hankyoreh

a Democratic Senator from California

On Dec. 9, the US Senate Intelligence Committee released a stunning report about the CIA’s use of torture. The report describes in explicit detail the cruel torture perpetrated by CIA agents under the name of “enhanced interrogation” since the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001. We urge the American government to take immediate steps to hold the guilty parties responsible for their actions.

The report could serve as a veritable encyclopedia of torture. Suspects were subjected to the most extreme forms of traditional torture methods. They were suspended from the ceiling, forced to stay awake for long periods of time, and confined in closets and other small spaces. Agents invented an original kind of waterboarding that involved squirting water into suspects’ rectums. Russian roulette and electric drills were also used.

In the attempt to develop new torture techniques, the CIA paid large sums of money to a contractor that employed former military officers as expert torturers, the report says. In other words, the CIA engaged in the outsourcing and industrialization of torture development.

While the CIA claims that the torture was necessary in order to elicit intelligence from suspects, the report concludes that the “enhanced interrogation” program accomplished little. Needless to say, many of these forms of torture fell outside the rubric of legally tolerated behavior.

Another problem is the US government’s attempt to block the publication of the torture report. It took five years for the report to be drafted and released, and all along the way the CIA and the government persistently tried to stonewall it.

After the report was released, President Barack Obama denounced the cruel interrogation techniques it described, but he too had been reluctant to publish the report.

During the complicated process of preparing the report for publication, a section calling for the prosecution of the people responsible for torture was dropped.

The US government should take legal action against the government officials and CIA agents who were involved in torture.

As the UN said in a statement, the CIA’s cruel torture was a form of organized crime as well as a grave infringement of human rights that violates human rights legislation.

The US considers itself the guardian of human rights in the international community. Indeed, the US has used force against other countries on multiple occasions because of human rights violations.

But the US is also frequently criticized for applying a double standard in human rights cases, regarding its own actions as exceptions to the rules. If the US government does not take a clear stance on this issue, such criticism will only increase. It will also make it harder to deal with North Korean human rights abuses in the UN Security Council.

The US will find it difficult to shed the reputation of a country that employs sophisticated torture techniques. This is bound to have an effect on US efforts to remain a leader on the global stage.

President Obama needs to recognize the severity of this report. The world is watching to see what action the US will take.

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