In recent news , Vice President Dick Cheney has admitted to being responsible for, and supportive of, the interrogation techniques used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other purported terrorists. Read: waterboarding.
“Big deal”, you say. “We need to get the terrorists to talk, so whatever the big man says goes.”
It’s not quite that simple. Waterboarding is torture and, under the Geneva Convention, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the United Nations Council on Torture, is counted as a crime.
From Article 12 of the Geneva Convention:
“Prisoners of war are in the hands of the enemy Power, but not of the individuals or military units who have captured them. Irrespective of the individual responsibilities that may exist, the Detaining Power is responsible for the treatment given them. “
And from Article 13:
“Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention.”
Yet for some reason, the United States does not count the world’s law as it’s own. In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “does not of its own force impose obligations as a matter of international law.” In other words, the Supreme Court said that the United States doesn’t have to follow the United Nations guidelines on torture, or follow the Declaration on Human Rights. This, in turn, has allowed the United States to commit acts of torture without internal prosecution.
Referring to Article 12 of the Geneva Convention. Any blame can be placed on the subordinates by the United States, as it was with Abu Ghraib, but with waterboarding and all acts of torture, the blame and responsibility has to go to the top. Now of course, that is only if we decide to follow the Geneva Convention.
We have defined the crime through multiple international treaties and agreements that the United States has agreed to follow, and that we expect other nations to follow. And we have defined the man who gave the order for these crimes: none other than Vice President Dick Cheney.
After World War II, a coalition of nations prosecuted Japanese officials of war crimes. The sentence? Death by hanging. The crime? Waterboarding.
How is it that, in the span of 60 years, we go from prosecuting heinous war crimes committed by the Japanese against Allied troops, to having these same atrocities condoned by the second highest office of the United States of America? Not only are we saying that these actions are okay, but we are saying that we would be okay with other nations doing the same to our soldiers.
As an American, I strongly care about the safety of our troops and of the American people. But fear is not a good enough excuse for war crimes. In fact, nothing is a good enough excuse for war crimes. That is why they are prohibited and prosecuted on an international level. If America expects to have any credibility going into the next decade, we have to stop the hypocrisy by standing up and saying “no” to torture, “no” to war crimes, and “no” to the leader who has twisted democracy to support a crime. Dick Cheney must be prosecuted to the full extent of international law for his involvement in the torture of prisoners.
Comments
When the borders keep getting pushed and breached, there is no telling when it will stop, or how far it will go before it does.
Oh my God…. a powerful political figure… did something…. unethical? Illegal? Maybe even IMMORAL?!!!Someone has felt that… the means justify the ends? Holy Crap! That has totally never happened before! I thank you Jordan for pointing out this anomaly in history. Maybe by writing this article… you will open peoples eyes and… dare I say it…. change things! Cause writing this article totally mattered! Nobody was aware of what had happened with water boarding, and Dick Cheney and others complicit in the use of water boarding are totally going to be brought to term for it! Cheney is going to be brought to trial, while we wag our fingers at him and feel all warm and fuzzy inside cause we did the RIGHT thing by telling them off and totally made a difference. Its like all those detainees were never waterboarded! I bet that calling out Cheney will also change policy world wide so that torture in all forms and degrees of severity will be outlawed, not just on paper but in practice. I’m so excited!
So, anonymous 29, do you think war crimes committed by the second-highest member of our government aren’t worth calling to notice because writing about it won’t achieve anything? We can sit here and just sarcastically say, “Holy Crap! That has totally never happened before!”, and brush it off like it’s no big deal and continue being the lazy, ignorant public, or we can try and hold our leaders accountable in some way, even if it is just trying to draw attention to the crimes. Take your pick, but I know which way I’m going.
Think your going to make a difference? Change anything? Welcome to the real world Buddy. You’er writing this article to be the “good guy.” You can stand up on your little soap box, preach to the choir and feel just dandy inside cause you support the right thing. But at the end of this day, what did this sanctimonious little article accomplish? Anything? Even the littlest bit? You wrote this article for YOU. All YOU. “Look at me I’m Jordan Faires, and I SUPPORT THE RIGHT THING, GO ME! No one will be “enlightened” by this article. Somebody seeking real change will elect an administration with different goals, values and ideological leanings than the one that Cheney serves under. You’ve already done that! Congrats! You’re just stroking ego with this one, disagree with me if you want but it is what it is. Sorry. Now if you want to focus your energy on something that is still waiting to be decided I suggest you tackle a more current issue, Economy, Withdrawal from Iraq, Prop 8, they’re all winners!
All that being said, your as funny as hell to fight with! No hard feelings, I hope you know I don’t take this seriously at all!
Maybe your efforts could be better expended elsewhere too.
The whole piece of predicated on treatment of “prisoners of war”, in a war - the supposed victims of torture in this case are not prisoners of war. Therefore, the same rules so not apply. The US has a record to be proud of with regard to treatment of prisoners of war. If only other countries could say the same.
True, the captured aren’t technically POWs, but the reason that we have treated these people so well in the past is because we want to keep ourselves at a higher moral standard than other countries, like Nazi Germany and North Vietnam, who would torture prisoners for information. We heard horror stories and, right now, we are NO different than them.
How can we sanction actions by our moral government that are no different than the ones that screwed over ourselves in past wars?
Because they are not prisoners of war. Not sure why this is so hard for people to understand.
That is the dumbest response I have ever heard:
You essentially said that it is okay to deny them human rights simply because they do not perfectly fit a profile. Aren’t they capturees of the War on Terror? Even if they aren’t (which they are) how can you, as a half-decent human, endorse the United States’ abuse toward these… people. THEY’RE PEOPLE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY HAVE OR HAVE NOT DONE!
Oh out of the mouths of babes comes innocense and ignorance. You have the luxury of saying and doing what you want because of people making hard choices to protect your freedoms. Firstly, Waterboarding is not torture as said so by the US Supreme Court and twice confirmed by the DOJ. Secondly, the Geneva convention only applies to uniform militias doing battle with the USA. Terrorist have no allegence to the conventions and flaunt them. The terrorists are not entitled to these conventions and therefor they do not apply. Finally, The Japanese you site as being convicted and hanged killed their prisinors by waterboarding and drownig. The US has done no such thing. You are quick to condem you own country because you have that luxury. In doing so in a country like Afganistan or Iran, you would be killed on the spot with no recourse. Enjoy your freedoms, condem you leaders, but when they enemy comes knocking at your door, handle it yourself. Well see how tough you are then!
Unfortunately, skyfan, it seems as though you’re making information up. Ignorance is bliss, right?
The Supreme Court has never ruled on waterboarding specifically, but did strike down Bush’s plan for detainees, as it did not follow the Geneva Convention. If anything, the Supreme Court has effectively halted the CIA’s use of waterboarding.
There is no evidence that the Japanese killed their waterboarded prisoners. In fact, one of them testified at the war crimes trial.
Waterboarding was also found to be illegal during the Vietnam War.
Yes, I am quick to criticize the wrongs of my country. Isn’t that what freedom is about? I can’t believe someone would speak out against freedom of speech. Would you like to be like Afghanistan or Iraq? Because that’s what you’re saying. Freedom of speech is the one thing that prevents us from turning into a dictatorship. So, yeah, I do enjoy my freedom.