"One of Those Rare Instances in Which the...Analogy is Unavoidable," (Torture)

[ProSense]

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

One of Those Rare Instances in Which the Nazi Analogy is Unavoidable

Marty Lederman

Andrew Sullivan describes the uncanny and chilling correspondence between the Gestapo's "enhanced" (or "sharpened") interrogation techniques, and those that have been officially authorized and used by the United States over the past few years. Not only are the techniques, and the nomenclature, of a piece -- but so are the legal and ethical justifications offered in their defense.

In general, I'm a big believer in Godwin's Law. And the fact that what we're doing is eerily reminiscent of the Gestapo -- and of conduct that the United States has readily and uncontroversially deemed "torture" and war crimes when employed by repressive regimes (and U.S. forces) in the past -- should not be the final word, cutting off all further discussion. Of course, the fact that the Gestapo did something -- even something that was treated as a war crime -- does not necessarily mean that it is wrong or that we should condemn it.

But surely it ought to give one pause. And make one wonder about a major political party debate in which the candidates eagerly brag of their willingness to emulate the Gestapo -- and in which the audience lustily cheers them along.

Andrew Sullivan:

Critics will no doubt say I am accusing the Bush administration of being Hitler. I'm not. There is no comparison between the political system in Germany in 1937 and the U.S. in 2007. What I am reporting is a simple empirical fact: the interrogation methods approved and defended by this president are not new. Many have been used in the past. The very phrase used by the president to describe torture-that-isn't-somehow-torture - "enhanced interrogation techniques" - is a term originally coined by the Nazis. The techniques are indistinguishable. The methods were clearly understood in 1948 as war-crimes. The punishment for them was death.

The admin's favorite technique, waterboarding, was also used by the Khmer Rouge.

The Sullivan piece is very interesting.

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[MrPrax]

2. Kicked!!

Wow...the Atlantic...?

mini-kick for the Cambodian link!!

Good stuff

[ProSense]

3. Kick! n/t

[ProSense]

4. "immoral"

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

"Cool, Carefully Considered, Methodical, Prolonged and Repeated Subjection of Captives to Physical Torment, and the Accompanying Psychological Terror"

Marty Lederman
That's the description of the CIA "enhanced interrogation" program by someone who has studied it -- Philip Zelikow, the Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission and, until recently, a close advisor to the Secretary of State. In what the New York Times describes as a "blistering lecture" delivered in April, Zelikow called the program "immoral."

The Times piece brings together at least three interesting stories. The first is the Zelikow lecture. Oddly, the Times story does not disclose where the lecture was delivered. Presumably it was this lecture, "Legal Policy in a Twilight War," delivered at the University of Houston Law Center on April 26th, but I have not been able to find the lecture itself online. (If anyone knows of it . . . .)

The second story is that the Bush Administration is "nearing completion" of a long-delayed executive order that will set the new rules for interrogations by the CIA. According to the story, "the order is expected to ban the harshest techniques used in the past, including the simulated drowning tactic known as waterboarding, but to authorize some methods that go beyond those allowed in the military by the Army Field Manual."

The article states that the Executive Order will be "secret." However, to the extent this order comprises or includes the President's interpretation of Common Article 3's prohibition on "cruel treatment and torture," as contemplated by the Military Commissions Act, section 6(a)((3)(B) of that Act requires that the Executive Order be "published in the Federal Register."

The third story is that the Intelligence Science Board Senior Advisory Group on Educing Information, which advises the Director of National Intelligence and secior leaders in the government inteliigence community, issued a 325-page report last December in which it argues that "the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable":

more

More proof Bush authorized torture: "the order is expected to ban the harshest techniques used in the past, including the simulated drowning tactic known as waterboarding, but to authorize some methods that go beyond those allowed in the military by the Army Field Manual."