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I Oppose Torture and John McCain

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

Senator John McCain specializes in selling out America.  He was a darling of the media when he was crusading for his campaign finance law, acting as a white knight on a mission to clean up politics.  Of course, as with many laws, it had exactly the opposite effect from what was claimed in the sales pitch.  Instead of cleaning up politics, McCain’s campaign finance law has allowed politicians to be even more corrupt than before the law was enacted, because it restricts our freedom of speech, making us less able to hold politicians accountable for their actions.  In a similar vein, McCain now is crusading for an “anti-torture” law.  Again, this law would not have the effect claimed in the sales pitch.  If this law passes, it will make it more likely that prisoners will be tortured, and it will leave us much more vulnerable to terrorists who want to kill us. 

While I certainly do not want the United States to engage in torture, I also do not want our government interrogators to be afraid to use standard, accepted techniques to obtain information from terrorists.  Unfortunately, that is what McCain’s proposal would do.  Here is what McCain’s “anti-torture” law actually says:

"No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."

What does “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” actually mean?  Is it degrading to require a prisoner to sit in the corner?  Is solitary confinement cruel?  How about good cop/bad cop interrogation methods?  If you were an interrogator, would you want to risk being prosecuted for using these techniques? 

Just as McCain’s campaign finance law puts anyone who dares to challenge incumbent politicians at risk of prosecution, his proposed “anti-torture” law would put interrogators at risk of prosecution simply for doing their jobs in a professional, proper manner.  Who needs it?  Interrogators have lives and families, and they will not want to put themselves at risk of prosecution just for doing their jobs.  So, if McCain’s “anti-torture” law passes, they will lose their ability to effectively interrogate prisoners, and we will lose the protection that effective interrogations would have provided us. 

It is likely that, if McCain’s “anti-torture” law goes into effect, our country simply will turn terrorist prisoners over to other governments, where they really will be tortured.  So, McCain’s law will have two effects:  It will make it more likely that prisoners will be tortured, and it will leave Americans more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

The real safeguard we have against abusive government interrogation methods is free speech.  If the American people found out that our government was using abusive interrogation methods, the political pressure to stop the abuse and to hold the abusers accountable would be enormous, just as it was in the Abu Ghraib situation. 

Congress should stop passing “feel-good” legislation that pretends to do something good while, in fact, doing serious harm; instead, it should do everything it can to preserve and protect the safeguards in our system, such as our freedom of speech, which help protect against government abuse.  Just as McCain’s campaign finance law dealt a severe blow to our freedom of speech, his proposed “anti-torture” law would deal a severe blow to our government’s ability to protect us against terrorists.  Of course, no politician wants to be accused of being in favor of torture, so they are afraid to challenge “white knight” McCain’s “anti-torture” crusade, even though they know that it will make it more likely that prisoners will be tortured and that it will leave us more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

John McCain doesn’t care that he is selling us out, because his “white knight” crusades make him the darling of the media.  He is perfectly happy to destroy our freedom of speech and make us much more vulnerable to terrorists, as long as it keeps him in front of the cameras. 

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