I spent eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. During those years, more than 90 percent of American POWs were tortured. I was tortured numerous times.
Debates about whether waterboarding might be considered torture are devious and false. We hear other arguments that support coercion in various forms. One is that “stress or unusual” body positions aren’t really torture. But try this: Go out on your driveway or sidewalk on a cold night without clothes on. Kneel down on the concrete, holding your body erect with your arms extended above your head. In a very few minutes you will begin to feel real pain. Then imagine big tormentors ensuring, with whips, you stay in that position.
Another argument tries to excuse torture by qualifying captives as “detainees” instead of POWs. Either way they are human. We commonly torture people in our prisons with months and years of solitary confinement. From personal experience I can say this constitutes torture of minds and hearts. Ironically, we Vietnam POWs received moral strength from repeatedly telling each other, “Our country would never treat POWs like this.” That helped sustain us through dark and challenging times. So when news that we were torturing people came out I was initially dumbfounded, then stressed and then I became physically and emotionally sick.
Our Constitution’s Fifth, Eighth and 14th amendments prohibit torture. Article VI, clause 2 states, “All treaties made under authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land… anything in the Constitution or of any state to the contrary not withstanding.” This has been interpreted to mean that any international treaties our Congress has ratified rise to the level of constitutional law. Our country signed the 1949 Geneva Convention against torture. Both of these were ratified by Congress. The case for torture, stressful coercion or mistreatment of any description is a statutorily closed issue of U.S. law, which is repeated again and again under the laws of our federal government, 50 states and territories and every county and town.
Resorting to torture or stressful coercion of prisoners makes us out to be the biggest liars in history. We profess to be the most democratic and humane country in the world. But our exposed renditions of prisoners to black sight hell holes in Poland, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan – and who knows where else – only tell the world that we are deceitful and dishonest, inhumane and immoral.
There are even deeper questions underlying torture and inhumane treatment. What kind of nation and society are we? Do we want institutionalized torture?
We Americans must stand up for what is right. Torture and such treatment of prisoners anywhere is immoral, disgusting, degrading and inhumane. I can only wonder these 40 years after my POW ordeal why we still need to have this conversation.
(1) comment
There are many arguments about the definition of torture, and Dr. Butler believes in the one that says ANY discomfort of any sort qualifies. There is a huge range of interrogation treatments between offering tea or hooking up electrodes, and in civilized societies the police are allowed some leeway in order to achieve the good of solving crime and avoid the bad of allowing it to go unchecked. When it comes to saving lives and a terrorist leader has information that will allow those who protect us to avoid people dying, some leeway must also be allowed. Sometimes the moral choice is not between Good and Bad, but between Bad and Worse, and allowing terrible crimes like suicide bombings to go on qualifies as worse, at least for some of us. In this country we must absolutely avoid being a nation of torturing devils, but neither can be afford to be the kind of perfect angels that Dr. Butler demands.
It must be noted that all the tortures and brutal mistreatment of our POWs had no good purpose at all, it was about breaking honest soldiers for the sake of making them cooperate with propaganda. Thus it had no rationale at all, and really constituted a very conscious, deliberate policy of war crimes.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.