The United Nations General Assembly has designated June 26 of each year as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Today, June 27, 2011, and in subsequent posts, we want to honor several military leaders in the United States and elsewhere who have spoken out against torture, labeling it appropriately morally offensive, a violation of human rights, and a defiance of international law.
For his work in exposing the myths regarding torture and urging reform of U.S. interrogation practices, we honor Matthew Alexander, a former Special Operations pilot who saw combat in Bosnia and Kosovo, volunteered to go to Iraq as a senior interrogator, and refused to participate in the use of torture that was rampant there (See 2008 Washington Post article).
Alexander’s book, How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq, will be reviewed in an upcoming post.
For his book “The Fight for the High Ground: The U.S. Army and Interrogation During Operation Iraqi Freedom, May 2003 – April 2004,” we honor Major Douglas A. Pryer, who criticizes the policies and training that led to the abuse of detainees in Iraq during the first year of the post 9/11 Iraq War. We will review his book in an upcoming post.
We also want to honor the ordinary enlisted men and women who have spoken out against torture. In particular, see the article about Ray Bennett (a pseudonym) and the video by David DeBatto.
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology