2008 Woodie Awards
Tales of torture
Michael Corcoran
Issue date: 10/20/05 Section: Opinion
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In order to have a meaningful debate about the merits of torture, one must understand that it is in no way a partisan issue.
To do so, however, would imply that there is a meaningful debate to be had on the topic when clearly there is not.
Torture is wrong-end of story.
The mere fact that I, along with many others, feel compelled to reiterate such an obvious moral truth is a rather chilling reflection of the current state of American foreign policy.
Don't take my word for it.
Ask those who have been victimized by immoral interrogation practices. Orlando Tizon, who now serves as the assistant director of Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, knows all too well the horrors of prisoner abuse.
Over a four-year span as a prisoner of the Marcos regime in the Philippines, Tizon was beaten, shot at, humiliated, harassed and threatened routinely.
He was not the only one subjected to this behavior.
One of the women he was arrested with said she was raped by enemy soldiers who used instruments dipped in hot pepper.
"There is no real difference between the things we went through and what the U.S. military is using today," Tizon said in a phone interview with The Beacon. "Electrocutions, sexual assaults, psychological torture, mock executions ... it's basically the same thing."
The good news is that earlier this month, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to place new restrictions on interrogating detainees in Iraq as part of a new $440 billion military spending budget.
The bill, drafted by another survivor of torture, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)-who was abused over a five-year period during the Vietnam Conflict-is designed to ensure that the military adheres to the rules of the U.S. Army Field Manual, which "bars cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" of prisoners in U.S. custody.
Now the bad news: despite the fact that the bill passed through the Senate 90-9, with 46 of those votes coming from Republicans, the Bush Administration is aggressively opposing it.
To do so, however, would imply that there is a meaningful debate to be had on the topic when clearly there is not.
Torture is wrong-end of story.
The mere fact that I, along with many others, feel compelled to reiterate such an obvious moral truth is a rather chilling reflection of the current state of American foreign policy.
Don't take my word for it.
Ask those who have been victimized by immoral interrogation practices. Orlando Tizon, who now serves as the assistant director of Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, knows all too well the horrors of prisoner abuse.
Over a four-year span as a prisoner of the Marcos regime in the Philippines, Tizon was beaten, shot at, humiliated, harassed and threatened routinely.
He was not the only one subjected to this behavior.
One of the women he was arrested with said she was raped by enemy soldiers who used instruments dipped in hot pepper.
"There is no real difference between the things we went through and what the U.S. military is using today," Tizon said in a phone interview with The Beacon. "Electrocutions, sexual assaults, psychological torture, mock executions ... it's basically the same thing."
The good news is that earlier this month, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to place new restrictions on interrogating detainees in Iraq as part of a new $440 billion military spending budget.
The bill, drafted by another survivor of torture, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)-who was abused over a five-year period during the Vietnam Conflict-is designed to ensure that the military adheres to the rules of the U.S. Army Field Manual, which "bars cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" of prisoners in U.S. custody.
Now the bad news: despite the fact that the bill passed through the Senate 90-9, with 46 of those votes coming from Republicans, the Bush Administration is aggressively opposing it.