The other day, I heard Representative Phil Gingrey (R-GA) (and his fabulous mustache) attempt to justify his support for H.R. 6166. In doing so, he said that the detainees were less deserving of due process (and more deserving of interrogations “that fall short of” torture) because of how wicked they were. The exact quote eludes my Google-fu, but it involved something about how the suspected terrorists weren’t just throwing spitballs in class. Their crimes were serious. “These are bad guys!”
Of course, Gingrey voted Yes. Like he wouldn’t. But something about the incredibly dismissive spitball comment stuck with me and has motivated me to send him a post-vote letter. Maybe he’ll read it. Maybe he won’t. But I feel a little bit better for having done so.
Representative Gingrey –
I understand that you voted in favor of H.R. 6166 on September 27, 2006.
Here is what you said, hoping to encourage your fellow Congressmen to vote as you did:
“If tough, aggressive interrogation techniques that fall short of torture are necessary to extract the information we need to prevent future attacks, we should absolutely preserve those techniques.”
Read your own words again. And be prepared to hear those words as they echo in your ears for months and years to come. By actively supporting H.R. 6166, you have allowed the reputation of our country to slip ever closer to the brink of something unseemly.
Quite often, President Ronald Reagan would refer to the United States of America as a Shining City on a Hill. It is a beautiful sentiment that encompasses all of the promise and optimism a good nation should make available to not only its own people, but to hopeful citizens of in other cities. Those other cities might not shine so bright. Some might be lost in shadow. And so, the United States of America should always remain a beacon of hope for those trapped in darkness.
But ask yourself what will happen when whispers of state-allowed prisoner abuse grow louder. Now, I know that you do not support torture outright. You suppose methods that “fall short” of that unsavory term. But do they really? According to ABC News, there are six “allowed” CIA techniques that you seek to maintain. Here is a list:
1. The Attention Grab
2. Attention Slap
3. The Belly Slap
4. Long Time Standing
5. The Cold Cell
6. Water BoardingIgnoring the rest, the last method alone should be enough to give us pause.
Were you aware that water boarding was one of the preferred means of torture for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge? Just as the CIA describes, the victim was bound hand and foot to a wooden board that sloped at about a 40 degree angle. The victim’s head was at the bottom, blindfolded or covered with a cloth. The Khmer Rouge didn’t employ cellophane, but they did maintain a constant stream of water over the victim’s face. Naturally, his nose would fill first. To breathe, he would have to open his mouth, allowing water to enter there as well. And while he might not be drowning truly, something primitive in the human brain will take this very situation and cause the body to behave as if it were actually drowning. The situation is undeniably torturous.
And did you know that water boarding was employed by the Japanese on captured Allied Troops during World War II? After the war was over, the leaders of Japan were found guilty of multiple war crimes. One of those cited war crimes was the “water treatment.” Call it by any name you wish, the basic technique is the same. In some cases, perhaps when an actual water board was not available, the Japanese employed a ladder and a large tub of water to hold a prisoner under until they actually did lose consciousness, but that same primal fear of drowning was the goal. The water treatment was torture.
Your vote has been passed. You can do little more than consider the eventual consequences of your actions. But at the very least, I urge you to educate yourself on the severity of these methods you have allowed. Perhaps then, when HR 6166 returns to the House — as it hopefully should after judicial review and a possible rejection by The Supreme Court — you can stand up again and know that what you have allowed and advocated does not truly fall short of torture.
Perhaps then, you will stand up for this Shining City on a Hill and say that torture has no place within her gates.
Thank you for your time,
Thomas L. Strickland
Fulton County
Georgia
