Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 25, 2008 By Scott Shane
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 200 former government officials, retired generals and religious leaders plans to issue a statement on Wednesday calling for a presidential order to outlaw some interrogation and detention practices used by the Bush administration over the last six years.
The executive order they seek would commit the government to using only interrogation methods that the United States would find acceptable if used by another country against American soldiers or civilians.
It would also outlaw secret detentions, used since 2001 by the Central Intelligence Agency, and prohibit the transfer of prisoners to countries that use torture or cruel treatment. The C.I.A. has allowed terrorism suspects to be taken to such countries.
Among the signers is George P. Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. “It’s a good time to step back, take a deep breath and set a standard,” Mr. Shultz said in an interview.
Mr. Shultz would not criticize the practices of the Bush administration but said he believed strongly that the United States should treat terrorism suspects as it expected American prisoners to be treated.
“If you have served in the armed forces, as I did in the Pacific in World War II, and you’ve been secretary of state, you understand reciprocity,” he said.
In a similar statement issued Tuesday, 15 veteran interrogators, retired from the military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the C.I.A., declared torture and other abusive methods “ineffective and counterproductive.” The group was convened in Washington last week by Human Rights First, an advocacy group.
The chorus of public voices against coercive interrogations appears to be growing. A report issued last week by Physicians for Human Rights about signs of abuse it found on 11 prisoners held by the United States included a blistering preface by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who wrote an Army report on the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and who retired in 2007.
“There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” General Taguba wrote. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”
The statement to be issued Wednesday seeking a presidential order does not explicitly criticize recent practices but prescribes rules for the future. Its signatories, predominantly but not exclusively Democrats, include two other former secretaries of state, Madeleine K. Albright and Warren Christopher; three former defense secretaries, William S. Cohen, William J. Perry and Harold Brown; and three former national security advisers, Anthony Lake, Sandy Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The list includes more than 30 retired generals and admirals; a handful of former C.I.A. officers; four former World War II interrogators; and more than 100 leaders of religious congregations, divinity professors and other religious figures.
One signer, Burton Gerber, who served in the C.I.A. from 1955 to 1995, said he opposed torture “on ethical grounds.”
“It corrupts the torturer and the country that condones it,” Mr. Gerber said.
The one-page statement was organized by three nonprofit groups, the Center for Victims of Torture, Evangelicals for Human Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Douglas A. Johnson, executive director of the Center for Victims of Torture, based in Minneapolis, whose organization has counseled thousands of torture victims from 70 countries, said it was time for the United States “again to show leadership in the war against torture.”
Asked whether he sought an executive order from President Bush or his successor, he replied, “I don’t think as a country we can wait for the next president.”
A White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, noted that Mr. Bush last year issued an executive order on interrogation that outlawed torture and other abuses while preserving the C.I.A.’s right to use some coercive interrogation methods. He said Qaeda terrorists should not be treated the same way uniformed soldiers were.
Of the C.I.A. interrogation program, he added, “There’s absolutely no question that the program has prevented attacks.”
June 25, 2008 By Scott Shane
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 200 former government officials, retired generals and religious leaders plans to issue a statement on Wednesday calling for a presidential order to outlaw some interrogation and detention practices used by the Bush administration over the last six years.
The executive order they seek would commit the government to using only interrogation methods that the United States would find acceptable if used by another country against American soldiers or civilians.
It would also outlaw secret detentions, used since 2001 by the Central Intelligence Agency, and prohibit the transfer of prisoners to countries that use torture or cruel treatment. The C.I.A. has allowed terrorism suspects to be taken to such countries.
Among the signers is George P. Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. “It’s a good time to step back, take a deep breath and set a standard,” Mr. Shultz said in an interview.
Mr. Shultz would not criticize the practices of the Bush administration but said he believed strongly that the United States should treat terrorism suspects as it expected American prisoners to be treated.
“If you have served in the armed forces, as I did in the Pacific in World War II, and you’ve been secretary of state, you understand reciprocity,” he said.
In a similar statement issued Tuesday, 15 veteran interrogators, retired from the military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the C.I.A., declared torture and other abusive methods “ineffective and counterproductive.” The group was convened in Washington last week by Human Rights First, an advocacy group.
The chorus of public voices against coercive interrogations appears to be growing. A report issued last week by Physicians for Human Rights about signs of abuse it found on 11 prisoners held by the United States included a blistering preface by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who wrote an Army report on the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and who retired in 2007.
“There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” General Taguba wrote. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”
The statement to be issued Wednesday seeking a presidential order does not explicitly criticize recent practices but prescribes rules for the future. Its signatories, predominantly but not exclusively Democrats, include two other former secretaries of state, Madeleine K. Albright and Warren Christopher; three former defense secretaries, William S. Cohen, William J. Perry and Harold Brown; and three former national security advisers, Anthony Lake, Sandy Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The list includes more than 30 retired generals and admirals; a handful of former C.I.A. officers; four former World War II interrogators; and more than 100 leaders of religious congregations, divinity professors and other religious figures.
One signer, Burton Gerber, who served in the C.I.A. from 1955 to 1995, said he opposed torture “on ethical grounds.”
“It corrupts the torturer and the country that condones it,” Mr. Gerber said.
The one-page statement was organized by three nonprofit groups, the Center for Victims of Torture, Evangelicals for Human Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Douglas A. Johnson, executive director of the Center for Victims of Torture, based in Minneapolis, whose organization has counseled thousands of torture victims from 70 countries, said it was time for the United States “again to show leadership in the war against torture.”
Asked whether he sought an executive order from President Bush or his successor, he replied, “I don’t think as a country we can wait for the next president.”
A White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, noted that Mr. Bush last year issued an executive order on interrogation that outlawed torture and other abuses while preserving the C.I.A.’s right to use some coercive interrogation methods. He said Qaeda terrorists should not be treated the same way uniformed soldiers were.
Of the C.I.A. interrogation program, he added, “There’s absolutely no question that the program has prevented attacks.”