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Friday, October 15, 2004

'Disappeared' in US Custody

"The prisoner was taken away in the middle of the night nineteen months ago. He was hooded and brought to an undisclosed location where he has not been heard of since. Interrogators reportedly used graduated levels of force on the prisoner, including the 'water boarding' technique -- known in Latin America as the 'submarino' -- in which the detainee is strapped down, forcibly pushed under water, and made to believe he might drown. His seven- and nine-year-old sons were also picked up, presumably to induce him to talk."

A rogue regime? An 'uncivilized' nation?

Alarmingly, the above quote from a recent Human Rights Watch report details an incident carried out by the CIA under the auspices of the Bush administration's putative 'war on terror.'

"The United States' 'Disappeared': The CIA's Long-Term 'Ghost Detainees'" examines how the use of 'disappearances', once "a trademark abuse of Latin American military dictatorships", have now "become a United States tactic in its conflict with al-Qaeda."

As reported last summer in the Wall Street Journal (7 June 2004), the Bush administration attempted to excuse itself from the law, both domestically and internationally -- a direct attack on fundamental tenents of democracy that include due process, fair treatment and adherence to basic legal norms.

But the Bush administration is not above the law; and HRW's press release underscores the need for "the United States to bring all detainees, wherever they are being held, under the protection of the law."

"International treaties ratified by the United States prohibit incommunicado detention of persons in secret locations. The Geneva Conventions require that the International Committee of the Red Cross have access to all detainees and that information on those detained be provided to their relatives. Under international human rights law, detainees must be held in recognized places of detention and be able to communicate with lawyers and family members."

As the HRW report states, "The use of forced disappearances and secret incommunicado detention violates the most basic principles of a free society."

While the ends may justify the means for an organization such as al Qaeda, "the United States should not endorse that logic" lest it embrace "the acceptance of methods which are antithetical to a democracy and which betray the U.S.'s identity as a nation of law."

- Adam

Previous essays and links on torture and human rights:

• Bush Administration's History of Flouting International Law: In its hypocrisy, immunity from ICC still high on agenda (8 June 2004)
• Making a Mockery of Democracy and Human Rights (8 June 2004)
• Culture of Abuse Starts from the Top (11 May 2004)