On April 3, 2014 the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to release critical portions of its report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s use torture after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In an 11-3 bipartisan vote the Committee agreed to seek declassification of the executive summary of its report on the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation program. T’ruah applauds this vote, which recognizes that the only way to truly prevent the United States from torturing again is to fully understand the mechanisms by which it was unfortunately permitted. Transparency is essential in establishing a world in which governments respect the human rights of all, even those who would do us harm. We are proud of the extensive lobbying that the National Religious Campaign Against Torture did with members of the Committee, especially the Senators from Maine, to ensure that the results of the vote were so strong. T’ruah was a founding member of NRCAT and is represented on its Board of Directors.
As Jews, we believe that every human being is created in God’s image, and that the shame and humiliation caused by torture degrade the divine spark inherent in each of us. Furthermore, the Torah commandments not to inflict punishments that degrade the perpetrator. How much more so must dignity be respected in interrogations, where guilt has not been established and where (as the report indicates) torture does not effectively produce accurate intelligence. We hope that the United States never again returns to torture.
The report will now be sent to the White House, after which is will be redacted. T’ruah commits to working with NRCAT and its other allies to ensure that the information produced by the report will establish new safeguards that will permanently prevent the use of torture in the future.
For more information, please visit: http://www.nrcat.org/post-911-detainees/ssci-investigation