The Torturer Nominated for Congress by the GOP

When John McCain loses next week, what will be left of the Republican Party? The answer lies in the sands of Florida, where the Sunshine-State Republicans have nominated an unrepentant torturer as their candidate for Congress. They view his readiness to torture an innocent Iraqi not as a source of shame, but as his prime qualification for office. This is American conservatism in the dying days of Bush -- and it points out the direction Sarah Palin would like to take it in 2012.

In August 2003, Colonel Allen West - commanding a US unit in Baghdad -- heard a rumour that one of the Iraqi policeman he was working with was a secret insurgent. He ordered his officers to go and seize Yehiya Hamoodi, a thin, bespectacled 31 year-old, from his home. They dragged him into a Humvee, beat him, and then handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded him. In a dank interrogation room, they told him he had better start talking. Perplexed and terrified, Yehiya explained he didn't know what they were talking about: why was he here? So West was called in. He told Yehiya he was going to be killed. While his men beat him again, he explained he had one last chance to save his life -- by talking.

Yehiya protested: I am innocent! What are you talking about? So West took him outside, had him pinned down, and began to shoot. First he fired into the air. Then he ordered his men to ram Yehiya's head into a barrel used for cleaning weapons -- and fired right next to his head. Then he began to count down from five. Finally Yehiya began to scream out names -- any name he could think of, just to make it stop.

The men he named were seized and roughed up in turn. No evidence was found of any plot, and after another 45 days of terror, Yehiya was released. Today, he is severely traumatized, and collapses when he sees a Humvee approaching. The story only came to light after one of West's soldiers began to protest against these practices. West was fined $5000, and now concedes grudgingly: "It's possible I was wrong about Mr Hamoodi." But he says he would do it again, and again, and again.

West has even taken to joking about it, gaining applause for telling Republican audiences: "It wasn't torture. Seeing Rosie O'Donnell naked would be torture." But the 1994 Convention Against Torture, to which the US is a signatory, is explicit: "threat of imminent death" is the third form of torture it outlaws. There are reams of studies showing it can traumatise a person for life.

Yet the Republican Party has rallied to the defence of this torturer, and of torture in general. The Bush administration has ordered the simulated drowning of "high value" suspects, and set up secret black ops sites across the world where it is practiced. After Afghan detainees were hanged from the ceiling and beaten to death, the officers responsible were merely given a "letter of reprimand." West's "toughness" is fawned over; one leading conservative magazine has even named him its Man of the Year. And Sarah Palin, the Party's darling, mocks Barack Obama's opposition to torture. She complains: "Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America [and] he's worried that someone won't read them their rights." Palin is fond of saying she "won't blink when it comes to terror", but if you don't blink, your corneas dry out, and you go blind.

At first, the rise of John McCain looked like a repudiation of torture. McCain was tortured by the Viet Cong for three years, and the beatings were so vicious that even today he can't raise his arms to brush his own hair. For a time, he was a loud, proud opponent of torture -- but then he caved. In February 2008, he voted to allow the CIA to be excluded from the ban on torture -- when he knows the CIA who are the prime American torturers today. Then, when the Supreme Court ruled that Guantanomo detainees have basic habeas corpus rights, McCain called it "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country." If McCain will compromise on this, he will compromise on anything. He has tried to flip-flop back, saying he would ban torture after all, but if he tried now, he would face mass rebellion from his own party and Vice-President.

The advocates of torture love to wheel out the ticking bomb scenario served up every week on '24'. But there's one problem -- it's a fiction. Think about what it requires. You have to (a) be certain you have captured a bomber in the very brief window between him planting a bomb and it blowing up, yet (b) have no idea where the bomb is. This has never happened, anywhere in the world, ever.

