The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on torture comes as no surprise to many. The US has always used and promoted torture as a technique in times of war and in times peace. 'The School of the Americas' in the US has consistently been a place where torture techniques are passed on to the military students from right wing governments from across the world, and especially Latin America.
The US government abusing human rights is not new. It did not start after 9/11. The CIA and the US military have been doing this for at least 40years.
There is only one way that I will believe Obama is 'turning a new leaf' and going beyond simply admitting 'mistakes have been made'. That is when those responsible for these crimes are prosecuted and brought to justice. Until then, it will be 'business as usual'.
The report by the committee is 6000 pages, but will never be released, just a summary was allowed out in the public domain. This is not a promising sign that anything has really changed or that justice will be done
The worst thing is, it is entirely ineffective. It has never revealed any intelligence of worth, and has generated such hatred of the US that groups like ISIS are thriving wherever the US military have been able to do their dirty work.
It is simple. Torture is a crime. It does not work. It is counter-productive.
At we mustn't be naïve enough to think that Britain doesn't have blood on it hands also. So join Amnesty International, and lets make sure we hold all our governments to account for their crimes against humanity.
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