Recently a news story broke in the media about a U.S. intelligence unit that is interrogating high-value al-Qaeda leaders at a special Jordanian prison.
The reason that they’re in Jordan is because United States legal protections do not apply to prisoners that are being held by other countries, and Jordan permits torture and other human rights violations on prisoners. It has been shown in recent months that the government is willing to torture enemy prisoners to get information and so you can guess what these intelligence agents are doing in Jordan.
I’m not pleased with this development. The cause of human rights has taken several major body blows in the last couple of years. One of the major parties responsible for this is the United States government. In its pursuit of terrorists, it has disregarded the rule of law to get what it wants from enemy prisoners, and has been reckless in its treatment of civilians in occupied zones.
Our intelligence services need to be bound to observe United States law, whether they are in the United States or in other countries. An unknown number of enemy prisoners have died while in captivity; some have died during interrogation. What caused their deaths during the interrogations? Drugs? Beatings? Other inhumane torture methods? Natural causes?
In addition, we are still holding al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners in Cuba. The methods used there to get information have been called into question in recent months. We already know about the sex abuse scandals in Iraqi prisons. We also know that there are still Americans who are being held on terror-related charges but have been left to languish in prison with no attorney, no trial and no recourse. This is wrong.
This is not the United States legal system at its finest hour.
The United States no longer has the right to criticize the human rights abuses of other nations. This is a sad moment in our history. Until the U.S. straightens up its act and gets with the program of advancing the cause of human rights in its relations with other nations and brings those who are responsible for the violations to justice, it can no longer call itself a champion of human rights.
This country was founded on principals of liberty and justice for all, not liberty and justice for some. Our government needs to do much better. By all means, bring these individuals into courtrooms and charge them with specific crimes, but do not leave them in darkened rooms, outside of the legal system, with nothing but beatings and interrogations to look forward to. This is so wrong.
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