No: what happens in reality is Yehiya Hamoodi. You get a man you kinda-sorta suspect; you torture him; and you get junk intelligence leading you up wrong paths. What would you confess to if I put a gun to your head and started counting down from five? Once you start to torture it doesn't just stay in the neat mind-experiments favoured by philosophers. After the Israeli supreme court approved torture in very limited circumstances, soldiers were soon torturing two thirds of the Palestinians they held captive. Professor David Luban explains: "Escalation is the rule, not the aberration. Abu Ghraib is the fully predictable image of what a torture culture looks like."

There are no recorded instances of getting usable intelligence from torture -- but even if in some freak instance after you have tortured a thousand Yahiyas you finally did, would it outweigh the damage of handing al Qaeda a thousand new recruits, vindicating Bin Laden's hate-talk, and breaching the most basic moral prohibition?

The gap between the Republican and Democratic Parties is too narrow, but on this issue it is hefty. The Republicans have now curdled into the Party of Torture, bullying their torture-victim nominee into backing their barbarism, and proudly picking a torturer as their candidate for Congress. That sound of screaming from inside the Palin-drome isn't just from fawning Republicans -- it's from men like Yehiya, begging for it to stop.

To donate to Allen West's Democratic opponent, Ron Klein, and keep this torturer out of Congress, click here.

Johann Hari is a columnist for the Independent newspaper. To read more of his columns, click here

To read his latest article for Slate, click here.

Comments

[collegemadhous]

Wow..its the LeftRight/Michale show. Good points on both sides, but honestly think an entire page (and then some) of your clever repartee should've been cut down to a couple of posts.

My thoughts: Its hard to justify torture no matter the format or situation, although I have to agree that in order to save lives, information must be gained in order to do so. However, I'm sure there are ways to verify the validity of claims that an individual is an insurgent 'before' actually crossing that torture for information line.

As for the GOP's Congressional nominee..u­gh..I see this person as another McCain..a mini-McCai­n..someone we can't afford to have in Congress.

[NobodysPoodle]

Michale--

What was your experience in Iraq? You mentioned it but I don't recall.

That Col had an immense responsibility with the ability to control death and destruction. As a Commander he had an even greater responsibility to lead his men without falter and to protect non-combatants. His actions only give his men license to not follow the rules of engagement. If Col West does not follow his superiors orders then why should his troops follow Col West.

This is not a slippery slope, it is a cliff.

And this is not a problem with saving American lives--it is the US military. It is the training of the military, it is the rules of engagement, it is the Law of Armed Conflict, it is the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
WRONG!!!!! You are saying that it was okay for Col West to simply pull some guy off the street and torture him. THAT MEANS THAT YOU SUPPORT SIMPLY PULLING MEN OFF THE STREET AND TORTURING THEM!!!!!!! Thus my point is AGAIN proved!
{{{{

I don't know where you are getting your info, but you REALLY need to get your facts straight..

Col West did not simply pull some guy off the street. He had intel that Hamoodi was a traitor. He acted on that intel and questioned Hamoodi. Hamoodi lied. Col West scared the crap outta Hamoodi. Hamoodi confessed. American lives were saved as a result.

I'll ask again.

What is the problem you have with saving American lives???

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

He had no intelligence of the sort! The only two people in the world claiming that are you and Col West himself! He simply decided that this man must be the problem, had him kidnapped and then tortured him, just to get a whole list of names of people who weren't terrorists at the time (but probably are either terrorists now, or dead!)

I have no problem with saving American lives, but you have YET to show that a SINGLE ONE was saved by Col West's illegal actions!

And I point out again that the ends NEVER justify the means, the means justify the ends!

[Michale32086]

}}}}
The only two people in the world claiming that are you and Col West himself!
{{{

So, you are saying that West had NO REASON to suspect Hamoodi and just got lucky by randomly choosing the Iraqi that WAS the traitor??

Please cite your evidence for such a ludicrous claim..

}}}}
but you have YET to show that a SINGLE ONE was saved by Col West's illegal actions!
{{{{

I have posted it DOZENs of times, but you simply refuse to accept it because it totally decimates your argument for the fallacy that it is..

Michale...­..

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}}
And once again, you seem to be talking about the "plot" to bring seemingly innocent liquids onto an airplane and then using them to make bombs. The problem with that theory is that after takeoff you would have to proceed to the bathroom, making several trips, carrying chemistry equipment. Then you would have to spend anywhere from 6-10 hours "cooking" the bomb, hoping and praying that there is no turbulence, since that would screw up the whole thing. After you were done cooking it, you would then have to spend approximately four DAYS waiting for the bomb to cure, since until it's completely cured it will only cause enough boom to hurt you if you are still in the bathroom.
{{{{

Yer kidding, right???

Where did you get this completely and fabulously ludicrous information???

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

From the fact that I was in the military, handling explosives, including the kind made from the liquids that were announced. Couple that with the fact that I also have worked with aviation AND security, I know that the ludicrous claims made by the British and American govts at the time are just that, LUDICROUS! There was NO way that it would EVER have worked, and to claim that torture therefore saved thousands of lives.....­.....

[Michale32086]

Well, your "expertise" is outdated by at least a couple decades...

"A senior U.S. congressional source said it is believed the plotters planned to mix a British sports drink with a gel-like substance to make an explosive that they would possibly trigger with an MP3 player or cell phone. The sports drink could be combined with a peroxide-based paste to form a potent "explosive cocktail," if properly done, said a U.S. counterterrorism official. "There are strong reasons to believe the materials in a beverage like that could have been part of the formula," the official said. "What makes it frightening is the sophistication to turn relatively common materials into a dangerous bomb," said a U.S. intelligence official."

Hardly the 6-10 hours to mix and 4 days to cure..

Leave CT ops to the experts..

Michale...

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}}
That means that you ARE saying that we should just pull random Toms, Dicks, and Hakkems off the street and torture them to see if they know anything about a terrorist act!
{{{{{

No where, no how, at NO time did I make any such absurd claim.

My only claim is that, even if torture is effective in one out of 1000 cases, it is STILL worth it, because that one time will save innocent lives..

To give you an analogy...

Per 1998 stats, fewer than 15% of police officers use their weapons in the line of duty.

Using your "tortured" reasoning, we shouldn't give cops guns, because they are only effective for 15% of the entire police agencies in the country.

Of course, that is silly, right? A gun is one of many tools cops employ. It's better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have one, right??

So it with with CT ops and torture. It's better to HAVE the option and not need it than it is to NEED the option and not have it...

But, I am firmly of the opinion that torture for CT ops should be a "tool" of last resort. Much as a gun is a tool of last resort with police officers..­.

Michale...­.

[LeftRight]

You are claiming that since it works (according to YOUR statistic!) one tenth of one percent of the time, that it's okay to use it. It's one simple step from being allowed to use it to using it all the time!

[Michale32086]

No...

I am saying that, even if torture is effective one tenth of the time it is used and that one TIME saves innocent lives, that it is worth it to keep it as an option.

Why is it that you have a problem with saving innocent lives???

Michale...­..

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

Well, I do know Law Enforcement and I do know military and I DO claim that, under certain conditions, torture is justified and I do know of one instance for sure where torture was employed by Pak ISI that allowed the British to stop the Airlines attack, saving thousands.­.

And now we know another case, where the Iraq traitor Hoomdi was scared to such an extent that he divulged plans to ambush American troops and between that time and the time Col West left, there was not a single American ambush or casualty in the area...

These are the facts and the opinions that have been rendered to date..

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

Apparently you don't know EITHER. Your posts during the FISA time show that you misunderstand everything that it means to be a LEO in the USA, and your posts during this thread indicate that you don't know anything about being in the military. The training that we receive about torture is NOTHING like what you are claiming is normal.

And to top it all off, you are coming back with the same useless argument that sometimes it's okay to disobey federal, international, and natural laws and torture someone, whether you know that they know something or not!

[Michale32086]

No... My posts during the FISA time showed that I misunderstood everything about what you BELIEVE it means to be a LEO... I can assure you that your beliefs have little to do with the reality..

}}}}
The training that we receive about torture is NOTHING like what you are claiming is normal.
{{{{

How many CT ops training courses did you go thru?? SERE?? Recon??

I am not talking about a desk jockey or a 702... I am talking about a grunt in the field...

I have never claimed it's OK to disobey laws...

I simply claim that sometimes it is necessary and sometimes it is justified.­.. And that comes from nearly a quarter of a century in the fields..

This is the reality, whether you believe it or not..

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

And once again, you seem to be talking about the "plot" to bring seemingly innocent liquids onto an airplane and then using them to make bombs. The problem with that theory is that after takeoff you would have to proceed to the bathroom, making several trips, carrying chemistry equipment. Then you would have to spend anywhere from 6-10 hours "cooking" the bomb, hoping and praying that there is no turbulence, since that would screw up the whole thing. After you were done cooking it, you would then have to spend approximately four DAYS waiting for the bomb to cure, since until it's completely cured it will only cause enough boom to hurt you if you are still in the bathroom.

Yeah, that sure saved THOUSANDS of lives!!!!

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
You have advocated torturing innocents! You said:

"So, this fantasy that torture doesn't work is just that. A fantasy. Granted it's not very reliable.. It may work in 1 out of 1000

instances.­"

In other words, you are saying that we should torture 1,000 people in the hopes that ONE of them will be the guy that we want!!
{{{{{

WOW...

That sure is a tortured line of reasoning.­. No pun intended.. :D

Look, let me be clear..

I am NOT advocating yanking every Tom Dick and Harry off the street and torturing them to learn if they have an overdue library

book or ever lusted after Cindy Crawford.

I am NOT advocating doing a "Muslim/Arab" sweep and torturing each and every one of them to learn if they have any terrorist connection­s...

I am advocating the use of coercive interrogations (torture, if you prefer the term) in the instances where we have a KNOWN or reliably suspected terrorist and there is good cause to believe that said terrorist has intel that will save innocent lives.

The case of Hamoodi is a PERFECT example of such an instance. The case of the British Airlines attack is another perfect example..

That is all I am advocating on this particular issue.

And, frankly, I am surprised that ya'all are more interested in the comfort and convenience of terrorists more so than the safety of your fellow Americans.

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

Yet, in your OWN words you say that torture may only work one tenth of one percent of the time, and yet you still advocate for torture! That means that you ARE saying that we should just pull random Toms, Dicks, and Hakkems off the street and torture them to see if they know anything about a terrorist act! That's not only un-American, it's Unconstitutional, AND it violates such things as the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg War Crime trials, and what EVERYONE thinks is right and good and decent!

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
And I'm saying that the revolution was fought cleanly, and to consider that as an end justifying the means.....
{{{{{

The revolution was the result of treason.

The likes of Washington, Adams, Franklin and Jefferson et al felt that the ENDS (a true and free country) justified the MEANS (committing treason, a crime punished by death)

Hence, our country was borne from the sentiment that the ends DO justify the means..

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

Yes it was. But they didn't torture. The fact of the matter is that war is a terrible thing not entered into lightly. In the case of the Revolution, which you are equating with torture, was decided to be fought after DECADES of being ignored by their government.

Now then, revolution is sometimes warranted, as Jefferson so wonderfully put it:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation­."

In NO WAY is this "the ends justifying the means" This is a group who were basically abused by their govt, and decided that they couldn't take it anymore. This is not one single Colonel in the United States Army deciding to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and federal laws against torture, and international laws against torture, and GOD'S laws against torture!

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
PROVE that Col West saved ONE life!
{{{{

Simple..

Prior to this incident (Aug 2003) there were numerous attacks on US Forces in and around the TAJI area.

Subsequent to this and prior to Col West's departure, there were... wait for it... ZERO attacks on US Forces in and around the TAJI area... ZERO... ZILCH.... NADA.... NONE....

