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Posted by intern Christopher Burrow:
Abu Ghraib and Camp X-ray have really managed to elevate the global debate about the usefulness of torture. Sure, it violates international law, but Americans are above international criminal law according the Bush administration.
Pundits have worked to downplay the actual abuses of human rights that have taken place on prisoners, or "enemy combatants," to use Gonzales’ loophole term. Rush Limbaugh even went as far as to compare the abuse to a college fraternity prank.
And, coming soon will be "The Guantanamo Guidebook" a British reality television show that uses the techniques employed by American interrogators at Camp X-ray— religious and sexual humiliation, forced nudity, sleep deprivation and extreme temperatures —to see what effects torture has on the contestants. Sadly, this is not a bad joke. According to London's Channel 4 head of news and current affairs, Dorothy Byrne:
The use of torture or of information gained through torture has been justified as essential in the war against terror. This season of programs challenges viewers to watch torture techniques we know are used in Guantanamo.
I don’t know about you, but with the world deteriorating as it seems to be, I find myself becoming pro-asteroid.
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Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
