Dec 15, 2005 Sheboygan Press

Letters: U.S. policy on torture sets bad example for rest of world 

The majority of the world has rightly agreed that torture is illegal and inhumane; our use of torture sets a precedent for the use of torture by our enemies.

Does anyone want his or her loved ones tortured? Can we use torture and demand that others do not?

America touts that it is a shining beacon of freedom for the rest of the world. How can this be when we are torturing hundreds of prisoners?

We are even sending prisoners to secret prisons that have "legally" refined torture tactics.

What kind of example are we providing the rest of the world?

The International Red Cross has published that 70 to 90 percent of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib are innocent. Even if torture works some of the time, we are often using it on the wrong people!

We are creating new enemies at an alarming rate by incarcerating and torturing innocent people.

Out of the estimated 660 people in Guantanamo Bay the highest number of terrorist related convictions I can find is 39.

We've had some of these people in prison for over three years now with no charges, a suspension of trials and rights and we have only shown a tiny fraction of them have been involved with terrorism.

Again, we have created a new crop of enemies: Every innocent (and their families) who is illegally incarcerated and tortured must come out hating America.

Now, it has been shown time and again that torture does not work. Retired Air Force Col. John Rothrock, as a member of Veterans Against Torture (www.veteransagainsttorture.com), explains in his retelling of his interrogation experience in Vietnam, if you torture someone they are likely to tell you anything you want to hear.

Torture does not lead to usable information the vast majority of the time, even if we are torturing the guilty. What ever happened to the saying 'do unto others as you would have done unto you'?

Josh Harvey

Veterans for Peace, Sheboygan