POLITICS
The torture debate

Torture remains a front-burner issue almost four years after the first images of American troops abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib shocked Americans into debate over the ethics of torture. The debate continues to gain force, led by a widening array of religious voices. The debate is complex. On one hand, many Americans worried about the prospect of terrorist attacks back measures they feel can protect American lives. At the same time, experts say the declining popularity of President Bush and eroding support for the war in Iraq have contributed to continued questioning over whether U.S. policies are morally just. The abuse of prisoners first became public with the April 28, 2004, broadcast of Sixty Minutes.

Why it matters
The debate over officially sanctioned torture raises questions about whether the county is acting morally or not and whether the United States is a "righteous nation," as some call it. Because Americans tend to be people of faith, they often view such moral questions through the lens of religion. The answers they find will go a long way toward determining future U.S. policy.

What's New
• The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a coalition of more than 100 national, regional, and local religious and secular organizations, plans a vigil in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17, 2007. It has provided 500 copies of the HBO movie Ghosts of Abu Ghraib to congregations to show during the week of Oct. 21-28, which it is calling Spotlight on Torture week. Contact John Humphries, 860-216-7972, spotlight@nrcat.org.
• On Oct. 9, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German who claims he was tortured by the CIA. On Oct. 4, The New York Times published reports of secret U.S. Department of Justice memos authorizing harsh CIA interrogation techniques.
• On Aug. 19, 2007, the American Psychological Association voted to prohibit psychologists from participating in several interrogation techniques that have been used against U.S. terrorism detainees because the methods are immoral and psychologically damaging. See an Aug. 20, 2007, Washington Post story and the APA press release.)
• On Feb. 13, 2007, four Democratic senators introduced a bill, called “Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007: A Bill to Provide for the Effective Prosecution of Terrorists and to Guarantee Due Process Rights,” (search Thomas for S.576) that is aimed at reversing provisions of the Military Commissions Act signed into law in October 2006 by President Bush. The bill would restore the right of habeas corpus, reinstate the United States' commitment to the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of detainees, and restore elements of due process to hearing procedures for detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay. The bill is co-sponsored by Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and Robert Menendez of New Jersey. The bill has the support of several religious groups opposed to torture. For more information, contact Katie Barge at 202-481-8147, kbarge@faithinpubliclife.org.
• In January 2006 the Rev. George Hunsinger, a theologian at Princeton Theological Seminary, convened a three-day conference at the seminary to launch the National Religious Campaign against Torture. NRCAT is gathering signatures on a petition to the Bush administration, and it appears to be the largest and best-organized faith-based protest against torture to arise out of the Abu Ghraib revelations. Details about the founding conference, titled, "Theology, International Law, and Torture: A Conference on Human Rights and Religious Commitment" are available on the NRCAT web site along with lists of participants, signatories to the petition, and member denominations. Contact Hunsinger at 609-252-2114, antitorture@cctpp.org or the Rev. Robert Moore, 609-924-5022. See this Religion & Ethics Newsweekly story about the Princeton conference.
• The Catholic peace movement Pax Christi USA is circulating a petition that it plans to send to President Bush and all members of Congress for the Abu Ghraib anniversary calling on the United States to take a number of steps to denounce the use of torture and to reaffirm the articles of the Geneva Convention. Pax Christi also plans to publish the statement, titled "A Christian Call to Stop Torture NOW!", in the National Catholic Reporter weekly paper and in Roll Call, the Capitol Hill daily.
• The Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International (TASSC) has launched a campaign to designate June as Torture Awareness Month. TASSC's campaign is being supported by a number of churches and faith groups. June 26 is the United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims and Survivors.
• An August 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press showed that 72 percent of Americans believe that U.S. policy should be conducted according to moral principles. But an October 2005 Pew survey shows that nearly half of all Americans also believe the torture of terrorism suspects can be justified. The results, posted at the National Catholic Reporter web site, break down attitudes by religious preference.

