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Opinion

Torture by Americans not justified

Giugi Carminati
Opinion Columnist

Torture has long been considered the single most unacceptable act an army or a government could commit. Today, our beloved U.S. government openly uses it as a method to elicit "intelligence" from prisoners, and our "freedom-loving" U.S. citizens step aside and soothe their conscience with a simple "We are at war." In 1942, during the North African battles of World War II, Erwin Rommel, a Nazi General, captured Allied soldiers. He had utmost respect for the Geneva Convention and was adamant that no Allied soldiers be harmed in any way. This general belonged to an army that placed millions of innocent people in gas chambers and carried out human testing. His regime is considered to be one of the most despicable governments that ever ruled a nation. And yet, we are incapable of rising to his level of decency. Shame on us.

To this day, only one person was charged with aiding terrorists. Countless others were imprisoned for years at a time, tortured, isolated and then released. Until our government charges these individuals, under our system of law, they are innocent. We are therefore not torturing terrorists -- which would be just as unacceptable. We are actually, according to our own laws, torturing innocents. The Bush Administration has used the label "unlawful enemy combatants" to sidestep one of the most fundamental rules of war. For those who snicker, "War has no rules," think back to the contractors' charred bodies hanging from metal frames in Iraq. Rules of war are made to protect soldiers on both sides. A prisoner of war is a prisoner of war. A human being remains a human being, regardless of what legal definition our government chooses to give him.

Our country, it seems, has retrograded to a tremendously linear and simpleton mentality from Web sites such as www.bushcountry.org claiming, "We never actually got around to real, honest-to-goodness torture." 

Accounts of individuals who were captured, tortured and then released with no charges having been pressed against them are gruesome. Here is one example from www.amnesty.org: "He made me take the shoe in my mouth. He made me put my finger in my anus, then he made me smell my hand and put it in my nose, and keep the shoe in my mouth." 

And yet, no outrage from our people. What have we become? 

Do not get me wrong, those charged with the crime of terrorism and their allies are to be arrested or captured, tried and punished for their crimes. But a systematic imprisonment of innocent individuals who are guilty because they worship Allah and have dark skin is hardly a judicial system.

It seems ludicrous that I have to explain this, but Christian journalists have shown me there is a need for explanation -- any information obtained by torture is tainted. That was known during the Salem witch trials in the 17th century, and it seems every other civilized nation in the world is also aware of this fact. People will say anything to make torture cease. Again, it seems that the general mentality has receded to an oversimplified state, which has also simplified our collective sense of morality. We have become a nation of revenge-hungry, inhumane robots.

The shame of being an American really comes from the lack of outrage at our government's actions. If any other country openly tortured individuals not charged with a crime, we would be the first to point fingers. Well, ladies and gentlemen, pull out those mirrors and start pointing.

Carminati, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at giugi.carminati@gmail.com.