US Interrogator Testifies Waterboarding Is Torture
In spite of the clear statement of US and international law and the testimony of top military experts, right wing extremists continue to insist that somehow, the coercive and abusive form of interrogation known as waterboarding is not torture. Now those extremists have another form of expert testimony that refutes their unusual opinion: The testimony of a professional interrogator for the federal government.
Malcolm Wrightson Nance is a former interrogator and Navy instructor on methods for withstanding interrogation while being kept prisoner by enemies who do not respect international laws against torture. Nance has a simple, direct message about waterboarding: “Waterboarding is torture, period.”
Torture is illegal, and so waterboarding, under Nance’s definition, is already clearly banned by both American and international law, as well as by the Constitution of the United States of America. However, Nance supports additional law specifically forbidding waterboarding, just so that no government can try to claim, as the Bush White House does, that waterboarding is not torture.
Nance ought to know about waterboarding. He has undergone the subject himself, and has administered the treatment to huge numbers of military students so that they can understand it and try to withstand the torture technique before it is used against them by an enemy.
As Nance sees it, waterboarding is a moral issue. “I believe that we must reject the use of the waterboard for prisoners and captives and cleanse this stain from our national honor,” he says.
(Source: Associated Press, November 8, 2007)
Why does Malcolm Nance hate America?
How can we cleanse our honor?
A start would be to join the permanent war crimes tribunal, and turn over the people responsible, from the torturers themselves all the way up to W.
We should also make sure to free all the prisoners who’ve been tortured, pay for their medical and psychiatric care, and pay restitution.
What else?
But none of this will happen if we elect a Republican, or a “centrist” Democrat, next year.
Indeed. Hillary Clinton has indicated that she might well continue the torture procedures of Bush and Cheney. That’s why it’s important to elect a progressive candidate for President, not just anyone who wears the name of Democrat.
First, as for the interrogator:
Good for him. He stated his opinion on what torture is. Congress hasn’t brought charges. US courts haven’t called it torture. Congress hasn’t passed a law defining waterboarding as torture. Guess what? His opinion doesn’t matter, just like my opinion doesn’t matter, nor does anyone else except for the law and judges on the courts.
Second:
“We should also make sure to free all the prisoners who’ve been tortured, pay for their medical and psychiatric care, and pay restitution.”
Yeah, there go those books for children in America.
“A start would be to join the permanent war crimes tribunal, and turn over the people responsible, from the torturers themselves all the way up to W.”
As ideal as that may be, it’s also never going to happen, nor should it. There are MUCH worse leaders and people in the world, committing war crimes, than American leaders. The reason they aren’t being tried by an international court is they have militaries that will shoot anyone trying to get them, and no other nation is going to take the loss of life and energy needed to get them. For the United States to say “hey, come get our leader because you don’t like what we’re doing” makes international law meaningless. It sends a VERY clear message that international law needs to only be followed by democratic nations, while the worst nations get away with it. It’s as if a janitor who witnessed and reported a murder in a corporate office gets arrested for trespassing while the murderer is given a pat on the back.
Joseph, I think that your extremism is made clear when you state that the testimony before Congress of an experienced interrogator for the U.S. government “doesn’t count”.
Where do you get these talking points? Rush Limbaugh?