Later On

When the CIA tortures someone, it can have nasty repercussions. For example, the person’s entire family might develop an intense hatred of the US, but of course that just provides more work for the CIA: it’s a self-licking ice-cream cone.

And, of course, the US sometimes later needs to make nice with someone they’ve tortured, as is happening now. (BTW, it’s not jut the US: it’s a general problem related to badly mistreating people with whom you later must deal (cf. Nelson Mandela et al.).) Rod Nordland gives an example in the NY Times:

TRIPOLI, Libya — Abdel Hakim Belhaj had a wry smile about the oddity of his situation.

Yes, he said, he was detained by Malaysian officials in 2004 on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur airport, where he was subjected to extraordinary rendition on behalf of the United States, and sent to Thailand. His pregnant wife, traveling with him, was taken away, and his child would be 6 before he saw him.

In Bangkok, Mr. Belhaj said, he was tortured for a few days by two people he said were C.I.A. agents, and then, worse, they repatriated him to Libya, where he was thrown into solitary confinement for six years, three of them without a shower, one without a glimpse of the sun.

Now this man is in charge of the military committee responsible for keeping order in Tripoli, and, he says, is a grateful ally of the United States and NATO.

And while Mr. Belhaj concedes that he was the emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which was deemed by the United States to be a terrorist group allied with Al Qaeda, he says he has no Islamic agenda. He says he will disband the fighters under his command, merging them into the formal military or police, once the Libyan revolution is over.

He says there are no hard feelings over his past treatment by the United States.

“Definitely it was very hard, very difficult,” he said. “Now we are in Libya, and we want to look forward to a peaceful future. I do not want revenge.”

As the United States and other Western powers embrace and help finance the new government taking shape in Libya, they could face a particularly awkward relationship with Islamists like Mr. Belhaj. Once considered enemies in the war on terror, they suddenly have been thrust into positions of authority — with American and NATO blessing. . .

Continue reading.

Here’s a startling proposal, in two ways: it’s startling today, and the need to suggest it would be startling to the US of a few years back.  The proposal: The US should not torture anyone, and it should vigorously investigate allegations of torture and punish anyone found responsible, in accordance with the laws we have, and in particular in line with the Convention Against Torture, the supreme law of the land, ratified by the Senate and signed by President Reagan. Obeying the law: it’s not just a good idea…  etc.