Resources focused on ending torture
U.S. Torture of Prisoners:
Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division: One officer and two non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the 82nd Airborne who witnessed abuse, speaking on condition of anonymity, described in multiple interviews with Human Rights Watch how their battalion in 2003-2004 routinely used physical and mental torture as a means of intelligence gathering and for stress relief. Report of Human Rights Watch, September 2005.
Frequently Asked Questions about Torture: Q&A on torture by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, including What is the definition of torture? When was torture first banned in the United States? Don't we need torture to get good information and intelligence from suspects? If not torture, what does work? And is there a downside to using torture with the detainees suspected of terrorism?
Fact Sheet on Torture: Facts include that at least 27 detainees have died in U.S. custody due to suspected or confirmed criminal homicides of whom seven were tortured to death. At least 141 detainees have died while in U.S. custody in Iraq or Afghanistan where homicide was not proven to be the cause. Only one of the criminal homicides occurred at Abu Ghraib and at least 73 of the detainees died elsewhere. At least 54 detainees have died in U.S. custody since Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was informed of the abuses at Abu Ghraib. By Human Rights First.
CIA Whitewashing Torture: Human Rights Watch, Nov. 21, 2005. Porter Goss, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, made misleading statements in USA Today, stating that the CIA does not use torture and that the CIA's interrogation techniques are legal.
Descriptions of Techniques Allegedly Authorized by the CIA: Human Rights Watch. Techniques used by various countries around the world over the last 50 years, most of which are "surprisingly mundane," including forced standing for long periods, sleep deprivation, exposure to cold, and waterboarding.
Why Torture Should Never be an Option: Larry Johnson, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 11, 2005. A former CIA officer and three good friends in the CIA agree that torturing detainees will harm, rather then help, us.
National Council of Churches Statement on Torture: November 9, 2005. "....we find any and all use of torture unacceptable and contrary to U.S. and international legal norms.... We find it particularly abhorrent that our nation's law makers would fail to approve the pending legislation disavowing the use of torture by any entity on behalf of the United States government.... Torture, regardless of circumstance, humiliates and debases torturer and tortured alike."
U.S.: Nearly 50% Okay with Torture: News24.com, Nov. 17, 2005. Nearly half of Americans believe that the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain information is justified. By contrast, the study found that of 520 opinion leaders also questioned on the same issue, no more than one in four believes that torture of terrorist suspects can be sometimes or often justified.
Torture, American Style: Historians Against the War. A free pamphlet that can be downloaded article by article or in its entirety and can also be ordered in bulk. This anthology focuses on torture conducted by U.S. citizens that further policies sanctioned by the U.S.
On-Line Resources on Torture: Fellowship of Reconciliation. An extensive list of articles, fliers and other online resources about human-rights abuse and prisoners' torture.Articles, fliers and other resources about human-rights abuse and prisoner’s torture.
