Doublespeak on Torture

08 December 2005 |permalink | email article

President Bush says ìwe do not do torture.î But questions persist about the administrationís equivocal position on the moral issue and the CIAís treatment of detainees in American custody.

The spark igniting the furor was a Nov. 2 Washington Post article which reported the CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important Al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe.

The Post said the secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up nearly four years ago at various times in at least eight countries. Known as ìblack sitesî in classified government and congressional documents, their existence and locations are known only to Bush and a handful of U.S. officials and top intelligence officers in host countries.

Spiegel Online, the German newsweekly, has reported that 437 secret CIA flights to transport terror suspects through Europe have passed through German airports since 2001, more than three times those previously reported.

The torture issue has put Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the defensive in Europe about where the U.S. draws the line. She reassured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the U.S. would not tolerate torture and, while not admitting mistakes, promised to correct any that had been made. But there was no admission or denial of secret prisons.

Administration doublespeak going back to Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales’ 2002 memo regarding the treatment of detainees captured in Afghanistan has done little to erase skepticism here and abroad about U.S. credibility despite Riceís impassioned argument for aggressive intelligence gathering, within the law, to save lives endangered by terrorists.

The impression remains that since 9/11 the U.S. has violated international law by sending suspects to sites, never acknowledged by the CIA, where it knows, as the New York Times noted, ìthat they will be tortured.î

Republican Sen. John McCain, tortured while a prisoner in Vietnam, is sponsoring an amendment whose language was approved by the Senate in a 90 to 9 vote. It would put into law the banning of cruel and degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.

The predictable stumbling block is the fierce resistance of Vice President Cheney who wants Congress to exempt covert CIA intelligence officers from McCainís legislation. The Arizona senator says he will not compromise with the White House on the words in his amendment. Negotiations continue admid reports of an internal administration debate.
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The hawkish Cheney will continue lobbying for a CIA option on torture. Will Bush veto the bill if it gets to the Oval Office?

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