Torture as a business and culture

In September 2006, the Associated Press reported that the then Bush administration was aware of the so-called secret interrogation facilities overseas, in which up to 14,000 detainees were being held. As soon as the first Afghan arrived in the controversial Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in late 2001, the US authorities had started putting in place a worldwide surveillance system to protect the sole superpower from 911-style attacks.

Most of these detainees were prisoners-of-war, or arrested on the streets for merely "looking like terrorists".

In fact, the Washington Post had in December 2002 revealed the series of harsh interrogation techniques employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials, but the news was largely buried under the overwhelming sentiments for war against Saddam Hussein.

Five years later in December 2007, the then CIA Director Michael Hayden admitted videotapes were made of the interrogations on two al-Qaeda suspects, but all the materials were subsequently destroyed "in November 2005 on the order of Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the CIA's director of clandestine operations" to avoid them being presented as evidence of alleged torture.

Under the previous administration, the US spent US$60 million on building a new interrogation centre in Baghdad in August 2006, and the largest camp was ready in Guantanamo Bay in the same year. It was indeed in use until, of course, President Barack Obama ordered its closure in January this year.

100 detainees died in US-setup camps

By the time Bush exited the White House, at least 100 detainees had died in camps set up by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Of them, only 14 were convicted "terrorists", while others were either murdered or died in unknown circumstances.

On 13 August 2009, the New York Times reported that secret prisons were established in many countries to interrogate al-Qaeda suspects.

Entitled ‘A Window into CIA's embrace of Secret Jails', the special report named Kyle D. Foggo as a key-player who, being "aggressive, resourceful, patriotic and ready to dispense a favor", was the logical person for the prison project.

Under his supervision, three secret prisons were set up, one in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, another in a remote area in Morocco, and the third one in an Eastern European city. Included in the plan were also proposals of permanent prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries.

At the same time when the New York Times shocked the reader with these revelations, New Yorker came up with a sensational story of the CIA recruiting two prominent psychologists, ie. Drs. Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, for interrogation purposes. The contracts were made with a view to extracting false confessions from prisons using psychological means buttressed by harsh measures. Torture was somewhat a good business so long as it served the authorities' purposes.

But torture as experienced by POWs is not new. Japan's horrible records on the issue during WWII continue to haunt its postwar politicians, while the Chinese relished in killing each other during the 1946-1949 Civil War. It is hence most disingenuous of the Beijing leadership to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the communist republic last week with much pomp and fanfare, and with mendacities too when it chose to overlook the millions of civilians brutally murdered since 1949.

More excuses to justify draconian laws

While the CIA's techniques may be new, torture as a means has a long history. In 1942, the first batch of German POWs were sent to the US, with President Roosevelt promising to treat them not as captured, but "guests". These people were later detained without sufficient medical facilities, and food was meager at best. Most appallingly, many were subjected to beatings and intimidation by US soldiers to extract information from them. After the war, as many as 600,000 Germans were transferred to France, where they were tortured, assaulted, raped and even killed for anti-German feelings were at their height. So much for Roosevelt's hospitality.

Torture has indeed become some kind of a "tradable" business in the US, but it is also pervasive in the Malaysian culture. From the police to other public institutions such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), officials habitually and routinely resort to violence when carrying out their duty, not to mention the scores of mysterious deaths in custody over the years.

Shortly after the New York Times and New Yorker carried the stories of torture, the major dailies in Malaysia followed up on the issue also. On 25 August 2009, the Malay Mail reported techniques used by the CIA included threats to "kill children and sexually assault the mother of detainees". It reminded me of an Umno division head in Pahang who was assaulted and told by MACC interrogators that his wife would be stripped of her dress if he did not confess!

What does it tell us? If a democracy such as the US does not uphold the principles of human rights, there would be more excuses for Malaysian leaders to justify the draconian laws by asking: have you not read Malaysian newspaper's coverage on torture by the CIA?