Becca Jones

Grizzly 9
CIA Torture Trial Reflection:
Part 1: Jury Deliberation/Trial Evaluation

Taking part as a witness in this trial, I have come to believe that George Tenet, Director of the CIA, should be convicted and found guilty of only one
count. The count I believe Tenet is guilty of, which was also supported by the jurys final verdict is, lying to the American public to keep Republicans in
power. From the trial and Tenets conviction, this decision makes complete sense to me. Like many of my fellow citizens, I share a sense of shame, and
even complicity, over the CIA detention and interrogation program created after 9/11. Until the United States takes a decisive step to tell the truth about what
happened, and so long as we fail to take action to make sure it never happens again, we are all complicit (Rickard, Stephen). This quote shows that to this day,
the American public is still being deprived of information on this program, which was supposeably founded to enforce National Security. I believe that
American citizens have the right to know what precautions and strategies were being used in order to protect them. The United States government and its
failure to enlighten the public could also very well be considered lying. In short, the government did not want to release the fact that the CIA was torturing or
interrogating detainees, as it looked negative on their part. People who altered and lied about the title of torture and what it included, were simply trying to
preserve the idea of Bush being a perfect, pristine president who would never do such a thing. With the re-election coming up, it was important for Bush's
reputation to be spotless. People who favored Bush were doing anything in their power to keep the Republicans in power by attempting to continue making
their political party look flawless.
(Rickard, Stephen). Tell the Truth About CIA Torture. opensocietyfoundations.org. 23 April 2015.
<http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/tell-truth-about-cia-torture>.
Part 2: The Trials Significance

I believe that through this trial, we were able to see that the rules of war can and will be changed when necessary. When looking at governmental
activity throughout Bushs administration, you can see alterations being made to the Geneva Conventions definement of torture, the rules of war. However, I
do not support the idea of an internationally established law (or definition) to become changed by a single man; in this case, John Yoo. During this time, with
Americas circumstances, it was easier to understand why the rules of war were forced to change though. There were obvious attacks being made against the
civilian population. Slamming civilian planes, that withheld American people, into buildings, clearly evoked a huge amount of terror from the public. I believe
that this could be a valid reason to the change the rules of war; especially if opposing countries are not following the conventional rules themselves. In this
specific case, the definition being changed implied the permissible use of torture or enhanced interrogation to attempt the prevention of another terrorist
attack against Americas homeland. As for torture, I do not like the word itself. I do not see the ways that the CIA used to extract information as ethical either.
I do not approve of torture at all really. I believe that being sentenced to life in jail or the death penalty seems more fitting.
I think that there is a very thin line between enhanced interrogation and torture. With this being said, I believe that it is very hard to find this line and
stay on one side of it. The definition of torture can come into play when physical abuse occurs to punish someone or to get them to say something. The CIA
was doing just this, trying to get the detainees to say something. I do not see much of a difference between enhanced interrogation and torture, and apparently
neither does the dictionary. Both definitions imply completing inhumane acts against people. However, I agree to some extent that torture could be useful to
extract information. For example, Abu Zubaydah gave a list of high class Al Qaeda operatives due to this program, which assisted with the capture of them.
Nonetheless, I still dont find torture acceptable. I wouldnt support any country in using any torture methods. I believe that America also wouldnt give
approval for other countries to torture; probably because we see ourselves as the only ones powerful and exceptional enough to complete these acts.