CIA torture reveals dark side of US

While the US remains deeply plagued by its human rights troubles at home, its external human rights record is even more disturbing. The CIA still gives credit to the abuse of overseas prisoners for helping generate quality intelligence which could save thousands of lives. In stark contrast, the US Senate Intelligence Committee report concludes that rather than receiving any valuable intelligence through torture, the CIA has actually forced some prisoners to falsify stories that have misled operations.

The fact remains that even if valuable intelligence could be obtained by torturing prisoners or suspects, it still constitutes serious violation of the international code on human rights. If the US doesn't want other countries to practice the very same methods on American suspects, it should stop the inhuman torture techniques now. Senator John McCain, a US prisoner of war in Vietnam from 1967 to 1973 and Republican presidential candidate in 2008, should understand this well.

While the declassified report on CIA torture tactics, even in an abridged form, merits praise, it is important that the US set in motion a legal process forbidding such violations for good and punishing those who commit them, to show that it means what it says. But no one is na?ve enough to expect the US to make such a move. Though US President Barack Obama has supported the publication of the report, the CIA director could not accept its main conclusion. Not surprisingly, Bush, his deputy and the three CIA directors who served them, and quite a number of Republicans disagree with the report.

Therefore, Obama can only commit not to allow such torture under his oversight. But neither does he intend nor will he be able to push through a legislature to permanently ban the inhuman methods of torture used by the CIA. And the chance that he would even attempt to do so is virtually negligible.

The author is a professor at and associate dean of the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai.