Bill of Rights Defense Campaign

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Current Threats: U.S. Use of Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, and Rendition

In this page:

About U.S. Use of Torture
Education and Action: Petitions, Letters, and Legislation
Extraordinary Rendition
Legislation
Court Decisions
Treaties Against Torture to which the U.S. is a Party
Bush Administration Torture Memos, Taguba Findings on Abu Ghraib
Findings and Reports

 

UPDATE: March 8, 2008 - President Bush vetoed Congress' ban on CIA torture, overcoming House and Senate votes to prevent torture by all U.S. agencies. On February 13, 2008, the Senate voted 51 to 45 to limit the CIA to interrogation techniques permitted in the Army Field Manual. The vote was on the Intelligence Authorization Conference Report (H.R. 2082), which the House passed December 13, 2007, including Amendment 327 with the following language:

  • (a) Limitation- No individual in the custody or under the effective control of an element of the intelligence community or instrumentality thereof, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations.
  • (b) Instrumentality Defined- In this section, the term `instrumentality', with respect to an element of the intelligence community, means a contractor or subcontractor at any tier of the element of the intelligence community.

On March 8, 2008, President Bush vetoed the bill. A House vote soon afterward fell 51 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto.

September 29, 2006 - Congress passed the Military Commissions Act, a bill ceding enormous powers to the executive branch to name enemy combatants and "unlawful enemy combatants" potentially from among U.S. residents. It also abolishes the basic right of Guantanamo detainees to ask a judge to consider whether there is legal cause to imprison them -- the right of habeas corpus. Ironically, this bill leaves potentially innocent and low-level detainees imprisoned forever, while providing military tribunals for the 14 recently-transferred and suspected al-Qaeda high-level operatives.

July 10, 2006 – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) published the first report citing declassified primary accounts from current detainees and their American attorneys to detail torture and inhumane treatment by U.S. officials at Guantánamo Bay prison. Click on the link above to read a synopsis or download the full report.

On November 3, 2005 the BORDC faxed a letter (PDF) signed by national organizations, local governments, veterans groups and retired military officers, which opposes torture and abuse, to President Bush and conferees for the 2006 defense spending bill, cross-copied to all members of Congress.

About U.S. Use of Torture

Torture is prohibited under U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2340. The definition of torture used is as follows:

1. "torture" means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
2. "severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from - (A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; (B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality; (C) the threat of imminent death; or (D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality

Since September 11, 2001, however, members of the Bush administration, including President Bush and former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, have made statements and issued memos, many of them classified, that signal shifts in that policy.

For example:

  • Descriptions of abuse, torture, and murder at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison match experiences of detainees in prisons from Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, Brooklyn, and elsewhere around the world.
  • Most of the reported 108 deaths of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan have been caused by torture and abuse.
  • Since September 11, 2001, the CIA has sent between 100 and 150 suspects overseas for interrogation. The U.S. government euphemistically refers to the practice as "extraordinary rendition," but it is commonly being called "outsourcing torture." The best known rendition incident is that of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian who was diverted to Syria for more than a year of interrogation and torture after changing planes at New York's JFK Airport while returning home from a trip overseas.
  • A March 19, 2005, article in The Guardian reported, "The floating population of 'ghost detainees', according to US and UK military officials, now exceeds 10,000." A March 2005 article in the Washington Post reveals that the U.S. Army and the CIA agreed on the ghost detainees at Abu Ghraib.

The American public and the press overwhelmingly condemned torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment as morally wrong. Their use violates U.S. law and international treaties and endangers U.S. military personnel should they be captured.

Moreover, according to international law, testimony obtained by using torture is inadmissible. Information obtained via such methods is often false. Consequently, in July 2004, the German government dropped charges against Mounir Mtassadeq, alleged to have been a member of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell, because the testimony of Ramzi Binalshieb and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, both held by the CIA, had reportedly been obtained using torture. FBI email messages from May 2004 that were partially declassified in March 2005 revealed that (1) intelligence obtained at Guantanamo Bay using harsh methods was "suspect at best" and (2) the FBI had made it known to the Pentago that it "has been successful for many years obtaining confessions via non-confrontational interviewing techniques."

