On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Joins with Other Civil Liberties Groups to Voice Concerns Over ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ Legislation
WASHINGTON, DC — Insisting that the United States cannot afford to engage in practices that jeopardize our nation’s security, American values, and the rule of law, The Rutherford Institute, in conjunction with 30 other civil liberties and human rights advocates, is calling for the Senate to reject Amendment 1068 to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (S. 1867) which threatens to condone the use of torture and other inhumane treatment in U.S. interrogations. Introduced by Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), the bill would expand forms of interrogation of suspected terrorists detained by the United States.
The coalition’s letter to the Senate is available here.
“Can a country that claims to champion human rights and whose elected officials claim to abide by Judeo-Christian precepts advocate torture of any kind? And if the U.S. is determined to advocate torture, should there be limits to what can and cannot be done in the name of fighting the so-called war on terror?” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “Using torture methods destroys all the values the United States claims to uphold. If we continue to do so, it will not be terrorists who destroy us, but ourselves. We should not, and cannot, become like the terrorists we fight. The United States must take the stance that no country, ourselves included, has the right to violate the worth and dignity of another human being.”
A broad coalition of civil liberties and human rights groups are voicing their concerns about Amendment 1068 to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (S. 1867), which was offered by Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and is expected to be voted on as early as today. In response to revelations of abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA), in part to prohibit the military from using interrogation techniques not enumerated in the Army’s Field Manual on interrogation. Amendment 1068 would dangerously roll back the DTA interrogation restrictions by allowing military interrogators involved in the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group to go outside the Army’s interrogation manual. The amendment would also require the administration to adopt a classified annex to that manual. If passed, civil liberties groups warn that the legislation could revive the use of torture and other acts of cruelty in U.S. interrogations, flying in the face of American values and U.S. legal obligations as well as obstructing U.S. military missions and endangering troops deployed abroad. Senior military officers and interrogation experts agree that U.S. interrogators need not and should not resort to so-called enhanced methods of interrogation because they are unnecessary and counterproductive.
