Is the Legacy of Torture Coming to an End?

In January, President Obama will have to act on several important issues that pertain to President Bush's illegal torture program. First of all he will have to decide whether it is in the interest of the country to prosecute those in the Bush administration who advocated and attempted to create a legal blanket for this most immoral of practices. He will have to decide what to do with bases like Guantanamo Bay and many of the CIA black sites where these interrogations took place. And most importantly he will have to mandate, through executive order, the extent to which interrogators can go in their questioning of subjects at home and abroad.

Noticeably I left out the question of whether or not the Bush administration has committed crimes in torturing these individuals in "The War on Terror", because it is obvious that they have. According to Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who was charged with investigating the abuses at Abu Ghraib, "there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.” Many in Congress and the Administration have called on President Bush to grant a blanket pardon that would apply retroactively, to shield those responsible for torture from prosecution. Thankfully he has dismissed these calls. Others, most notably in Congress along with Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, have called for truth and reconciliation panels to be set up similar to those created in South Africa after the Apartheid. I disagree that these would work. We need to hold people accountable for the wrongs they committed and to show future generations that our leaders could not act with impunity.

I think Obama is right in calling for the closure of Guantanamo. It is a stain on the reputation of America and all it claims to be, and is a rallying point for those that would wish to bring us harm. Thankfully, the Supreme Court ruled that the Detainees have the right to Habeas Corpus, so that now they can challenge their detentions in a real court- not the phony military commissions set up by Bush. I think the US should open up our detention sites to inspection by the International Red Cross, to prove to the world that we will never let this happen again.

Interrogators, from now on, should follow the lead of the FBI in their methods. The FBI was responsible for interrogating Saddam after his capture and has experience getting vital information out of people in such a way that it can be used in their future prosecution. They have been doing it right for years, so why not use it? The CIA on the other hand has little to no experience with interrogations. Most of it is contracted out to private companies. Or, in extreme cases, the suspect is transferred to another country where they will most certainly be tortured, in a practice called extraordinary rendition. It is simply a despicable practice.

I am ashamed of what my country has done in the name of promoting democracy. I am ashamed that several leaders don't want the administration to be held accountable, and I am ashamed that the outcry from regular Americans has been not much more than a silent whisper.