Angles for reporters
There are lots of opportunities for local, national and international angles on stories related to prisoner abuse in Iraq. Here are some places to start:
• Human rights advocates, organizations and research and teaching centers have extensive experience dealing with similar issues. Sources are provided throughout this issue.
• Torture survivors' treatment programs, advocacy centers, and research institutions exist in every state. Sources are provided throughout this issue. Some may be able to recommend victims of prisoner abuse who are willing to be interviewed.
• Religious organizations, both national and local, have always been involved in caring for the imprisoned and working for their fair treatment. Many local congregations of all faiths have active prison ministries. How do members' experience in U.S. prisons shape how they react to what's happened in Iraq?
• Ethicists can address what is morally right and wrong, either from a secular or religious perspective, depending upon their background. Military ethicists study what is appropriate during times of war. Ethicists can be found at seminaries, universities and other organizations.
• Some of the prisoners mistreated in Iraq are Muslim. An Oct. 9, 2003, ReligionLink tip about Muslims in U.S. prisons offers potential resources.
• Psychiatrists and psychologists can talk about the mental effects of prisoner abuse on both victims and perpetrators.

Skip to background

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

• Karen Greenberg is co-editor of The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and executive director of the Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. She is editing the forthcoming book, The Torture Debate in America (Cambridge University Press). Contact 212-992-8854.
• James Turner Johnson teaches religion at Rutgers University in New Jersey and has written extensively on just war, morality and warfare and Islam. He is a former editor of the Journal of Religious Ethics and an editor of the Journal of Military Ethics. Contact 732-932-9637, jtj@rci.rutgers.edu.
• Sanford Levinson is W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law and Professor of Government at the University of Texas School of Law and editor of the forthcoming book Torture (Oxford University Press, 2004). Contact 512-232-1351, slevinson@mail.law.utexas.edu.
• Taha Jabir Alalwani is president of The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Va., and holds the Imam Al-Shafi'i Chair in Islamic Legal Theory. His expertise includes human rights in Islam. Contact 703-779-7477.
• M. Cherif Bassiouni is president of the International Human Rights Law Institute and law professor at DePaul University in Chicago. Read about the institute's International Criminal Court-Arab World Project. Read about the institute's efforts to educate people about human rights in the Arab world. Contact 312-362-5919, cbassiou@depaul.edu.
• Mark Danner is author of Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror (New York Review of Books, 2004), as well as a writer and journalism professor. He divides his time between New York and San Francisco. Contact mark@markdanner.com.
• The Rev. Richard Killmer is executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a coalition of more than 120 religious groups formed in January 2006. It includes representatives of Roman Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh communities. Contact him in Washington, D.C.,202-547-1920.
• Mahmood Monshipouri is co-editor of the Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, based in Berkely, Calif., and political science professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. Contact 203-582-3356, Mahmood.Monshipouri@quinnipiac.edu.
• The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of First Things, published an essay supporting a U.S. ban of all forms of "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of prisoners. Contact 212-627-1985, ft@firstthings.com.
• Daniel Rothenberg is deputy executive director of the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University in Chicago. It posts a list of human rights research and training centers. Contact 312-362-5919, drothenb@depaul.edu.
• Glen H. Stassen is a professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., who specializes in war, peace and ethics and the author of Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War (Pilgrim Press, 2004). He says that policies encouraged pressure on prisoners and removed needed checks and balances. Contact 626-304-3733, gstassen@fuller.edu.
• Albert C. Pierce is the director of the Center for the Study of Professional Military Ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He served in the U.S. Defense Department and was a defense correspondent for NBC News. Contact 410-293-6085, acpierce@gwmail.usna.edu.
• David L. Perry is a professor of ethics at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. Contact 717-245-4815, david.perry@carlisle.army.mil.
• Psychologist Philip Zimbardo is one of the authors of the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment and retired professor of psychology at Stanford University. Read "A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil: Understanding How Good People Are Transformed into Perpetrators," a 2003 paper by Zimbardo, past president of the American Psychological Association, on the Stanford University Web site. Contact Zimbardo through Jack Hubbard at Stanford News Service: 650-725-1294, jhubb@stanford.edu.
• Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization that investigates human rights abuses and advocates for their end. Read Human Rights Watch's compilation of background information on U.S. detention facilities in Iraq. See links and reports about torture. Human Rights Watch is based in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. It lists human rights information by country. Contact 212-290-4700.
• The National Council of Churches USA sent a letter May 11, 2004 advising changes in Iraq to end the violence. The NCC represents 36 Protest and Orthodox member communions. Contact media liaison Carol Fouke, 212-870-2252, cfouke@ncccusa.org
• The Anti-Defamation League, the National Congress of Jewish Women (contact Sammie Moshenberg 202-296-2588; sammie@ncjwdc.org) and the Action Center of Reform Judaism (contact Alexis Rice or Beth Kalisch 202-387-2800) all made statements condemning prisoner abuse in Iraq.
• Mahdi Bray is executive director of the Freedom Foundation, the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society, a national grassroots religious, social, and educational organization. Contact 202-496-1288.
• Sayyid M. Syeed is secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, which condemned the killing of Nicholas Berg. Contact 317-839 -8157, syeeds@isna.net.

