What is Torture? And how does Abu Ghraib stand up?

In her article ‘Regarding the Torture of Others’, Susan Sontag quotes the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment to which the United States is a signatory.

The Convention states that torture is,

           

In addition to this, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 state that,

            

Not only do these quotes highlight that the abuses of Iraqi Prisoners in Abu Ghraib were in fact torture, but it also highlights the flaw in Alan Dershowitz’s argument in which he states that a ‘ticking time bomb’ argument could justify the use of torture, as a method of choosing the lesser evil[1].  He uses the example of the suffering of one ‘insurgent’ to save the lives of many innocent people from an imminent threat[2].

However, there is also the practice of rendition.  Arimatsu (2005) defines rendition as the ‘the transfer of someone suspected of committing a serious terrorism-related offence, to a foreign state that has a record of subjecting prisoners to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.’  This is where the line of torture gets further blurred.  The United States Government has come under fire previously for using gaols and their staff from countries where torture is almost guaranteed in response to the ‘international’ fight against terrorism[3].  While the United States Government considers themselves not directly responsible for these instances of torture, should they be held accountable?  And if they are already engaging in this activities, is it such a leap to consider that the high level officials in the military and in the White House were well aware of the torture in Abu Ghraib?

Source: Mark Danner (2004) ‘Torture and Death’ Abu Ghraib: the politics of torture, California: North Atlantic Books, p. viii

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[1] John T. Parry, ‘Torture Warrants and the Rule of Law’, Albany Law Review 2007, p. 885

[2] Alan Dershowitz, ‘Is There a Torturous Road to Justice?’, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 8^th 2001, http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/08/local/me-1494 (Accessed: 05/06/2012)

[3] Louise, Arimatsu, ‘International Law, Torture and the Transfer of Suspects’, The World Today, Vol. 61(11) 2005, p.17