Not Just Words
I have been playing tourist this week with my brother, visiting me from Tennessee. One of the places we visited was Independence Hall, the birthplace of American democracy. As the park ranger told the story about the making of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, he highlighted how radical the documents were for their time. The Declaration of Independence starts with these words:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
These words are not just inspirational, they are aspirational. We haven’t always got things right. It took 150 years for women to get the right to vote, and almost 200 years before African-Americans could fully participate in our democracy. But we have moved in the right direction – slowly, frustratingly slowly at times. I don’t think it’s an accident, it’s because as a nation we do aspire to our ideals.
The United States of America has the oldest governing document in the world, despite being a relatively young country. Our founding fathers were wise and designed our country to be a nation of laws, not of men. That means that no one is above the law, not even the president. Not even if the president thinks he’s doing the right thing.
Others on this site have written movingly about their opposition to torture. I may not have their way with words, but I think government-approved torture is an unforgivable evil. I don’t think we should debate whether it “works” or not. It doesn’t matter. We’re supposed to be a civilized nation, a nation of laws. We claim to lead the world, but we need to lead the world by example and not just by the force of our military or our economy.
More and more details about torture authorized by our government are being revealed every day. There are so many, I’m having a hard time keeping up with them. I want to make sure that we know what was done in our name, and that we never forget. I want to make sure that people are punished for their part in this great injustice, and not just low-level grunts like Lyndie England and Charles Graner.
I want to make sure torture never happens again. I feel powerless to do anything. There’s really not much I can do, but I want to make sure that our less admirable actions are not flushed down the memory hole. That’s why I have written a resolution, to be voted on at the Democratic convention on Saturday (text below). The resolution will be presented for a vote by the whole convention. I realize it’s not much, but I don’t know if torture will ever be investigated if we the people don’t force it.
RESOLUTION TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS OF TORTURE BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
Whereas, the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the people a right to petition the government for a redress of grievances; and
Whereas, there are serious allegations that the United States tortured detainees in its custody as well as other acts specifically outlawed by U.S. and international laws and treaties; and
Whereas, these allegations include “waterboarding, ” “stress positions,” “enforced nudity,” “sleep deprivation,” defined by U.S. law as torture and prosecuted against Japanese soldiers (Tokyo Tribunals, 1946-1948), U.S. citizens (U.S. v Parker, 1983) and U.S. servicepeople (Charles Graner, Lyndie England); and
Whereas, there are allegations that this torture was authorized at the highest levels of our government;
Therefore, be it resolved that the Delaware Democratic Party urges that the President and the United States Department of Justice to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and if necessary prosecute U.S. officials who may have authorized and performed torture on detainees in U.S. custody;
Therefore, be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Office of the President of the United States, the Office of Vice President of the United States, the Office of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate and the Attorney General of the United States, and that copies of the signed resolution be sent to each member of the Delaware delegation to the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Adopted this 16th day of May 2009
when you went to Ind. Mall did you stop by the Melting Pot? I love that place! The first time I went there I was surprised though. there wasn’t as many people walking around and there was tons of parking
There is that ‘agent issue’. If you are a soldier who is told by your chain of command to do something (waterboard to save thousands of lives), are you morally guilty?
I recognize that there is a line (marching Jews into a gas chamber). In this case, I am not convinced that the pawns should be prosecuted.
Furthermore, if you aim for both those who authorized and those who performed, you can be satisfied with a few ‘victories’ against those who performed, when in my mind the greater failure was in the creation of the policy (arresting the users and street corner pushers rather than the suppliers of drugs, for instance). The Abu Ghraib mess quieted down when a handful of pawns were ‘brought to justice’. If you aim solely at the top, those at the top can not as easily evade the public eye.
I would prefer that the resolution exclusively focus on those who authorized the policy.
I think the prosecution should start at the top, but I don’t want to limit it too much. That’s why I favor a Special Prosecutor and not just a Congressional investigation.
It took me a while to get what you were saying DV. I haven’t been to the Melting Pot, in Delaware’s Independence Mall.
