"We Don't Torture", Said Bush, Well, A Classified Red Cross Report Says Otherwise

An extremely classified document created by the Red Cross and sent to the CIA discussed in detail the techniques that interrogators were using at " CIA black sites", and what roles that physicians were playing in this form of interrogation.

This report also directly contradicts the words of former president George Bush when he very clearly stated that "We Don't Torture", discussing the techniques used, in the words of fourteen "high value detainees".
This report confirms the use of:

• Suffocation by Water
• Confinement in a box
• Prolonged Nudity
• Sleep Deprivation
• Prolonged Stress Standing Positions (held for up to one month)
• Exposure to cold temperature
• Prolonged shackling
• Daily beatings
• Threats of ill-treatment
• Use of a collar to slam detainees against the wall
• Forced to defecate and urinate on themselves
• Forced shaving
• Deprivation/Restricted Provision of Solid Food
• Deprivation of access to open air
• Deprivation of access to exercise
• Deprivation of access to appropriate hygiene facilities
• Deprivation of access and restricted access to the Koran, the holy book for many detainees
• Deprivation of access to prayer, as it is carried out within the religion
• Threat of sodomy and other sexual acts
• Threat of being infected with HIV
• Threat of the arrest and/or rape of detainees family
  
• Each of these methods being combined with other methods

The Red Cross clearly advocates against this type of "interrogation", and suggests that torture is not necessary. This report specifically states that,

"The ICRC believes that the U.S. can achieve its objectives while respecting its obligations and historical commitment to respect international law"

To read the shocking truth about the U.S. and torture, READ THE REPORT.

The facts in this report are in direct opposition to Executive Order: Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. This order specifically lays out the intention and promise, if you will, that the administration won't condone and the CIA won't perform “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” of detainees, as defined by Section 2340 of Title 18 of the United States Code or "acts intended to denigrate the religion, religious practices, or religious objects of the individual" along with other guarantees that were not met.

If you prefer common English to legalize, here is the transcript to a press conference which discusses this particular executive order. If you prefer to see an end to torture by government bodies and officials in the United States, than TAKE A STAND and ask your Congressperson to Co-Sponsor H.R. 104, which is legislation that would establish a national commission on presidential war powers and civil liberties.

I believe that torture is wrong on many levels, the first of which is because it makes violence a commonality inside the justice system, making violence against prisoners acceptable. This means that despite the true innocence or guilt of the prisoner, and despite the seriousness of the crime that they committed, they will not be safe. Secondly, and this is not an original moral dilemma, as it has been discussed with regularity in 08' and 09', if the U.S. tortures prisoners we have no right to expect that other countries will not torture their prisoners who may or may not be American, and we are without credibility when we attempt to put an end to human rights violations elsewhere.

For me, torture is just ethically wrong, for others that is not the case, but in either regard these two issues, which I just mentioned should be taken seriously if we, as Americans want our country and our countrymen to be safe.