This Was My Introduction to Torture

My introduction to torture came from Andrew Sullivan's coverage of the Abu Ghraib scandal on his blog, The Daily Dish (now the Daily Beast). Like many others, I was shocked and angry over what had been done for the supposed purpose of protecting my safety. America was supposed to be an example for the rest of the world--so why had we stooped to this level? Why was no one of consequence being held accountable? It was clear that the policies that had led to the torture had come from very high levels, and while the soldiers that committed the abuse were certainly culpable, why did it stop there?

Several years later, when I became a military officer, I received the requisite training in the law of war and what to do with detainees--how to search them, inventory their personal items, and turn them over to the appropriate authorities. Moreover, since I was a leader, it was emphasized that I was responsible for ensuring that the Marines under my command also followed the law. Before I deployed to Afghanistan, I had a discussion with my Marines and the expectations I had of them. Of course they had some reservations--many of my Non-Commissioned Officers had deployed before and agreed with the "ticking bomb" example, which I will discuss in later posts. If you have a detainee, and you know he has information, why not "convince" him to give you that information? Nevertheless, I made it clear that we would be treating detainees properly and in accordance with the laws and ethical principals we were expected to follow.

When we got to Afghanistan, we found that our mission was much different than we had originally expected. As a combat service support unit we traveled in armored vehicles to a particular destination, performed our engineering work, and returned back to our Battalion headquarters. If we had taken detainees, the infantry unit we were supporting would have been responsible for handling detainees. Although we were engaged on multiple occasions, we never came into personal contact with those who engaged us. We returned home to our civilian lives.*

When I saw that the topic of torture was on the list of human rights issues for the final project for this class, I jumped on it. For my personal education, I wanted to revisit the arguments and legal proceedings that were the result of the Abu Ghraib scandal. Furthermore, my career in the military is not over, and the issue will likely surface again at some point in the future. As I progress, I want to be better informed and better armed so that I can keep my unit on the right track.

I have learned a lot as I have researched my final Human Rights bulletin that will form the basis for this blog, and I hope you learn a lot as you read through the postings.


Resources:
Warning: the following links contain graphic and disturbing images
The New Yorker: The Abu Ghraib Pictures
Salon: The Abu Ghraib Files
Torture Scandal: The images that shamed America

* If you read my blog from my deployment you will noticed that I do not mention any of these engagements. Partly this is for operational security requirements, but additionally I did not want my mother to know about them until I was safely back in the U.S.