Those Annoying Torture Memos

It’s a mystery to me how indifferent Thai media are about the U.S. torture memos that cause quite a stir over in Washington. A mystery, because “in Thailand”, somewhat at the center of it all, those torture sessions “apparently occurred,” as we’re told by Fox News‘ senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. Many other sources name Thailand.

Thailand recently again denied the existence of such chambers of shame on Thai soil – but as The Nation’s Tulsathit Taptim put it: “Forget (army chief) Anupong. If he was lying, he was just a man reacting to a hot potato. The real issue is with those who have been doing it consciously.” Saw that? How conveniently the leadership is let off the hook.

But why would it matter. No Thai was tortured and obviously those dungeons brought results. “Torture works,” stupid, and personally me thinks the end can justify the means. But it’s plain green childishness that the military and civilian leadership of a nation consistently deny an allegation that has long become fact.

In any healthy environment a duteous media would be all over it in the name of governmental transparency and accountability. Even more so in the case of current Thailand as the torture took place under the rule of Thaksin. Imagine the headline: “Torturer Thaksin.” What else could serve the yellow cause even better.

What we don’t know so far: who was tortured EXACTLY when and where by whom. We know the about, but not the exact. Rest assured, our American colleagues won’t rest until those memos are published and we get to know places and names.

You’ll again hear Thai denials, but with Thailand’s credibility anyway down the drain that further official denial will be politely understood as yet another bizarre prevarication coming out of a Bangkok that – among a ton of other problems – has to reschedule the Asean summit with the six dialog partners for a record fourth time …

The issue at stake is not if Thailand tortured. The issue at stake is credibility. But hardly any Thai media will care two hoots about the blatant discrepancies between official statements and facts, further driving a wedge between local and foreign news reporting.

Credibility, sincerity – no government shall last without.




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April 22, 2009 | Filed Under News & Media, Politics 

Comments

7 Responses to “Those Annoying Torture Memos”

  1. Fonzi on April 22nd, 2009 11.22 pm

    I am working on a special blog piece for this, so I didn’t blow it off. It is just a huge effort to put the pieces together. We do know who was tortured – the big players – and generally when. The Thai generals and security services did know and so did the Thai media way back then.

  2. bosunj on April 23rd, 2009 11.23 am

    Torture is both a war crime and a crime against humanity.

    Monster Dick Cheney may have gone on that paragon of right wing propaganda FOX News and shot off his mouth but his statement that torture works is ludicrous. Mengele would be proud!

    Top Interrogation Experts Agree: Torture Doesn’t Work

    http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/04/top-interrogation-experts-say-torture.html

  3. laura on April 24th, 2009 12.17 pm

    Maybe Thai torture works. They wouldn’t have done it over here for no reason, would they. Or Bush simply trusted Thaksin that he’ll keep his mouth shut.

  4. bosunj on April 25th, 2009 5.52 am

    Have we really sunk so low as to seriously ask, Does torture work?

    http://buzzflash.com/articles/carpenter/371

    Those supporting the war crime crime and crime against humanity of torture are glaringly similar to those who advocated murdering protesters at the airports so they could get home without delay. Disgusting similar!

  5. BangkokDan on April 25th, 2009 7.03 am

    Your outrage bosunj invokes the equation that if torture has to be rejected terrorism has to be rejected, which will hardly be refuted by anyone.

    Not torture per se is the issue here, but “selective torture” as a means to prevent a possibly much larger crime, such as blowing up a plane.

    If torture works depends on many factors. But I’d like to see the guy who threatens my family to be made-to-talk instead of repeating the mantra “torture is a crime” and welcoming that guy as a part of the family of torture-rejecting citizens of the world, even though he’s about to inflict pain on a grand scale.

    The opposite would be plain naive and irresponsible.

    BangkokDan

  6. bosunj on April 25th, 2009 12.02 pm

    Torture is a war crime and a crime against humanity. No amount of rationalization changes that fact. There is no justification for torture. Ever.

  7. bosunj on April 26th, 2009 12.38 am

    Mengele would have been so proud of these guys: I sure as hell am not.

    http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m53689&hd=&size=1&l=e

    Why?!?!? Because a country which legitimizes torture cannot, for one second, have its representatives speak about freedom, human dignity, or human rights without getting rightfully booted off the international stage as hypocrites and liars.

    If we are silent, knowing that this government legitimized torture, we become accomplices after the fact.

    Everyone who signed off on torture, from former President Bush on down, should be prosecuted within the fullest extent of the law. Only then can we begin to restore this country, both in the eyes of its citizens, and the eyes of the world, as a moral country with a conscience. – Michael Rivero

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