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Education and Action

The American people and their government know that the abhorrent practices of torture and degrading treatmentare wrong, whether they are carried out by U.S. government forces or by other countries acting on our government's behalf. The Bush administration is sending mixed messages about its stance on these practices, and is classifying documents on the basis of their embarrassing contents rather than national security. Public support for ending

Petition. You can sign our online petition against torture and extraordinary rendition online. You can also print the petition (PDF) and collect signatures in your community. Our goal is to collect 200,000 signatures. Petitions are useful for gauging public sentiment and as one-on-one educational tools.

Write your representatives. Send a message directly to your Senators and Representatives asking them to oppose torture. Your representatives in Congress need to hear from you!

Support legislation. Visit BORDC's legislation page for updates on other bills and strategies to end torture and extraordinary rendition. Sign up for BORDC's monthly newsletter and action alerts to stay informed.

Host a public reading of the play Guantanamo: 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom' as part of the nationwide Guantanamo Reading Project.

Other educational methods such as forums, letters to the editor, press releases, articles and op-eds, theater. These are just a few suggestions for increasing public interest, awareness, and debate in these issues for the purpose of ensuring that our government's actions match its words and adhere to U.S. and international law. Let us know what you've done in your community that was successful, so that we can share it with others.

Here are a few points you are welcome to use. The Bush Administration and the Pentagon claim their policies forbid torture. However:

  • Independent investigation. The White House and Republican leaders are preventing a congressional investigation.
    • The recent investigation by Vice Admiral Albert T. Church III, which cleared the Pentagon chiefs of wrongdoing, was an internal Pentagon review by a 3-star officer whose career could have been killed had he been honest. Church's mission did not include interviews with top Pentagon officials, such as Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld, who appointed Church to "investigate."
    • At a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on March 17, 2005, Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, characterized Senator John McCain's questioning of CIA Director Porter Goss about CIA renditions and interrogations as "an almost pathological obsession with calling into question the actions of men and women who are on the front lines of the war on terror." Read March 18, 2005 article in the Washington Post.
  • President supports extraordinary rendition. On March 16, 2005, President Bush reiterated his support for the practice known as extraordinary rendition, which actually means outsourcing torture. President Bush tried to disguise the practice by describing it as "sending terrorists back to their home country." Maher Arar's home country is Canada, not Syria. One key difference between Canada and Syria is that Canada is not on the U.S. State Department's list of countries known to use torture; Syria is.
  • Double standards in State Department's 2004 Human Rights Reports. On February 28, 2005, the U.S. Department of State officially released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The following excerpt from one report could describe the United States:

"Abuses included instances of extrajudicial killings; torture and mistreatment of prisoners, leading to numerous deaths in custody; coerced confessions; arbitrary arrest and detention; and incommunicado detention."

The United States was excluded from the report. The excerpt is from the report on China. In December 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had approved U.S. use of many interrogation practices for which other countries, but not the United States, were cited. Several countries were quick to point out the hypocrisy. Three days after the State Department report came out, the cabinet of Premier Wen Jiabao issued the following statement:

"No country should exclude itself from the international human rights development process or view itself as the incarnation of human rights that can reign over other countries and give orders to the others."

The Information Office of China's State Council issued its own report, Human Rights Record of the US in 2004.

Amnesty International USA issued a press release stating that "the Bush Administration's practice of 'rendering' detainees to countries that the report cites as having abysmal human rights records, runs the risk of turning the report into a guide to overseas torture subcontractors."

  • Attorney General misinterprets Geneva Conventions. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in his confirmation hearings claimed that the Geneva Conventions outlawing torture do not apply to aliens outside the United States.

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Extraordinary Rendition

The CIA’s program of extraordinary rendition, abducting terrorist suspects and transporting them to foreign countries for torture, continues to be a pressing issue. It represents the height of the Bush Administration’s contempt for human rights, human dignity and the rule of law.

  • On August 28, 2007 the Santa Clara Human Relations Commission passed a resolution supporting H.R. 1352, the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act/ The legislation, which would prohibit U.S. involvement in extraordinary rendition, has become a local issue because a San Jose Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., has been implicated for its role in handling logistics for CIA torture flights. The South Bay Coalition to Stop Torture asked for the resolution, as a first step towards a county board resolution urging congressional representatives to support H.R. 1352. SBCST has been conducting weekly vigils in front of Jeppesen Dataplan in 2007.
  • In mid-August 2007, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on the nomination of John Rizzo, former acting general counsel for the CIA, who is up for confirmation as CIA general counsel. Wyden says he'll block the nomination until the White House clarifies CIA guidelines for interrogation. Read a news story on Rizzo's unclassified hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee here and a copy of his statement before the committee here. Rizzo, while acting as general counsel, had a hand in approving the rendition program.
  • Italian prosecutors have decided to try US and Italian intelligence officers for the rendition and torture of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. The US has stated that it will not extradite its intelligence officers for trial. A news story covering the trial is here.
    As of June 18th, however, the trial is on hold while the Italian Constitutional Court rules on the issue of state secrets. An article can be found here.
  • The ACLU has files suit against Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of Boeing, for arranging the rendition flights. More information can be found here and on the ACLU's website.
    The lawsuit, Mohamed et a. v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. alleges that Jeppesen has been the CIA's primary provider of logistical and flight support in its rendition program. On the ACLU's website, you can find the origional complaint filed in the US District Court as well as a number of other supporting documents. Also available is the New Yorker article which first reported Jeppesen's involvement.