Background

TORTURE
• Read a May 14, 2004, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly program, "Is Torture Ever Justified?" and a Feb. 20, 2004, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly story about the ethics of torture.
• Read a Jan. 9, 2003, story in The Economist, "Is Torture Ever Justified?"
• Read an October 2003 Atlantic Monthly story: "The Dark Art of Interrogation."
• Read a March 13, 2003, story in The Nation, "In Torture We Trust?" about reports of systematic abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
• The U.S. Congress first passed the Torture Victims Relief Act in 1998 and reauthorized it in November 2003. Read information about it from the Center for Victims of Torture.
• Read the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
• The Truth About Torture posts nine essays by Christian writers about the torture debate.
• A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Oct. 5-6, 2001, found that many Americans supported extraordinary measures as means of dealing with terrorism. The United States has an official policy against assassinating or torturing foreign leaders or non-American citizens suspected of criminal activity. There has been some talk of changing this policy in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. This CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows 77 percent of Americans would be willing to allow the U.S. government to assassinate known terrorists, and 52 percent would be willing to allow the government to assassinate leaders of countries that harbor terrorists. Americans were less supportive of torture than of assassination, as 45 percent said they were willing to allow the government to torture known terrorists if they know details about future attacks in the United States.
• U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement includes treatment of torture survivors.
• Read a report on torture in the United States prepared by the Coalition Against Torture and Racial discrimination, a working group of non-government civil and human rights groups in the U.S.
• Read a special issue on torture from the Jan. 20, 2006, issue of the journal Vital Theology. It includes eight stories on different aspects of the debate on torture, through the lens of theology.

WORLDWIDE
• The U.S. State Department publishes human rights reports by country. The latest report documents human rights conditions for the year 2002.
• Amnesty International is a worldwide movement that promotes universally recognized human rights. Contact 212-807-8400.
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides protection and assistance to the world's refugees. When first created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1951, UNHCR was charged primarily with resettling 1.2 million European refugees left homeless in the aftermath of World War II. Today, 22.7 million people in over 140 countries fall under UNHCR's concern.
• The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), founded in 1946, advocates and works for the protection of children's rights. UNICEF "is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behavior towards children."
• Since 1958, the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) has identified refugees at greatest risk and given them a voice. Refugees are people who have lost everything: their homes, their belongings, their freedom, and their loved ones. Often, all that they have left are their inherent rights as human beings. The work done by USCR helps refugees get the protection and assistance they need to survive.
• The World Organization Against Torture, USA is based in Washington, D.C. Contact 202-861-6494 , woatusa@woatusa.org.

STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT
• Read about the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 and view a slide show of the experiment, which put ordinary Stanford University students in the position of guarding "inmates" - other students - while, unknown to the participants, their behavior was videotaped. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo, one of the experiment's authors, says today that the sexual degradation of Iraqi prisoners of war by guards reminds him of the behavior of the "guards" in the experiment. As the guards on the night shift became bored, they used the prisoners for amusement. Zimbardo recalls that "guards" got "prisoners" to simulate sodomy and other homophobic behaviors, stripped them naked for various offenses, removed their sheets and mattresses and put them in solitary confinement for excessive periods. The researchers ended the study a week early because of abuse by the student guards.
• Read a 1997 Stanford University press release describing the experiment and telling what became of the researchers who conducted it.