The war on terror must not obliterate our moral values

As I write this piece, every news channel on my television set is reporting the horrific brutality perpetrated by a Pakistani Taliban militia which in the early hours of Tuesday attacked a school in Peshawar, killing in excess of 140 people including 132 children. The day before that, in Sydney, Australia, a lone gunman, Haron Monis, entered a café and took a number of people hostage. By the end of the siege, three people were dead, including the gunman. Events like these are now commonplace and only serve to bring back painful memories of events like September 11, 2001 attacks, 2004 Madrid train bombings, July 2005 London bombings, 2008 Mumbai attacks, 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack, and many other terror attacks all over the world. And although I have truly had enough of such atrocities, unfortunately, I am now slowly coming to terms with the sad realisation that I now live in a world where deluded extremists are convinced that to them terrorism serves as a means to an end, an end that if I am honest, I do not fully comprehend. But, imagine a world where we had institutions capable of detecting these evil forces well before their first strike! What if there was a plausible way to extract information from suspected terrorists and then use that information to uncover and halt any future plots? Certainly, that is a notion that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States entertained and executed in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when they decided to detain and interrogate suspected Al Qaida terrorists who had been captured mainly in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Suspects were detained in many of the agency’s black sites around the world, including the infamous US camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were subjected to incredibly harsh interrogation techniques or, to put it bluntly, torture, in the hope that suspects would reveal valuable information necessary to cut short future attacks on America and her allies. Accordingly, the CIA went as far as deploying techniques described by the agency as ‘Enhanced Interrogation Techniques’ that included simulated drowning or water-boarding, sleep deprivation sessions of up to seven consecutive days, confinement in a coffin-sized box for prolonged periods, sexual abuse, rectal rehydration, and many other forms of torture that I do not feel entirely comfortable to accentuate. But, as we now know, particularly after the release of a US Senate report on how the CIA conducted its interrogations, torture did not yield valuable information to help halt future global terrorist attacks, conventionally permitted intelligence methods did. In fact, torture only served to stain America’s human rights record even further, not to mention, providing a platform for hate preachers to recruit even more suicide bombers under the propaganda of defending their ‘Muslim brothers’ detained unlawfully. However, regardless of whether torture is or isn’t an effective means of acquiring intelligence, how should we go about ensuring that our nation’s capitals remain safe from future terror threats without compromising our core values of humanity and respect for Due Process? Now, I understand the arguments that many people have put forward in defence of the CIA’s techniques. For example, many have argued that rationally, torture should never be justified except in circumstances where its use could save many lives – at a point of it being absolutely necessary. Similarly, an astute friend of mine defended the agency’s tactics as being valid because he can now sleep at night knowing that security forces are doing their best to keep our countries safe. Another one did not shy away from stating that if it takes extreme force to extract information from suspects (yes, suspects yet to be convicted), so be it. He further noted that terrorists who have declared war on us know no bounds, and if we want safety, we must be prepared for some harsh facts. It does not get more real than that! Personally, however, I distaste torture whatever the circumstances. Certainly, with utmost regard, I recognise the task that various security agencies are faced with to ensure security of our nations, but what I categorically do not agree with is that security et al. should come at the expense of our moral values, humanity and Due Process. Respect for our institutions, rule of law, and Due Process are the values that set us apart from terrorists and other criminals. Therefore, I strongly believe that, collectively, we will only succeed in the long term by holding on to these values and remaining true to ourselves. Otherwise, how can we condemn those barbaric acts if we can hardly distinguish our actions from theirs? Torture inflicts severe pain and suffering both mentally and physically. Suspects remain suspects until they are proven guilty – and even after a guilty verdict, there is no justification to inflict torture for any purpose. Ultimately, I am convinced that there are lawful alternative techniques that have and can still be deployed to acquire intelligence or gain co-operation from detainees without compromising our humanity. The US Army’s Human Intelligence Collector Operations manual which lists a number of permitted interrogation methods such as Emotional Approach, Incentive Approach, We Know All, Rapid Fire, and Silent, can be the way forward. By and large, as global citizens we should not allow the threat of terrorism to obliterate our moral values and way of life; instead we should prove that we have evolved beyond wild animals. junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk

Opinions

The war on terror must not obliterate our moral values