During college, I frequently visited a close-security men's prison in central Minnesota. I worked closely with a US veteran who was in prison for multiple murders. His mental illness and subsequent crimes were a result of his haunting memories of being held as an American POW in Vietnam for several years. He was tortured and held in a cage for years of imprisonment by his captors, and the shrapnel from his wartime injuries is still working its way out of his body. Each emerging piece of metal would form a fresh wound on his skin and soul. As a result, this man had an incredible fear of anyone he met who appeared to be of Asian descent. He would never allow an Asian person to walk behind him, much less speak to him or befriend him. His murders happened when he flew into PTSD rages. He was a Christian man, but struggled to overcome his fear and anger because of what happened to him decades ago, at war. The prison chaplain and I challenged him to try to confront his fears, and over several months of consideration, he befriended a Hmong man from whom he learned guitar, in the prison music program. It was a monumental process for him, on the road to recovery. I will never forget his story, and his tears. His story is part of why I am so devoted to the issue of torture. Tk.
In former Vice President Cheney’s steady march of media appearances, he defends the usefulness of torture and cruelty in extracting intelligence. Every American should be clear: We do not need torture to keep us safe.
Experienced interrogators have come forward to report that torture does not yield accurate or timely information. In fact, U.S. use of torture actually increased the number of terrorists in Iraq intent on killing American forces who served there. From an interrogator’s perspective, torture stands in the way of gaining valuable information.
Torture leads to false confessions and unreliable information. Though there is an exception to every rule, we should not make our rules based on exceptions.
Watch senior interrogator Matthew Alexander—who served for 14 years in the U.S. Air Force—explain why Vice President Cheney’s assertions are wrong. Alexander conducted over 300 interrogations in Iraq and supervised over a thousand interrogations of detainees.
The former Vice President is attempting to rewrite our history by claiming that American values allow for torture—or what he calls “unpleasant things”—when we are dealing with terrorists. This argument threatens to fundamentally change the principles on which our country was founded.
Listen to what General David Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, thinks about keeping America safe:
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Keep America safe and our values strong.
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