T’ruah commends the Senate Intelligence Committee for the release of the Executive Summary of their long-awaited report on CIA use of torture against suspects in the “War on Terror.”
As Jews, we know that teshuvah (repentance) requires acknowledging our missteps and taking concrete actions to avoid repeating our misdeeds. As a nation, we are now taking the first step of admitting that we have been guilty of degrading the tzelem elohim of those we have tortured.
While the Jewish season of repentance is in the early fall, Chasidic traditions teach that it extends through the upcoming holiday of Chanukah. The underlying wisdom of this teaching is that it is never too late to turn back.
The road to releasing this report was not easy. Much of the intelligence committee and the White House opposed the release, key parts of the report remain censored, and the CIA spied on staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee engaged in the release. Even censored, the report offers a critical documentation of how the American intelligence community lost its moral compass in the years after 9/11 in a misguided effort to preserve American safety and security. We now know that the use of torture was more widespread and extreme in method than we have previously been told, that the CIA misled the State Department, Bush Administration officials, and Congress about the extent of the use of torture, and that they lied about the effectiveness of so-called “enhanced interrogations.” They insisted publicly that torture was necessary for gathering key intelligence, while privately admitting what we have known all along: that torture is ineffective in getting the truth from suspects.
But torture is more than just ineffective. It is also deeply immoral. Torture violates the very basic human dignity of the suspects, even if they turn out to be guilty. As the Talmud teaches, “When a human being suffers, what does the tongue [halashon] say? My head is too heavy [kalini] for me, my arm is too heavy [kalini] for me. Thus God suffers over the blood of the wicked, how much more so over the blood of the righteous.” (Mishnah Sanhedrin6:5) Jewish law forbids the mistreatment of prisoners whose guilt has not been established, such as suspects in an interrogation. The assertion that every human being is created in the image of God applies to all people, friend or enemy.
On President Obama’s second day in office, he banned the use of torture in American interrogations. We commend and celebrate this important step. The President has not, however, sought accountability for the high ranking government, military, and intelligence officials who gave the green light for these crimes on America’s moral stature. The release of the report gives us one last opportunity for Congress to take moral leadership on this issue and pass legislation ensuring that Americans never again use torture in interrogating suspects. Given the political difficulties involved, we support ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero’s suggestion today, in a New York Times Op-Ed, that President Obama issue formal pardons to those responsible for the torture program as a way of “lay[ing] down a marker, signaling to those considering torture in the future that they could be prosecuted.”
Defense officials warn that the report’s release may endanger American troops or diplomatic missions abroad. We, too, are concerned for the safety of these courageous men and women, who are putting their lives on the line as a result of policies that they did not create. But it was the CIA’s torture program, and not the release of the truth about it, that contributed to endangering American lives and America’s good standing in the world.
In a classical midrash (Genesis Rabbah 8:5), the rabbis imagine a debate in heaven about whether humanity should be created. The angels Love and Justice argue in favor of creating humanity, for humanity will do great acts of love and justice. The angels Truth and Peace argue against, for humanity will be prone to lies and war. God breaks the deadlock by throwing Truth to earth—to the human realm. The CIA’s torture program shows that Truth and Peace were not wrong about us.
Now Truth is in our hands. It is up to us to show that Love and Justice were also not wrong. Releasing the Senate report on torture is a necessary, commendable first step—but not the end of this dark chapter of our country’s history. We must use this newly revealed truth as best we can to create a world of justice, peace, love, and truth.