Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: A Necessary Evil or Torture?

by Kayalyn Kibbe

On April 16th, President Obama released four top-secret memos that provide insight into the interrogation methods used by the CIA at Guantanamo Bay. The memos discuss water-boarding, stress positions, and something known as “walling”- described in an August 1st, 2002, memo as putting a detainee into a collar and slamming him against a false wall. (The collar, according to Karl Rove and other defenders of the memos, was to prevent whiplash, and therefore does not constitute torture.) The reactions to the release of these memos have been mixed. Some are outraged and disheartened by the techniques used by our government to get information while others, like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney, are more upset that these techniques have been made public. Rove stated on a recent appearance on The O’ Reilly Factor, “These techniques have now been ruined.”

In the August 1st, 2002, memo, ten techniques were approved by the Bush Administration for John Rizzo, then acting general counsel to the CIA. The approved techniques were listed as attention grasps, walling, a facial hold, a facial slap, cramped confinement, wall standing, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box (if the detainee had a fear of insects) and waterboarding. Waterboarding was described as when, "the individual is bound securely to an inclined bench, which is approximately four feet by seven feet. The individual's feet are generally elevated. A cloth is placed over the forehead and eyes. Water is then applied to the cloth in a controlled manner,” and said to produce “the perception of 'suffocation and incipient panic'.” These techniques were used on at least fourteen detainees. Possibly the most disturbing piece of information gleaned from the memos was that detainee Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had been waterboarded 183 times in one month.

Are the techniques implemented by the CIA legal? According to Part 3, Section 1, Article 17 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, “No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.” The defenders of the memos insist that every time a detainee was subjected to one of the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, a doctor or physiologist was present to ensure their physical and mental well being.

Despite what the Geneva Convention outlines, the memos gave the Bush Administration the legal support it needed to use these interrogation techniques. President Obama has stated that he does not intend to prosecute anyone who had “carried out their duties relying in good faith upon the legal advice from the Justice Department.” The decision, according to Anthony Romero, American Civil Liberties Union director, is “simply untenable.”

Now that every American has the ability to read these memos, it is time for us to educate ourselves about our country’s policy on interrogation and torture, past and present. It is our responsibility as citizens to decide whether or not these techniques really are a necessary evil, or if our previous administration used brutal and illegal tactics to get information.