PHR Library

Published in The New York Times on October 5, 2007

PHR President Responds to 2005 Justice Department Torture Memo Disclosure - A Letter to the Editor of The New York Times

Re "Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations" (front page, October 4, 2007)

To the Editor:

Only by restoring the rule of law can the United States repair the damage done by the Bush administration's lawless torture policy. No amount of legal jujitsu can change the fact that torture is defined as the infliction of physical and mental pain and suffering — precisely the conduct administration lawyers approved for the C.I.A.

In a new report, "Leave No Marks," Human Rights First and Physicians for Human Rights demonstrate that the C.I.A.'s enhanced interrogation techniques, especially when combined in ways described in your article, do indeed cause severe pain and suffering in clear violation of the War Crimes Act. The report is based on a rigorous review of medical literature and legal analysis.

It is time for the law to be enforced, for perpetrators to be held accountable, for Congress to explicitly prohibit the C.I.A.'s enhanced methods, and for American institutions and values to be reclaimed.

Leonard S. Rubenstein

Pres., Physicians for Human Rights

Washington, Oct. 4, 2007