[News] Torturers are not free agents operating on their own authority. They are the custodian’s of state power

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Torture: Empire's Dirty Little Secret
http://www.aljazeerah.info/4%20o/Torture%20Empire's%20Dirty%20Little%20Secret%20By%20Mike%20Whitney.htm

By Mike Whitney

Al-Jazeerah, May 4, 2004



The now famous picture of the hooded Iraqi prisoner standing precariously 
on a box with electrical wires dangling from both hands is affixed to my 
refrigerator with the bold subtext; “Join the Bush War on Terror.” There’s 
something otherworldly about the skeletal figure draped in sackcloth, 
something eerily symbolic in his pose. For many, this spectral image will 
undoubtedly be the foremost reminder of the ill-fated Iraqi crusade.

The victim in the picture is obviously engaged in his first seminar in 
American foreign policy. Other graduates of the program can be found in 
Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and virtually any other region 
of the world where America’s corporate interests require an advanced 
studies curricula for dissidents.

The suspicion of torture at Abu Ghraib prison is really not a surprise to 
anyone who has reviewed the human rights reports produced by Amnesty 
International. American violations of treaties against physical coercion 
have been suspected for some time now, with a plethora of anecdotal 
evidence in both Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the pictorial proof in this 
case goes well beyond the norm and is already causing tremors around the 
world.

Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who formally presided over Abu Ghraib 
prison, has been reassigned and may be charged under military justice. She 
has accepted responsibility for the misbehavior of her subordinates but is 
refusing to be made the scapegoat for the activities beyond her control.

Those activities (torture) were allegedly carried out routinely ever since 
the prison was reopened under US control. As Karpinski admitted, agents 
from the CIA, private contractors and Military Intelligence carried on 
“sessions” with prisoners at all hours of the day and night in restricted 
cellblock 1A.

“This was no 9 to 5 job,” said Karpinski.

The six enlisted soldiers under her command, all members of the 372nd 
Military Police Company, who were photographed with the prisoners, are all 
facing charges and possibly courts-martial. They have, however, defended 
themselves by suggesting that they were encouraged in their behavior by 
Army Intelligence.

Sergeant Ivan Frederick is quoted as saying, “This is how the military 
wants it.” Their belief was that they were “softening up” the prisoners so 
they would break down faster during interrogation. (Or, as the Army report 
puts it, “They were setting the physical and mental conditions for the 
favorable interrogation of witnesses.”)

It’s clear that we are not dealing with an isolated situation, but 
“systemic and illegal abuse” that goes right up the chain of command and 
involves many higher-ups in the intelligence-security apparatus. Already, 
the CIA, independent contractors and Military Intelligence have been 
implicated in the allegations of sponsoring torture, which suggests that 
the practices were sanctioned at much higher levels then military bigwigs 
are willing to admit.

Torturers are not free agents operating on their own authority. They are 
the custodian’s of state power, applying their heinous art to anyone who 
may even vaguely resemble a threat to their authority.

What is so compelling about this case is the fact that there is a 
photographic record of the crimes and humiliations, which will dispel any 
doubt that the US engages in the inhumane treatment of prisoners.

The “numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal 
abuse
inflicted on several detainees,” strongly suggest that these are not 
isolated incidents, but a widely accepted methodology for dealing with 
potential threats. This is not an issue of six rogue enlisted men going 
haywire. It is a red flag signaling the broader policy decisions that have 
been made at the upper reaches of the military and government establishments.

Americans who still want to believe the best about themselves, will want to 
accept the media narrative that these abuses are not the norm but simply 
the aberrant behavior of sick soldiers. Nothing could be further from the 
truth. America has perfected the culture of murder and torture under the 
rubric of National security. How else do we explain 3 decades of SOA 
(School of the Americas) which operates quite openly, teaching the lethal 
arts of psy-ops, counterinsurgency, repression and torture? They’ve even 
produced a manual that details how to successfully apply all of these 
nefarious skills. This can hardly be regarded as mere aberration. It is a 
concerted effort by the state to employ whatever criminal tools are at its 
disposal to assert its dominance around the world.

The “School of the Assassins” (as it is known) is the brightest flower in 
the American garland; and one that is forever nurtured by the blood of 
innocent third world men and women. It functions as an adjunct to the 
conventional institutions of economic and military power, but is no less a 
part of that basic structure of domination. Its primary function is to 
remove whatever obstacles may appear in the path of American corporations 
and to insure their continued preeminence throughout the world.

Like everything else in the National security apparatus, torture is an 
institution that is invoked to protect the interests of the few from the 
foul grasp of the many.

Torture is the empire’s dirty little secret. Behind the façade of 
respectability and commitment to human rights the practice has been going 
on for decades almost in full view of the American public. 
Counterinsurgency, assassination and torture have all become integral parts 
of maintaining a global system that functions in the interests of American 
industry. It’s puzzling that many appear to be “shocked” by this 
transparent reality.

The real damage to America’s prestige is the photographs themselves, not 
the reality behind them. It is like the serial “wife beater” who is well 
respected about town until he undiplomatically brings his battered spouse a 
public gathering. They may all knew his secret already, but the reality 
leaves them shaken.

Americans, steeped in denial, are now equally shaken.

America is that “wife beater” and can no longer hide behind the illusion of 
moral superiority. That superiority has served us well and will be missed a 
great deal. We now find ourselves stretched out in the mud and looking eye 
to eye with those who we condemned just weeks earlier.

It’s a view of the world that Bush and Co. are making sure that we get used 
to.


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