Bush Should Listen to the Generals on Torture
Over the entire course of the Iraq War, any time that the Democratic Congress has attempted to take any action relating to the running of the war, President Bush has responded that, unlike Congress, he “listens to the generals” when he decides what to do. He’s done it again, and again, and again.
So why isn’t Bush listening to the generals when it comes to torture?
Yesterday, the House passed a bill by a vote of 222-199 the would ban the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation methods,” which we in the real world call torture. Instead, the CIA would be limited to the interrogation tools approved by the military in 2006, meaning that the CIA would not be prohibited from:
forcing detainees to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner; placing hoods or sacks over detainees’ heads or duct tape over their eyes; beating, shocking, or burning detainees; threatening them with military dogs; exposing them to extreme heat or cold; conducting mock executions; depriving them of food, water, or medical care; and waterboarding.
Immediately after the bill was passed, the White House issued a veto threat, stating a number of objections with the bill including the provision prohibiting torture.
For all his clamoring about listening to the generals, it seems like President Bush is ignoring the generals on this one. After the vote, thirty retired generals and admirals sent a letter to John Rockefeller and Silvestre Reyes, chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees, respectively, begging them to pass the legislation over Bush’s veto. They wrote:
We believe it is vital to the safety of our men and women in uniform that the United States not sanction the use of interrogation methods it would find unacceptable if inflicted by the enemy against captured Americans. That principle, embedded in the Army Field Manual, has guided generations of American military personnel in combat.
The current situation, in which the military operates under one set of interrogation rules that are public and the CIA operates under a separate, secret set of rules, is unwise and impractical. In order to ensure adherence across the government to the requirements of the Geneva Conventions and to maintain the integrity of the humane treatment standards on which our own troops rely, we believe that all U.S. personnel – military and civilian – should be held to a single standard of humane treatment reflected in the Army Field Manual.
This is hardly an unreasonable request. Protect the safety of our men and women in uniform. Adhere to the Geneva Convention. Uphold our integrity. Why wouldn’t Bush want to do all of these things? Shouldn’t the safety of the troops be one of the president’s most important wartime obligations?
But Bush is ignoring these generals and admirals. Their service to the United States doesn’t give them any leverage with him. Of course, they are all retired, so Bush can just say he’s listening to his current generals on the ground in Iraq, right? You know, like Dave Petraeus?
General David Petraeus underscored this point in an open letter to the troops in May in which he cautioned against the use of interrogation techniques not authorized by the Field Manual:
What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight. . . . is how we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the standards and values that dictate that we treat noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect…. Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone “talk;” however, what the individual says may be of questionable value. In fact, our experience in applying the interrogation standards laid out in the Army Field Manual (2-22.3) on Human Intelligence Collector Operations that was published last year shows that the techniques in the manual work effectively and humanely in eliciting information from detainees.
Even General Petraeus agrees that torture is wrong! Mr. Bush, if you’re going to continue to shield your actions with the claim that you are listening to the generals, then could you at least take a little step back and actually listen? Especially to the ones like General Petraeus, who already tell you what you want to hear on a regular basis. For their sake and for the sake of all of our soldiers, rescind your veto threat so that the next time you say “This government does not torture” we can actually believe you.
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