The Good John McCain Surfaces

Every so often the good John McCain reappears. His recent Senate speech on torture and the hunt for Osama bin Laden is the best thing I’ve seen from him in lord knows how long. It deserves to be read in full but some of the highlights include:

[There has been a] debate over whether the so-called, ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ of enemy prisoners, including waterboarding, were instrumental in locating bin Laden, and whether they are necessary and justifiable means for securing valuable information that might help prevent future terrorist attacks against us and our allies and lead to the capture or killing of those who would perpetrate them.  Or are they, and should they be, prohibited by our conscience and laws as torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

I believe some of these practices – especially waterboarding, which is a mock execution, and thus to me, indisputably torture – are and should be prohibited in a nation that is exceptional in its defense and advocacy of human rights.  I believe they are a violation of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions, all of which forbid cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of all captured combatants, whether they wear the uniform of a country or are essentially stateless.

I opposed waterboarding and similar so-called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ before Osama bin Laden was brought to justice.  And I oppose them now.  I do not believe they are necessary to our success in our war against terrorists, as the advocates of these techniques claim they are.

Even more importantly, I believe that if America uses torture, it could someday result in the torture of American combatants.  Yes, I know that Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations do not share our scruples about the treatment of enemy combatants, and have and will continue to subject American soldiers and anyone they capture to the cruelest mistreatment imaginable.  But we must bear in mind the likelihood that some day we will be involved in a more conventional war against a state and not a terrorist movement or insurgency, and be careful that we do not set a standard that another country could use to justify their mistreatment of our prisoners.

And, lastly, it is difficult to overstate the damage that any practice of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by Americans does to our national character and historical reputation – to our standing as an exceptional nation among the countries of the world. It is too grave to justify the use of these interrogation techniques.  America has made its progress in the world not only by avidly pursuing our geopolitical interests, but by persuading and inspiring other nations to embrace the political values that distinguish us.  As I’ve said many times before, and still maintain, this is not about the terrorists.  It’s about us.

[…]There are many arguments to be made against torture on practical grounds.  As I have said, I believe torture produces unreliable information, hinders our fight against global terrorism, and harms our national interest and reputation.  But ultimately, this debate is about far more than technical or practical issues.  It is about far more than whether torture works or does not work.  It is about far more than utilitarian matters.  Ultimately, this is about morality.  What is at stake here is the very idea of America – the America whose values have inspired the world and instilled in the hearts of its citizens the certainty that, no matter how hard we fight, no matter how dangerous our adversary, in the course of vanquishing our enemies we do not comprise our deepest values.  We are America, and we hold ourselves to a higher standard.  That is what is really at stake.

Well said, Senator. Not, alas, that any of this will persuade the waterboarding and power-drill mob to change their minds. In thrall to the pornography of violence (and sadism) they will listen to no form of reason nor, for that matter, respect any notion of civilised behaviour. They are a reminder that no society lacks volunteers to run the gulag.

In a better world anyone who disagrees with McCain on this would have no hope of winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Alas, the reverse is more probably true. A gloomy thought and conclusion that should shame so-called conservatives.

[Via Julian Sanchez]