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Retired generals: Torture not the U.S. way

January 24, 2008 Thursday

By Gerald Ensley

DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER

Torture is not an effective tool for gathering military intelligence. It endangers American soldiers. It's against the law. All of those are reasons the U.S. should not sanction it.

That's the message three retired U.S. military generals shared with 100 listeners Wednesday at Florida State's Pepper Center.

"The fundamental belief of our group is there should be one standard ... to effectively and humanely elicit information from detainees," said retired Army Gen. Harry Soyster. "These standard values are about us, about who we are as a nation and as a people."

The generals' talk was sponsored by Human Rights First, a Washington-based international human-rights organization. The men are among the 40 retired U.S. generals and admirals who wrote a letter to Congress in 2006 opposing the use of torture by U.S. military and intelligence officials. The group is now on the presidential campaign trail, seeking support from voters and candidates.

Retired Gen. Fred Haynes said they're asking presidential candidates to pledge that upon being elected, they will close Guantanamo Bay political prisoner camp; close secret U.S. military prisons in Europe; and prohibit transfers of prisoners to countries that allow torture. Haynes said Republican candidates John McCain and Mike Huckabee and all the Democratic candidates have agreed to the pledge.

Torture is forbidden by U.S. military policy and international agreement. Yet since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it has been revealed that U.S. officials have tortured prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Such tortures have included beatings, exposure to temperature extremes, sleep deprivation and "waterboarding," in which a prisoner is tied down and flooded with water to create the sensation of drowning.

The generals said torture is ineffective in gathering intelligence because some victims purposely give inaccurate information while others make up inaccurate information to end the torture. More important, they said, if the U.S. ignores the prohibition against torture, then our enemies will feel free to torture U.S. soldiers.

"This double standard severely undermines the security of our troops if they become prisoners," said retired Army Gen. David Irvine.

The generals said the U.S. use of torture has been fostered by the political climate created by Sept. 11 and a 2002 U.S. Justice Department memo that liberalized the definition of torture. But they said the main problem is the failure of American leaders to demand adherence to international and military rules.

"The president is the commander in chief," Haynes said. "If he's not following the policy, it trickles down and people take advantage of the opportunity (to ignore the law)."

Sticks and stones can break their bones, but in torture debate words are key

Panel of retired military leaders discusses use of torture by the U.S. government