[470] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Torture: Liz Chaney vs. the U.S. Census Bureau
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Sun Apr 26 17:22:08 2009
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:00:57 -0700
To: privacy-list@vortex.com
Message-ID: <20090426210057.GB22070@vortex.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Disposition: inline
From: privacy@vortex.com
Reply-To: PRIVACY Forum Digest mailing list <privacy@vortex.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Errors-To: privacy-bounces+privacy-forum=mit.edu@vortex.com
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Torture: Liz Chaney vs. the U.S. Census Bureau
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000555.html
Greetings. Dick Cheney's daughter Liz is now making the interview
rounds, defending her Dad's views on the definition of "torture" -- in
particular his continuing insistence that waterboarding is not
torture.
In a fascinating interview on MSNBC, Liz claims that since the U.S.
SERE program (misspelled as "SEER" in the linked item) employed
limited duration exposure to similar techniques in training, the
frequent and lengthy application of those techniques in non-training
situations does not constitute torture:
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2009/04/l_cheney_us_did.php
Unfortunately for Liz and Dick, the entity that operates that training
program itself called those techniques torture, and took lengths to
explain why they should not be used against adversaries, as I've
previously noted ( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000553.html ).
I guess Cheney and his daughter literally didn't "get the memo."
( http://lauren.vortex.com/torture-memo-01.pdf )
All of this discussion about waterboarding inspired me to spend some
time on the topic deep within the marvels of Google Book Search.
There seems to be no question among historical observers about how to
categorize waterboarding.
For example, in "Punishment and Reformation: A Study Of The
Penitentiary System" (1895 and 1910), by Frederick Howard Wines,
LL.D., Special Agent of the 11th U.S. Census on Crime, Pauperism, and
Benevolence; and assistant director of the 12th U.S. Census; the
author includes a long chapter describing historical torture
techniques.
In his discussion of the Spanish Inquisition, we find the following
text:
"In the torture chamber, the three principal forms of coercion were
by the cord, by water, and by fire. In the second of these, which
has not been described, the body was extended at full length upon
a frame so constructed as to bend it slightly backward and to
elevate the feet above the head; the face was covered with a wet
cloth, kept wet by constantly falling drops of water which had to
be swallowed, in order to prevent suffocation."
That's an exact description of waterboarding, of course.
If Cheney and others wish to argue that it's permissible to use
torture to accomplish ostensibly positive ends (in fact, the same
precise rationale provided by the Spanish Inquisitors) then they're
free do so. But let's get past this argument about whether or not the
U.S. engaged in torture. It did. Use the word: torture. Accept the
history and the comradeship of other historical proponents of torture
throughout time.
Stop pussyfooting around. Get out there and proclaim to the world
that you're damn proud to support the use of torture in the name of
the United States of America, and that naturally you support its use
by any other country that feels the need to do so in its own defense.
Embrace your inner torturer. If nothing else, that's the
intellectually honest thing to do.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: LW1
_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy
