Guantanamo And Torture, Difficulties In Burying Sins Of
The Past - America
2 March 2010By James Zogby
Last April we polled across the Arab World asking what
Arabs thought was the most positive early action
President Obama had taken to improve U.S.-Arab
relations. High up on the list (barely topped by the
decision to leave Iraq) was the President’s pledge to
close Guantanamo and ban torture.
That this issue would out poll Obama’s early steps to
forge a Middle East peace or his outreach to the Arab
and Muslim worlds should not have been surprising.
Arabs have developed a healthy skepticism about the
ability or desire of U.S. presidents to deliver on
promises to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, but
they are willing to believe that the U.S. can change
direction and alter its own behavior on a matter that
doesn’t involve Israel. And the issues of torture and
the prolonged detentions of prisoners at Guantanamo
and other sites around the globe were seen as deeply
disturbing policies that the President could and
should change.
For years now, our polls have established the degree
to which America’s treatment of Arab and Muslim
prisoners has angered Arab public opinion. While the
images from Abu Ghraib may have faded in the U.S., not
so in the Arab World. In a way, the entire enterprise
resembled a hate crime, in that while the targets of
the degrading treatment may have been individual men,
the impact and the humiliation was deeply felt
region-wide.
Guantanamo, the CIA’s secret “black site” prisons and
the practice of “rendition” only served to compound
this disgrace, demonstrating both hypocrisy and the
arrogance of power. America might claim high ideals
and advocate for human rights and rule of law, but our
behavior told Arabs that “human rights” did not apply
to them, and “rule of law” did not apply to us, when
we decided that we were above the law.
Against this backdrop, Obama’s emphatic pledges to
close Guantanamo and ban torture were well received
and seen as signaling a dramatic departure from
Bush-era policies.
It is, therefore, a concern that one year later
Guantanamo has not been closed and other abusive
practices have been retained. Adding to this
disappointment is the fact that while new information
has come to light regarding the authorized and
wide-spread use of torture against prisoners held at
Guantanamo and other U.S.-sanctioned “black sites”
around the world, no one is being called to account
for their behavior.
Facing stiff opposition from both Republicans and
members of his own party, the President, it appears
has settled on a plan that instead of closing
Guantanamo, would merely move it to a new location – a
maximum security prison in Illinois.
To facilitate the move and the continued detention of
inmates, there are reports that the White House is
working with a Republican senator to craft legislation
that would allow for “prolonged detention without
charge or trial” – a practice long used by Israel and
criticized by the U.S. and human rights organizations
as a violation of international law and convention.
And while no new prisoners have been added to
Guantanamo, it appears that this is because Baghram
prison in Afghanistan is serving as the new Guantanamo,
with prisoners captured in other countries being flown
to Baghram for interrogation and detention.
The ban on torture has taken hold, but the sins of the
past still haunt the Obama Administration’s efforts.
There are, for example, the problems associated with
bringing to trial those prisoners who have been
tortured. Evidence against them derived from coerced
interrogations will be viewed as tainted and not
admissible in a legal proceeding. There is also the
possibility that trials would result in shining a
light on the torture techniques used.
When Attorney General Eric Holder released the
“torture memos” written by Bush Administration lawyers
providing “legal justification” for a catalog of
grotesque “enhanced interrogation techniques” (read:
“torture”), Republicans, led by the former Vice
President launched a fierce assault on the Obama
Administration.
Not wanting this debate to distract from his broader
legislative agenda, the President blinked, indicating
that he wanted to “look forward, not backwards”,
suggesting that there would be transparency, but no
accountability for these crimes of the past. This only
served to embolden Republicans. In a recent television
appearance, for example, the Vice President proudly
admitted that he supported “water-boarding” prisoners.
And at this weekend’s annual gathering of conservative
activists, the issue was the subject of jokes and
cheers.
Further revelations of torture and other instances of
past abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo, Baghram and
“black sites” continue to appear in US publications
making it more difficult for the Obama to portray the
matter as “closed”.
In the end, it appears that these deep holes inherited
by President Obama are no less steep than other
Bush-era legacies: two unfinished wars, a stalled and
worsening Israeli-Palestinian peace process, a failing
economy and a host of other domestic challenges. When
the poisoned well created by a partisan divide is
added to this grim picture, the way forward is
difficult to navigate. Credit must still be given to
the President’s good intentions, but it is now clear
that it will take more than a year to undo the damage
of the last eight.
-- Dr. James Zogby is president of the Arab American
Institute. For comments or information, contact James
Zogby.
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