Some of the people who designed the torture also carried it out, or participated in some way. I just heard a story this morning about CIA contractors that were hired specifically to do these things. I don’t think they should get a pass. This story is still unfolding, so I don’t think we should put limits on the investigation.
UI-make sure you take your brother to Pea Patch Island, home to Fort Delaware. It’s a nice “local” spot, run by volunteers.
Thank you, UI. That’s a great post, and it captured how I feel about the torture issue perfectly. I hope your resolution is adopted.
I like it. if any politician there has any balls they would introduce it to the House floor at Leg Hall.
Pea Patch is really fun for the kids – an unforgettable experience. I bet UI hasn’t been there yet either.
The adventure includes a boat ride across the Delaware River, a wildlands trek (you can ride the jitney too) a moat, an imposing Civil War Prison with access to the subterranean cells and all of their gloriously dripping stalagmites and the echoes of the death and misery they bore witness to.
You can tour the period officers’ rooms, watch a blacksmith at work with period tools, climb to the roof top though the gunnery stations and if you’re lucky, see the cannons fire.
Last year, there was an assembly of Rebel prisoner enactors sitting in their ‘quarters’ and sharing their stories with the kids. My nephew got to play some of the instuments they had among their stashes of bibles, diaries and letters from home.
The island now also offers a tour through a part of the vast heron rookery.
Nancy,
That sounds really great! My brother is gone, but I’m keeping these suggestions for the next time someone visits.
You did a great job on this, UI. I, too, would be much happier with investigations and sanctions against those who formulated and put in place the actual policy. My hunch is that these guys do this because they think they are untouchable — if senior management types have the possibility of being held legally accountable for this kind of illegality, that may put the brakes on this crap in future. Perhaps that is too much to hope for, but there really isn’t alot of point in going after those who did the torture if those who gave them permissions and frameworks that enabled it.
You will have a great time~! I’ve gone there on family outings since childhood when the boat was a 12 seater motor boat. Now you get a double decker cruiser with seating on top~!
When we were kids it was a bare-boned experience – you had to make the trek in to the fort on foot and there wasn’t any staff to liven up the place, but there’s nothing like seeing the kids scampering fearlessly around the dungeons, through dark, dank passageways and up winding, windowless brick stairways, SO SCARY!
On topic, this is a thoughtful approach.
We did allow the scapegoating of the soldiers involved who were sent to prison when all along it was obvious (an on camera) that military specialists were present who escaped culpability.
The authors and abettors of torture as policy should be getting prosecuted. Now that we know more about the motive for the implementation – if you watch MSNBC they did it up last night…torture for the false confession of a justification for war…a link between nine eleven and Iraq.
Yeah, I saw that last night, Nancy, about Cheney ordering torture to get links between Saddam and 9/11. I also read that Cheney wanted torture of an Iraqi POW, but the Iraq Weapons Inspection Team wouldn’t play along. Cheney also ordered continued torture of a prisoner described as “compliant.” Coincidentally, this is the same prisoner who just committed suicide in a Libyan prison.
You mean “committed suicide,” because not even conservatives believe that one. The CIA is really running scared; they’re not even covering their tracks anymore.
Cheney ordering torture to get links between Saddam and 9/11.
I think that this is behind Nancy Pelosi’s press conference and call for a Truth Commission yesterday. (A couple of days prior Steny Hoyer, pretty much said Bring It On, too) A Truth Commission would be looking at not just who knew about torture but the whys of it. And using torture to try to manufacture evidence to justify the invasion of Iraq ought to rival Watergate.
Here’s Steve Benen’s response to Charles Krauthammer’s torture apologism. The best example Krauthammer could come up with was a kidnapping where the hostage was killed during the rescue attempt.
It’s not surprising that this ridiculous national debate over torture persists. Despite the aspirational words of the Constitution, the US is still a nation that has a lower proportion of women in elected office compared to other industrialized countries, we still practice the death penalty and we’re beginning to fall behind in several development indicators: http://www.aneki.com/comparison.php?country_1=United+States&country_2=Norway