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument,"' Alice objected.

‘When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less.'

‘The question is,' said Alice, ‘whether you CAN make words mean so many different things.'

‘The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master-that's all.'

Dick Cheney means to be master of the torture debate. He uses a two-pronged approach. First, he re-defines "torture" as "enhanced interrogation," thereby eliminating any notion of illegality and moral taint. Second, he claims such "interrogation" yields vitally important intelligence.

Let's look at the first prong. If I tell you the library-which is up the block to the left-is down the block to the right, you'll never find it on my directions. When "stop" equals "go" and "slow equals "fast," we're in for a difficult ride. Deceiving words undermine rules of the road. Someone could get killed.

The greatest disservice a leader can do to his people is corrupt their notion of good. When Shakespeare's witches chant "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" we know murder is in the air. Confucius understood the case for words: the first order of business in establishing good government is to correct language. Otherwise what is said is not meant, things don't get done, morals deteriorate, justice fails, and people fall into confusion.

Webster's tells what torture is. So do Title 18, Part 1, Chap. 113C, sec. 2340 of the U.S. Code; The United Nations Convention Against Torture; and the Geneva Accords. In this debate, would it not be prudent to consult them?

As for his second prong-Mr. Cheney claims vital information was obtained as the result of these "enhanced" techniques. Shall we take him at his word? Are we safer today? The National Intelligence Estimate of July, 2007, suggests otherwise:

...Al-Qa'ida is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the Homeland, as its central leadership continues to plan high-impact plots....We assess the group has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability, including: a safe haven in the Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas...operational lieutenants, and its top leadership....(W)e judge that the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment....

Anyone who has followed the latest news knows the Taliban are on the march in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. How do they continue to recruit? What have "enhanced interrogations" accomplished? The December 11, 2008 Senate Armed Services Committee report inquiring into our treatment of detainees found:

Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists are taught to expect Americans to abuse them. They are recruited based on false propaganda that says the United States is out to destroy Islam. Treating detainees harshly only reinforces that distorted view, increases resistance to cooperation, and creates new enemies.

What of the ticking bomb scenario? We've got one detainee and one hour to find the bomb. Millions of lives are at stake. But-the hypothetical assumes certainty: we have the guilty man, he has the information, he'll give it to us if we squeeze tight enough. Maybe. Maybe not. The question is-do we base policy on a flawed hypothetical

that may never occur?

Consider this: How one perceives you is directly related to how he treats you-or would treat you if he had the chance. A barbarian cuts off the head of a captive and the world stands in shock and disgust. Humanity condemns the brute. This is no small thing. Who will now join the butcher's cause?

But let the barbarian be caught and stripped, kept awake for weeks in a cold cell, smashed into walls, stuck in a box with insects, water-boarded, and-voila! You have a martyr for whom endless souls will blow themselves-and us if they can-up.

For every plot we may have throttled out of the throat of a detainee, the seeds of a thousand plots have been sown, ten thousand necks have been stiffened.

Please God, may Alice keep asking her questions. May Humpty have his great fall.

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