Chinese Torture Methods used in Guantanamo

The New York Times reports a shocking story today: American Soldiers and CIA members were trained to use methods employed by the Chinese military during the Korean War. These methods were considered to be torture at the time, and it was known that the methods elicited false confessions. The chart used in the training was taken verbatim from the original report on Chinese Torture methods, with only the title removed.

Can it be more clear that at least between 2002 and 2005, the U.S. Government was actively using torture in the name of homeland security? As Senator Levin notes in the article, “People say we need intelligence, and we do. But we don’t need false intelligence.” Torture is not a reliable source of information, and if that were the only argument against it, it would be enough to consign torture techniques to the dustbin of history. But there are many more reasons to oppose torture. From any moral standpoint, the intentional infliction of harm on another human should be opposed. Torture not only inflicts terrible physical and mental suffering on the victim, it is also psychologically damaging to the person who inflicts the torture. A torturer must learn to see the human being that they are harming as something less than human. The torturer, in the act of torture, turns into a monster. Both the torturer and the tortured become animalistic.

Using torture is simply not how we want our society to work. We don't want to be remembered by history as a society of torturers. We need to tell our leaders in no uncertain terms that all torture must end. It doesn't work. It causes irreparable harm. It must be stopped.