BTL:Long History of U.S. Torture Precedes Current Pentagon Abuse Scandals

Long History of U.S. Torture Precedes Current Pentagon Abuse Scandals

Interview with Jennifer Harbury, human rights activist, conducted by Scott Harris

Although the torture scandal at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison erupted in April 2004, thus far only enlisted military personnel have been prosecuted with no charges brought against officers or government officials.

A new set of photos illustrating the brutal forms of abuse practiced at Abu Ghraib during 2003 were published by Salon.com on Feb. 16th re-igniting widespread anger at the U.S.

A flood of disclosures about similar torture techniques inflicted on U.S. detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba and secret prisons has aroused public outrage around the world. Although U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona successfully sponsored congressional legislation prohibiting cruel and degrading treatment of detainees, critics say that several major loopholes in the bill protects would-be torturers.

A United Nations human rights panel issued a report Feb. 15 calling for the immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, labeling it effectively a torture camp where prisoners have no access to justice. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with human rights activist Jennifer Harbury, whose husband -- Guatemalan resistance fighter Efraim Bamaca Velasquez -- was tortured to death by military forces on the payroll of the CIA in the early 1990s. Harbury, author of the book, "Truth, Torture and the American Way," examines long-standing U.S. policies permitting torture and the damage she maintains is done to the nation as a result.

Jennifer Harbury currently works with the organization Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International or TASSC. Contact the group by calling (202) 529-2991 or visit their website at http://www.tassc.org

Related links:

Salon.com Exclusive: The Abu Ghraib files, by Mark Benjamin, Salon.com, Feb. 16, 2006. Includes never-before published images from the internal Abu-Ghraib investigation.

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