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Dear TASSC Members and Friends, We cannot content ourselves to being a small and privileged family. I am not going to pretend that everything is rosy while my fellow survivors are suffering untold injustice around the globe. We have been alarmed by recent reports of the difficulties including repression, which members of TASSC have faced and demand for our most energetic response. We need to make our voice heard more loudly in the struggle to end torture. My good friend and member of TASSC, Anthony Ibeagha, as put it "Torture knows no borders in all its ramifications because torturers spare no in their crazed extremist path to self-preservation, whether fear of the unknown or adventurous Pre-emotiveness." This issue forced TASSC to continue to work to fulfill one of its most important goals.
I am pleased to share with you the creation of INTERNATIONAL SURVIVOR NETWORK FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE. The purpose of this network is to better communicate among ourselves, in order to respond to urgent situations as well as to strategize about how we may effectively advocate for an end to torture.
The international survivor network for truth and justice is formed by torture survivors and their families who come together to advocate for truth and justice. The participating international communities are consisting of survivors from different nationalities. The basic goal is to end torture in all its forms through the empowerment of survivors in the use of the tools of truth telling and justice searching.
Each city, state or country will have its own ISNTJ to function regularly in close liaison with the central TASSC office in Washington DC.
We will implement an urgent action system to respond to emergencies which TASSC members may find themselves as well as a communicational system between all ISNTJs. As a strong believer of TASSC's method of healing, which we here at TASSC believe is only complete when survivors engage in their own advocacy to end torture. Please support TASSC in any form possible so that we continue to work end torture and empower survivors. Sincerely, Demissie Abebe Executive Director |
| School of Americas Watch Lobby Day |
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 On September 23rd, TASSC Representatives including Demissie Abebe; Executive Director, Jordan and Joseph; TASSC interns, and nine survivors lobbied congress with the urgent message that the School of the Americas must be closed! TASSC members lobbied over ten offices and brought their personal experiences of torture at the forefront of the discussion. Along with TASSC's lobbying effort, TASSC is pleased to cosponsor HR 2567, "The Latin American Military Training Review Act." The School of Americas Watch is a non-profit organization that is working to close the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly named School of Americas), due to their history in training students who have later gone on to commit human rights abuses against their local population. To find out more about the School of Americas Watch, visit: |
TASSC Statment on the "Ticking Time Bomb" Scenario
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We, the members of the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition, or (TASSC), wish to address the "ticking bomb" paradigm that is frequently used by government officials, both here and abroad, to justify the use of torture. We represent many different nationalities, cultures, races, and religious and political beliefs. However, we have one fundamental experience in common: we are all survivors of torture. We believe this gives us special collective insights into the ticking bomb and similar arguments.
To begin with, we repeat TASSC's fundamental position. Torture is abhorrent, and we demand its complete eradication throughout the globe. First and foremost, our position is a moral one. All religions teach us that human beings are made in the image of God and that our bodies reflect the divine work of creation. Torture is thus desecration. So too the wanton infliction of agony defies the commands of all great faiths.
The use of torture, under any circumstances, is also forbidden by international law. Claims of national security concerns provide no justification. We refer you to the Convention Against Torture, amongst the many laws and treaties in this regard.
Many government leaders, especially during the recent Bush administration, try to tell us that torture may be necessary under certain circumstances. What if, for example, there was a nuclear weapon about to go off in Grand Central Station in New York City? Would a CIA agent not be acting properly in torturing a suspect in order to save millions of lives? With this "ticking bomb" story, government officials attempt to frighten us into accepting torture. We do not accept.
Because many of our friends and colleagues have asked us about the "ticking bomb", we give our comments here. Quite simply, it does not work. Worse yet, instead of strengthening our safety it imperils us all, by feeding the flames of hatred and violence around the world.
How do we know that torture does not work? From our own collective experiences:
1. Most of us were "disappeared" and tortured simply because of our race, ethnicity or religion. Obviously, under torture we had no information to give that would advance any national security needs. Yet we can certainly say that any human being, suffering such agony, will say anything to end the pain.
Others of us were taken because we were political dissidents or because we worked with the poor, or spoke out for human rights. Those people too, "confessed" to anything their torturers demanded of them.
Thus in the great majority of cases, torture will simply result in voluminous false information. We note for example, the innocent Iraqi man interviewed years ago after he was tortured in Abu Ghraib. He had confessed that he was Osama Bin Laden in disguise simply to end the pain. This can scarcely be said to have advanced national security interests.
With regards to persons truly involved in clandestine operations, torture is also ineffective for the following reasons: First of all, each member of the operation will have only the information needed to carry out his or her specific task. Secondly, they all will have been trained to give false information for the first several days of their torture, while everyone is moved and all codes, locations and plans are changed.
The myth of the "ticking bomb" falls apart in the face of these realities. Here are the possible outcomes:
1. The CIA agent will capture an innocent person. Under torture, the person will "confess" in order to stop the pain. The agents will rush to the wrong location. The bomb will go off somewhere else.
2. The CIA agent will capture someone who is indeed a participant in the bombing plot, but is not the person who placed the bomb. He or she will not know its location, but under torture will say anything. Again, agents will rush to the wrong location and the bomb will still go off.
3. The CIA will capture the leader. He or she will indeed know where the bomb is located, but under torture will adhere to the security rules and will give a false location, as trained to do. Once again, the agents will rush to the wrong location and the bomb will still go off.
The agents will capture the leader who somehow does break under torture quite swiftly. He or she gives the location. However, given the high status of the leader, he or she will have been carefully monitored by the other participants. They will know immediately of the capture and everything will have been moved. The agents will once again rush to the wrong location. The bomb will still go off.
What then, is the solution? Our answer as members of TASSC is that we must evolve. We must break the cycle of hatred and violence by building a global community based on mutual respect, compassion and cooperation. There is no other way.
As memorably stated by Dr. Martin Luther King, "We must live together like brothers, or die together like fools." Today more than ever, those words ring prophetic.
~Jennifer Harbury
TASSC Addendum:
As our member Jennifer Harbury has written in her book "Truth, Torture and the American Way", persons truly involved in covert operations of any kind will be well trained in the same security methods used by U.S. intelligence agents.
We note the example of Jennifer's husband, Everardo, in Guatemala, who was tortured for several years but gave only false information to his captors. We also note the experience of U.S. Senator John McCain, who, under torture, gave the names of the Green Bay Packers instead of his colleagues. |
| Intern Reflections |
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"I learned that torture occurs in so many countries of the world. That there are thousands of survivors walking the streets, one wouldn't know that they are survivors until you get know them."
"One of the most positive moments at TASSC was to be able to listen to the testimonies that the survivors would share, making torture real to me."
~Carolina, Summer 2009
"Torture is a great issue in our world. Many torture techniques are used. Survivors are not easily identified until they begin to talk about their experience."
"Survivors Week was the most challenging because of all the work involved, but also so very satisfying to meet so many courageous survivors. TASSC is doing a great job and every project is important."
~Dina, Summer, 2009
"The need for accountability for those who promote and practice it."
"It is never justified and should be banned everywhere in the world and forever."
~Lydia, Summer 2009
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