November 8, 2005
Bush Would Shame Us All By Vetoing Torture Ban
By Richard
Cohen
PETRA, Jordan
-- Somewhere north of here, Bassam and I switched roles. He pulled
the car over and I took over the driving. The idea was to keep
talking, to fight the painful monotony of the desert road, and
so we talked of family -- Bassam has four children -- and of the
economic situation, his time in Kuwait and finally, because I
had been avoiding the subject, what he thought of America and
Americans. This is how Abu Ghraib came up.
I did not
mention the prison near Baghdad where Iraqi prisoners were abused.
Neither did I mention Guantanamo, where the United States keeps
detainees -- forever and ever, it seems. These were places that
Bassam brought up. He was, it was plain to see, confounded and
disgusted with America.
You have
to know something about Bassam. He is not partial to Iraqis. For
30 years, he lived in Kuwait. He built an engineering business
there -- something to do with wells and power. He had employees
and an office and vehicles. When the Iraqis invaded in 1990, they
vandalized his business. They stole his cars. They wrecked everything
he built. Eventually, he returned to Jordan where he had been
born. He is now a driver.
Bassam's
English is pretty good. He had no trouble distinguishing between
Americans and their government. The former he liked, the latter
he did not. It all had to do with Abu Ghraib -- Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo, these places of abuse and alleged torture. Here his
English started to fail him. The degradation of Muslims -- not
Iraqis, mind you, but Muslims -- appalled him. He started to say
why, but he could not. I kept my eyes on the road as he fumbled
for the right words. ``We are Muslims,'' he said haltingly. I
looked over. He was visibly upset.
So was I.
I have traveled this region for years and always I kept my head
high as an American. There are things we did not do. There are
things we stood for. Go ahead, hate us for supporting Israel or
for some similar reason, but if you were Bassam -- any Bassam
anywhere in the world -- you had to know that America did not
abuse prisoners and most especially did not torture them. Other
governments did that. Not us. The culprits at Abu Ghraib were
punished.
Now, though,
we are witnessing a debate in Washington that any American, at
one time, would have thought impossible: whether to allow ``cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of persons under
custody or control of the United States government.'' The words
are taken directly from the amendment introduced by Sen. John
McCain, which would prohibit such practices. It has passed twice,
the first time by 90-9, the second by a voice vote. It has the
support of a former POW, McCain, a former navy secretary, John
Warner, a former military judge, Lindsey Graham, -- and, outside
the Senate, former military men such as Colin Powell. Nonetheless,
the administration vows a veto.
The Bush
administration's effort is being led by Vice President Dick Cheney
who -- give him credit -- is indomitably shameless. Given the
ridiculous things he said in the run-up to the war, you would
have thought the man would have sought the contemplative life
and retreated to some swell retirement community. But he not only
perseveres, he has become the unashamed lobbyist for torture.
He must have a reason. Apparently it is this: Sometimes ya gotta
play rough.
Maybe so.
But all the time -- day in and day out -- the military and the
CIA and all branches of government are entitled to clear rules
about what is and what is not allowed. The Abu Ghraib idiots sure
didn't seem to know the rules, and neither did anyone around them.
Moreover, as McCain and others keep saying, the only way you can
reasonably expect an enemy to be decent to American POWs is if
we are decent to them. Everyone with hands understands that one
washes the other.
The practical
advantages of banning torture are persuasive -- and a needed reassertion
of American principles. Merely doing so, however, is not likely
to convince people throughout the world that rhetoric is now actual
policy. After all, lots of countries routinely torture prisoners;
none that I know of admits to the practice.
But if the
day ever comes when George Bush shames us all by vetoing a ban
on ``cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment,'' then I would, if
I were taking this drive to Petra again, keep my eyes firmly on
the road. I could still look at Bassam. But I wouldn't want him
to look at me.
©
2005, Washington Post Writers Group