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Legislation Against Torture and Extraordinary Rendition

On September 29, 2006, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act (MCA), a bill ceding enormous powers to the executive branch to name "unlawful enemy combatants" potentially from among U.S. residents. It also abolishes the basic right of Guantanamo detainees to ask a judge to consider whether there is legal cause to imprison them -- the right of habeas corpus. Ironically, this bill leaves potentially innocent and low-level detainees imprisoned forever, while providing military tribunals for the 14 recently-transferred and suspected al-Qaeda high-level operatives.

MCA Explained on Audio: Following the passage of the Military Commissions Act, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee asked Michael Ratner from the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Sabin Willett, a bankruptcy lawyer turned Guantanamo attorney to fill us in on the effects of the MCA. Click here to listen to streaming audio of the talk with Sabin Willett. BORDC made a transcript of Michael Ratner's talk, which is available by clicking here.

On June 22, 2006, Bill number S. 2766, Sec. 1061, "Report On Clarification Of Prohibition On Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," was passed by Senate and incorporated as an amendment into H.R. 5122, which passed in the House on June 29, 2006. Having passed in both the House and Senate, the bill should have proceeded to a conference committee of senators and representatives to work out differences in the versions of the bill each chamber approved. But that section, which should have provided accountability, was removed in conference.

On June 20, 2006, Bill number S.A. 4341 to S. 2766, "No Rendition To Torture" Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill S. 2766, was filed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). The amendment would require the State Department to certify that the "diplomatic assurances" of a country to which we send prisoners are actually complied with, upon penalty of the non-complying country's removal from the list of countries to which the U.S. can deliver prisoners.

On March 1, 2006, the Senate voted 95-4 to approve S. 2271, the Sununu amendments to the PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill. The following day, March 2, the Senate voted 89 to 10 in favor of the controversial reauthorization bill (H.R. 3199). The House voted 230-138 to approve S. 2271 on March 8.

On October 5, 2005, by a vote of 90 to 9, the U.S. Senate passed John McCain's amendment #1977 requiring humane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. Its passage means that the amendment is attached to the defense spending bill for 2006, which the Senate is sure to pass. The few Senators who did not vote in favor of the amendment are: Allard (CO), Bond (MO), Coburn (OK), Cochran (MS), Cornyn (TX), Inhofe (OK), Roberts (KS), Sessions (AL), and Stevens (AK). Senator Corzine of New Jersey did not vote.

Despite the amendment's overwhelming support in the Senate, it faces an uphill battle before it becomes law. No anti-torture amendment was attached to the House defense spending bill, so a House-and-Senate conference committee (conferees not yet named) must meet to decide the amendment's fate. IF the conferees attach the amendment to the final bill AND it passes both the House and the Senate, President Bush may still carry out his threat to veto the bill.

Visit our Legislation page for more information and links.

Call for an independent investigation. The Center for Constitutional Rights is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate torture by U.S. personnel. Click here to send Congress your message calling for a special prosecutor to look into the roles of high-ranking U.S. officials in torture.

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Court Decisions

On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the federal government did not have the right to set up special military commissions in Guantanamo Bay. It further decided that the administration's program was in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: first, by prohibiting viewing of evidence by defendant and defendant's attorney, and discussion of certain evidence by both parties; second, probative evidence, such as hearsay, and unsworn live testimony, to be used in prosecution; thirdly, for appeals to be heard by Executive branch rather than judicial.

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Treaties Against Torture to which the U.S. is a Party

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Bush Administration Torture Memos, Taguba Findings on Abu Ghraib

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Findings and Reports

Also see BORDC's Recommended Resources page, which includes books about Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons.