Death by torture, at the hands of the United States

Glenn Greenwald lays out in plain language the awful truth:

The interrogation and detention regime implemented by the U.S. resulted in the deaths of over 100 detainees in U.S. custody — at least.  While some of those [deaths] were the result of ”rogue” interrogators and agents, many were caused by the methods authorized at the highest levels of the Bush White House, including extreme stress positions, hypothermia, sleep deprivation and others.  That’s why we’ve always considered those tactics to be “torture” when used by others — because they inflict serious harm, and can even kill people.  Those arguing against investigations and prosecutions — that we Look to the Future, not the Past — are thus literally advocating that numerous people get away with murder.

The record could not be clearer regarding the fact that we caused numerous detainee deaths, many of which have gone completely uninvestigated, let alone unpunished.  Instead, the media and political class have misleadingly caused the debate to consist of the myth that these tactics were limited and confined.

…

It’s not uncommon, of course, for our political debates to be distorted.  But discussions over torture and accountability have descended to a new level.  The picture that is most commonly conveyed — that torture was confined to a small handful of cases, was highly regulated, and resulted in no long-lasting harm — is pure propaganda, completely false.  The reality — that our “interrogation tactics” killed numerous detainees, who, by definition, are people help helplessly in our custody, virtually none of whom has been convicted of anything, and at least some of whom are completely innocent — is virtually never heard during these debates.  It’s vital that this changes.

The United States cannot regain its moral standing in the world until the facts regarding its use of torture are made public and dealt with in an honest and forthright manner. The Obama administration’s tactic of simply ignoring these crimes will not suffice.