The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was adopted by unanimous agreement of the U.N.s General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1984, and entered into force on June 26, 1987. The U.S. signed it on April 18, 1988. Article 2 of the convention states:
Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture. The report on CIA torture during the presidency of George W. Bush, which was released by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday, reveals that the U.S. severely violated these three criteria - along with others - and continues to violate them further. However, as the U.S. did not sign the convention's part relating to the prosecution of signatory countries, none of these violations can be investigated.
Only 500 pages of the 6-million-page report, which was compiled by scanning 20 million documents, were made public. The data cited in these 500 pages alone is dreadful enough to arouse further curiosity about the details noted in the remainder 5.5 million pages. Furthermore, the committee did not declassify 9,400 documents that the CIA wanted, as they were related to its Detention and Interrogation Program.
Some of the tactics that CIA agents used against detainees are as follows: forcing them to stand on a broken leg for hours, depriving them of sleep for 180 hours, shackling them naked on a concrete floor, making them play Russian roulette, shackling them in the standing position for 17 days, sexual harassment through a bar, waterboarding and rectal feeding. It is also admitted in the report that at least 26 out of the 119 tortured detainees were undeservedly incarcerated.
On the basis of this report, it is useful to remind the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who often underscores the transparency of the U.S., of the principle of accountability. Following the disclosure of this report, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would not carry out legal action against the torturers cited in the report. Attorney General Eric Holder, who resigned in November, but remains in his position until his successor is confirmed, ordered prosecutors to prosecute only those who applied "unauthorized" torment. Adolf Eichmann's infamous Nuremberg defense goes for the CIA's torturers as well.
At present, only one CIA officer, John Kiriakou, is subject to legal action regarding torture, as he disclosed that the CIA systematized waterboarding. I also need to bring up the fact that journalist James Risen is still on trial for refusing to divulge the name of his source. So the "let bygones be bygones" attitude that the U.S. has adopted, to present torture as a thing of the past, is not very reassuring for us in an atmosphere where the Guantanamo Bay detention camp still exists, in a suspension of the law and unlawfully depriving detainees of human rights.
It seems that the next U.S. administration will prepare a report on the inhuman practices carried out during President Barack Obama's administration such as the 500 drone attacks, 450 of which were conducted on Obama's command, killing 3,500 people, including at least 473 civilians. Only a small part of it will be made public and everyone will escape without punishment. The current situation in which U.S. finds itself is really exemplary, as the U.S. has arrived at this point with such policies such as the "war on terror" and "spreading democracy."
About the author
Hilal Kaplan is a journalist and columnist. Kaplan is also board member of TRT, the national public broadcaster of Turkey.
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