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Méndez attacks the American author Alan Dershowitz for defending torture on the grounds of the highly theoretical ‘ticking-bomb’ argument: that there is only one person who is able to prevent a bomb detonating in five minutes’ time. He refuses to de-activate it. Would you torture him? For one thing, this never happens. For another, yes, you would; but when or if you were convicted of torture, your sentence, if any, would of course reflect the circumstances. It has nothing to do with the real world.
Taking a Stand principally examines the attitude of the United States. President Carter was strongly and actively against torture but when Ronald Reagan took over in January 1981, most of Carter’s work was undone. Things deteriorated further under Bush senior, did not improve under Clinton, and hit rock bottom under Bush junior.
As soon as Obama came to office he put an immediate end to some of the Bush regime’s worst horrors. But he failed to close down Guantanamo Bay, and has not pursued those who, in earlier years, were involved in what amounted to torture. It is especially inconsistent for the US to ignore its own past violations while its official position on repressive regimes elsewhere demands that crimes against human rights be investigated, prosecuted and punished in accordance with international law.
Mendez damns truth commissions with faint praise. According to him, they are all very well, but are no substitute for the prosecution of those responsible for torture. Successful prosecutions do, he argues, play a significant part in discouraging others.
One point which the author has got wrong in my opinion is his apparent satisfaction with the British government’s formal judicial inquiry last year into the mistreatment of detainees in Iraq, entrusted to Sir Peter Gibson. Most human rights organisations have boycotted this inquiry on various grounds, and it is likely to be considered a whitewash. But on the whole, Mendez is by no means reluctant to attack the British as well as the Americans, alleging that British forces have for years handed over detainees to Iraqi authorities, knowing full well that they would be tortured.
Everyone should read this book, because while not exactly enjoyable, it is fascinating, appalling and hugely thought-provoking. It is all too easy to shut one’s eyes to the many things which constitute man’s inhumanity to man.
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