Warning: This is a long post.
My purpose here is twofold: first, to provide insight directly relating to a recent diary demanding the release of the much-discussed “Torture Report”; and second, to demonstrate the level of credence currently given to citizens who have grave concerns about the behavior of their government and express them to someone they are led to believe will hear their grievances in a high position of authority.
It needs to be clearly understood here that no immediate direct action was ever anticipated as a result of the letter you are about to read; but what was surprising was not only the wording of the response, but the character of its generalizations that deliberately avoided any direct commitment to a remedy - however small - from someone who only months before had offered himself as a champion of American Ideals and justice. So below the fold we go:
The text that follows is a letter I sent to the President on 24 May, 2009 after the release of privileged documentation previously undisclosed by the Bush Administration regarding the rendition procedures authorized for use by American personnel against suspected terrorist prisoners held in various places worldwide. Shortly after their release, Attorney General Holder announced that the people responsible for these interrogations would not be indicted for war crimes or any violation of the UCMJ. This letter was sent to the President in protest of this decision:
President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
The White House
Washington, DC 20009
May 24, 2009
Mr. President:
I am writing to express my outrage over your Administration's comments and currently stated policies regarding the CIA interrogation tactics mandated by the Bush Administration as revealed in those memorandums you recently authorized for public release.
Specifically, I refer to Attorney General Holder's comment suggesting prosecutorial immunity for those who implemented those so-called “enhanced interrogation” tactics in locations such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay because they were simply "following orders" flies in the face of every single lesson learned from a cathartic episode in human history some 63 years ago called "The Nuremberg Trials".
Having honorably served in the U.S. Navy from 1973 through 1977, I believe that I have earned the right to contend that any Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine in the defense of his or her country has in fact several duties to consider when directing deadly force under orders against an enemy: there’s duty to one’s country- there’s allegiance to one’s Commanding Officer and the unit to which one is attached. However above all else, one has a profound duty to recognize an illegal order which crosses clear, basic lines of human decency.
When that moment of profane agony eventually arrives as one's sworn duty requires taking the life of another human being in combat, that moment becomes a life-long intellectual and moral burden to bear because killing someone – for any reason - is one of the very few things in this existence which cannot be reversed once it has been done. Similarly, human intellect can also be destroyed beyond restitution by severe, protracted trauma. No conflict chronicled since the beginning of recorded human history has been exempt from the fact that the residue of war becomes far more deadly and expensive than physical death itself because suppression and delayed cognitive recollections of sheer terror manifest themselves in unpredictable ways at unpredictable times. Every person owns a unique set of personal boundary conditions that, if exceeded, almost always end in some form of destruction – for both the victim and those around him.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice, I believe, still provides protection for a member of the Armed Forces who, in the course of performing their duties, chooses to disobey a direct order that he or she knows to be illegal and/or contrary to basic civilized principles that otherwise define humanity. Perhaps it’s Holder’s position that later Republican-sponsored legislation has redacted such protections, even though they were originally implemented for the sake of future political influence and manipulation. It certainly hasn't been championed during the four previous conservative- bent administrations, nor would I expect such people with a consistent record of blood-lust to do so.
It may well repay Attorney General Holder to review the Nuremberg Principles resulting from that tribunal which addressed among other issues the heinous justifications German doctors used for performing medical experiments on human subjects; Japan's "Bushido" culture of warfare was similarly unspeakable. These later served as a guide for trials involving such deviant actions and, if my recollection of history serves me, were used to amend the Geneva Conventions for the Rules of War in 1949 to specifically address torture and other lessons learned from various incidents in World War 2. Both the Korean war and the Vietnam war experiences later provided updates and refinements referred to as “protocols”, addressing torture techniques such as were experienced by prisoners of war in both of those conflicts.
I have to believe that the greater majority of people who cling to some last modicum of humanity and basic decency, otherwise abandoned to bolster the image of a “wartime president” by your predecessor, will conclude - based on those fundamental standards - that water boarding, inserting objects into the body cavities of prisoners, sleep deprivation to the point of systemic organ failure and electric shock applied to body parts constitute "torture" and NOT "enhanced interrogation". If those standards have been changed in my country as a matter of public policy, then I can no longer in good conscience support any government that will not bring people who do these things to justice: those who authorized them, those who ordered them and those who perpetrated them. To the extent where it is possible, our government must be cleansed of this filth to begin to regain the credibility it has lost. The victims of such treatment, their families and their nations will not simply “forget” and “move on” as easily as well-intentioned people with overly-optimistic opinions of human nature would believe. Their memories will live on, darkly, for innumerable generations - and if you have doubts, ask any living member of the Jewish faith.
Mr. President, the path this country took for the first 8 years of this century that so closely mirrored German politics between 1929 and 1937 has hopefully ended with the advent of your administration. Torture is wrong. It is immoral. Torture is not a component of the core values of the America in which I was raised and educated to believe in. Those who had anything to do with it – Republican OR Democrat - must be punished sufficiently to send a clear message to future political fascists and those in the Legislative Branch who regard their representative duties as a mere rubber-stamp job to appease members of the Executive Branch: indecent treatment of prisoners must never again be tolerated in the name of the people of this country or those who spilled their blood, giving their lives with honor in her defense.
Respectfully,
On 8 December, 2009 I received the following response on White House letterhead:
The White House
Washington
December 2, 2009
Dear Friend:
Thank you for writing to share your thoughts with me. I have heard from many Americans concerned about the closure of detention facilities at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and I appreciate your perspective.
As Commander-in-Chief, my highest priority is protecting the American people. I am using the full spectrum of diplomatic, economic, and military tools to address the security concerns we face, especially terrorists who threaten the United States.
While I will not hesitate to use our military might when necessary, adhering to our Nation's highest ideals is also integral to protecting ourselves and overcoming extremism. There is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. When we uphold the rule of law and the principles that make America a beacon of hope for the world, we are more respected and admired abroad. including among people vulnerable to anti-American propaganda and terrorist recruitment.
That is one reason why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Wherever appropriate, this Administration will prosecute alleged terrorists, either in Federal courts or in reformed military commissions. To learn more about this commitment, please visit: www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ClosureOfGuantanamoDetentionFacilities.
Living our values does not make us weaker; it makes us safer and stronger. My Administration will continue to abide by this in our treatment of individuals in United Stales custody.
Again, thank you for writing about this important issue.
Sincerely,
- Barack Obama -
There will undoubtedly be different conclusions that other people may draw from this response, and I expect that some will vigorously defend the extremely indirect - dare I say "vapid"? - references to prisoner abuse as being politically adroit. However, taking this response into historical context, given the date, I find no satisfaction in pointing out that this man is a highly educated Constitutional scholar who should, by virtue of that education, have obtained some insight in which to discern the difference between previous internment and interrogation using methods proven as extremely effective in the past that did not include physical abuse and those that do irreversible physical and psychological damage - issues that he completely failed to address in his response. And although I only peripherally mentioned Guantanamo Bay in my letter, evidently this form letter was the one an assistant found out of the topic rack that most closely matched the issue I attempted to address.
From this one response from the leader of the free world we get a brief glimpse into the mindset of 21st Century America and what leadership in this era entails - how it was handled, what it said and, more importantly, how later events served to verify the hollowness of florid speeches. As in so many other examples of that old Biblical admonition that says, "...faith without works is dead", this gives a cautionary note to more thoroughly revisit our process of choosing future leadership. McCain was, indeed, the lesser of the two evils, but we were otherwise led to believe that the choice we made wasn't a lesser one.
I have since received many letters and emails from several representatives in the government of the United States and with the few exceptions of Mike Honda, Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson and Barbara Boxer, the rest do a fairly good job of emulating the Presidents letter as written above, on almost every other subject - no matter the topic - nearly word for word.
May the Creator have mercy on us should the next election results perpetuate this kind of dispassionate “management” style.