ICRC Torture Report

The 2007 report of the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) was posted a few days ago by the New York Times. The 43-page report is a worthy read as the treatment of 14 "high value" detainees is described in detail. The cooperation of various medical personnel in the mistreatment is also described. The horrors of the various tales are difficult to read and more difficult to accept as the actions of the U.S. government.

Actions taken by U.S. personnel under the Bush administration include

* Suffocation by water poured over a cloth placed over the nose and mouth...
* Prolonged stress standing position, naked, held with the arms extended and chained above the head...
* Beatings by use of a collar held around the detainees' neck and used to forcefully bang the head and body against the wall...
* Beating and kicking, including slapping, punching, kicking to the body and face...
* Confinement in a box to severely restrict movement...
* Prolonged nudity...this enforced nudity lasted for periods ranging from several weeks to several months...
* Sleep deprivation...through use of forced stress positions (standing or sitting), cold water and use of repetitive loud noises or music...
* Exposure to cold temperature...especially via cold cells and interrogation rooms, and...use of cold water poured over the body or...held around the body by means of a plastic sheet to create an immersion bath with just the head out of water.
* Prolonged shackling of hands and/or feet...
* Threats of ill-treatment, to the detainee and/or his family...
* Forced shaving of the head and beard...
* Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food from 3 days to 1 month after arrest...

These procedures were applied in combination or in succession to the detainees described in the ICRC report.

President Obama has taken steps to end the mistreatment of detainees, yet many remain held at Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Air Base, and other as yet unidentified sites around the world. Still the mistreatment has its supporters led by Dick Cheney with his claims of attacks prevented by information obtained by duress. The political winds are tough to turn in the face of such claims. Yet all the information from various researchers and psychologists says torture does not obtain reliable information.

If we as a nation are ever to recover from the stigma of being a torturing nation we must begin to open the files and let the sun shine in. We must open our detention centers to outside observers. We must let the courts decide these cases. The detainees must be charged and convicted or let to return to their homes. We as a nation cannot serve as leaders of the future so long as we hold to our misdeeds of the past.

Peace.