quotations about torture
I believe that torture is morally, ethically and legally wrong. We have laws in this country that specifically ban the kind of torture techniques that the CIA used against al-Qaeda prisoners. We just pretended that they were legal. At the same time, the CIA actually killed prisoners in custody using these techniques. Where is the justice for those people? I have come to the personal conclusion that we are supposed to be a country of laws. We are supposed to be a country governed by a constitution. We must follow all the laws, not just the ones that fit our own personal ideologies.
JOHN KIRIAKOU
"John Kiriakou: The ex-CIA officer turned whistle-blower", Aljazeera, May 3, 2017
Torture is certainly a dark and unsettling subject, but like I mentioned before, I feel a responsibility as a scholar to investigate and think critically about human rights, about gross injustice. In the long term, it's in the self-interest of the United States to reflect, deeply and seriously, on our policies and actions.
ELISABETH WEBER
"The Abomination of Torture", The Independent, May 11, 2017
Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone "talk;" however, what the individual says may be of questionable value.
DAVID H. PETRAEUS
Official Memo to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen serving in Multi-National Force-Iraq, May 10, 2007