Torture (and the U.S.) Does It Work (and is it new)?

Edwidge Danticat writes in the Sunday Washington Post Outlook about her experience in doing a film about torture in her home country of Haiti.

She leaves unsaid what we all know, that U.S. support of torturous regimes, including technical support on the art and craft of torture, is nothing new. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the old cold warriors surrounding George W. Bush are insisting on torture as an item in the U.S. arsenal, since for them it has always been there.

There is a lesson in Ms. Danticat's article. She marks on the victims of torture that

...eventually I recognize their hardened core and, more often than not,
their reinforced defiance and renewed commitment to that for which they were abused. When I meet former torturers, they don't proudly stand up
and say, "Here I am, a torturer." Unless they're infamous, they have sought to
compartmentalize their lives.

This is the key question in determining whether it works. Obviously, if it leaves one side more motivated than the other, it does not work. Aside from the fact that it is evil, because it eventually leads to an activiated revolutionary class, it is also STUPID.

We can see this from our experience in Iran. Our support for the Shah and his Secret Police have left us in the situation we are in now, possibly on the brink of war. If we had not supported the Shah and his unsavory practices, we would not face a hostile Islamic Republic.

And yet we have an adminstration and its supporters in Congress who still do not learn from the past. Let us hope that the voters are learning and the Congress is replaced by a majority which will hold real investigations on our support and practice of torture, using its impeachment power when necessary.

The torture issue also calls into question the whole focus of American foreign policy. A policy that is driven by American self-interest, where deals with despotic regimes are tolerated, clearly does not serve either the cause of liberty at home or abroad. It serves the interests of our business community and our military, but this is not the same thing as serving the better interests of our nation. This is why replacing one set of scoundrels with another is only a start. In the long term, a basic paradigm shift is required, one which we offer.