Torture Awareness Month should be a time for honesty, and reflection among political leaders about what they can do to confront the use of torture. Instead, in the United States Senate, this month has been a time of evasion, deception and concealment of the truth about the American government’s use of torture.
Just before the beginning of Torture Awareness Month, the Senate unanimously voted to add Torture Amendment 1157 onto a military supplemental spending bill. The amendment grants the Secretary of Defense the power to conceal photographic evidence of severe torture and other forms of abuse, even rape.
Now the bill is going into conference committee, to be negotiated over between members of the House and Senate. There is a chance, a small chance, that Torture Amendment 1157 will be removed from the final legislation. So, Lindsey Graham, one of the authors of Torture Amendment 1157, spoke on the floor of the Senate this week in its defense:
“I stand up in support of my friend and colleague from Connecticut, Senator Lieberman. We were able to get passed a piece of legislation, through an amendment on the supplemental bill, that is directly on point regarding the pending court case, the subject matter of which is releasing additional detainee photos of past abuse. The President has looked at these photos, and we all understand that it is more of the same – that the photos in question came from American troops’ cameras, who were engaged in inappropriate activity. Disciplinary action has been taken where appropriate, and nothing new is to be learned. There is no new evidence of crimes by people who have yet to be dealt with.”
These justifications given by Senator Graham sound all well and good, on the surface, if you haven’t actually read Torture Amendment 1157. If you have read the text of Torture Amendment 1157, you know that what Graham is saying doesn’t match with the reality of what the amendment actually does.
Senator Graham speaks as if the amendment only applies to photographs that have already been taken, that have already been thoroughly examined, and which the public already knows about. However, that’s simply not true, and as one of the authors of Torture Amendment 1157, Graham must know that he is being dishonest.
The truth is that Torture Amendment 1157 clearly grants the power to the government to conceal evidence of torture that has not yet been revealed, and even torture that has not yet taken place. Torture Amendment 1157 presumes that future acts of torture will take place, and condones that torture by assisting in its concealment. The legislation “shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act and apply to any photograph created before, on, or after that date“. (emphasis most definitely mine).
Not one member of the United States Senate has openly discussed this aspect of Torture Amendment 1157. All public statements about the amendment pretend that it is something that it is not. Why the deception? Why the silence?
If the United States Senate could bring itself to approve, by unanimous voice vote, such a despicable piece of pro-torture legislation, then it ought to at least have the decency to discuss it honestly.
