Fw: Torture: What are the U.S. Obligations to Prevent? - FCNL

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Guthrie" <kathyguthrie@fcnl.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 1:17 PM
Subject: Torture: What are the U.S. Obligations to Prevent? - FCNL

Torture: What are the U.S. Obligations to Prevent? - FCNL

The Bush administration this week publicly attempted to narrow the
definition of torture and limit the responsibility of individuals
working for the U.S. government to prevent torture from taking place.
But U.S. military leaders and many members of Congress from both
parties are refusing to stand aside while fundamental rights are
eroded.

Behind-the-scenes arguments came dramatically into public view recently
when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld argued that military
personnel have no obligation to intervene when they personally witness
torture taking place by officials of other, sovereign governments.
Standing next to Rumsfeld at a press conference last week, the Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, responded: "It
is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they
see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it."

But the secretary of defense didn't agree: "I don't think you mean
they have an obligation to physically stop it." In a rare direct,
public confrontation, the chairman of the joint chiefs stood his
ground: "If they [U.S. soldiers] are physically present when inhumane
treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop
it," Pace told the secretary of defense.

Following this exchange, The Washington Post reported that the
secretary of defense has asked the Pentagon to review guidelines for
soldiers operating in these conditions. Read a letter from FCNL's Col.
Dan Smith (USA Ret.) to Gen. Pace supporting Pace's position at
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1645&issue_id=67.

This public debate within the executive branch on appropriate
responses to torture comes as the U.S. government has come under new
scrutiny by European governments. The European Union expressed concern
about public reports that the U.S. is holding some prisoners in secret
prisons in Eastern Europe without granting them access to legal counsel
or the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and other areas of
the world are part of a shadowy network of detention and interrogation
facilities set up by the U.S. government to circumvent legal
restrictions on interrogation, torture, and due process of law,
according to reports from Human Rights Watch and some press accounts.
Read a Human Rights Watch report on government treatment of detainees
at:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1644&issue_id=70.

But the public disclosure of these facilities and the acknowledgment by
Secretary of State Condolezza Rice that these facilities have been used
in Europe have persuaded some European governments to call for the shut
down of these secret prisons.

The public debate on interrogation, torture, and secret detention
facilities has persuaded many members of Congress to support
legislation offered by Sen. John McCain (AZ) that would establish clear
guidelines for interrogation that prohibit torture. The New York Times
reported December 7 that the White House has "all but abandoned its
effort to persuade Sen. McCain to exempt Central Intelligence Agency
employees from legislation barring inhumane or degrading treatment of
prisoners in American custody." If true, that is a victory on which we
can and must build.

Although we citizens should be able to take for granted that our
government opposes and strenuously prohibits torture, we cannot. Our
government officials are engaged in an intense debate whether some
agents of the U.S. government should be able to engage in some types of
torture of certain kinds of suspects. Now the White House is seeking
to limit the penalties imposed on U.S. government personnel who engage
in torture.

The public outcry against torture is strengthening the hand of those
within the U.S. government who oppose torture and want to prohibit its
use. We want to encourage all our FCNL constituents to back them up
with informed comment and with encouragement to sustain government
advocates of a world free from the threat of torture. Read more about
these issues at http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=67

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