Now, of course, you will claim that this is just some big cosmic coincidenc­e..

But those of us who have commanded troops in battle know better.

Michale...­.

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
Obviously you DON'T understand the reality of commanding troops in the field
}}}}

No, I understand it perfectly because I have DONE it.

You THINK you understand it because you have read about it, in theory...

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

No, I've actually done it. On the other hand, based on the lies that you are spreading, I doubt that you were ever in law enforcement OR the military!!!

[Michale32086]

Which "lies" would those be??

The "lie" that I disagree with you on just about everything??

That's not a lie.. That's apparently the truth..

Michale...­..

[Michale32086]

@LeftRight

}}}}
No, if it only works 1 out of 1000 times that means that you are wasting your time, energy, and money. And since Col West was working for US at the time, he was wasting OUR time, OUR energy, and OUR money, as well as destroying OUR reputation! THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!
{{{{

So, the fact that Col West saved untold numbers of American lives means nothing??

You are more concerned about TIME, ENERGY, MONEY and REPUTATION than you are about American lives??

Is THAT what you are trying to say???

Michale

[LeftRight]

PROVE that Col West saved ONE life! Then we can discuss that aspect. Even then I will STILL say that he should have been dishonorably discharged, because he broke the UCMJ, federal law, and international law!!

[Michale32086]

Using ya'alls reasoning, the United States wouldn't even exist.

But it DOES exist because our forefathers violated the British code and law to do what they knew to be the right thing...

How is this any different??

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

So you're saying that the revolution is equal to torture?

[Michale32086]

No..

I am saying that SOMETIMES that The Ends Justifies The Means is a valid concept..

The birth of our country is simply one example of this.

Michale...­..

[NobodysPoodle]

Allen West was relieved of Command.

West, who at the time was just short of having 20 years of service, was charged with violating articles 128 (assault) and 134 (general article) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and was in danger of receiving an 11 year prison sentence, dishonorable discharge and losing his retirement benefits.

West was processed through an Article 32 hearing in November 2003, but was never Court-martialed. Instead in a deal with the prosecution, he admitted wrongdoing, was fined $5,000 over two months for misconduct and assault. He then submitted his resignation.

[Michale32086]

What Col West did was wrong..

But it was done for the RIGHT reasons..

Col West decided that the safety and welfare of men under his command took precedence over the comfort of an enemy...

I will not fault him for his choice. The men under his command that were ultimately saved will not fault him for his choice.. The families of those men under his command that were ultimately saved will not fault him for his choice.

Michale...­..

[NobodysPoodle]

Cannot agree to that.

The only thing that separates us from the terrorists is our honor code and adherence to the Law of Armed Conflict. Every person in the military knows that we have the only job that requires us to sacrifice our life and the lives of others.

Honor before all else.

[Michale32086]

@11907281

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The FACTS state that torture produces false confessions that waste the time of invetigators who are trying to find the real threats.
{{{{{

Actually, no... People who sit in nice cozy offices looking at case studies state that torture produces false confessions.

The grunts who are on the front lines KNOW that the REAL facts are different.­.

{{{{{
You have an exponentially higher chance of being killed by lighting or a falling coconut then being killed by a terror attack,
}}}}}

Strangely enough, those SAME odds of being killed by terrorism was even HIGHER on 10 Sep 2001... We all know what happened next...

}}}}
but if you want to do away with any moral high ground and torture a bunch of innocent Arabs in pursuit of the couple real terrorists, ... as the old verse goes "As you sow so shall you reap"
{{{{

No one is advocating torturing "innocent" anyones...

Michale...­..

[LeftRight]

You have advocated torturing innocents! You said:

"So, this fantasy that torture doesn't work is just that. A fantasy. Granted it's not very reliable.. It may work in 1 out of 1000 instances.­"

In other words, you are saying that we should torture 1,000 people in the hopes that ONE of them will be the guy that we want!!

[NobodysPoodle]

Michale--

Do you recall your LOAC training?