Rally protests CIA torture tactics

About 25 University students, faculty and local residents gathered outside Frist Campus Center Thursday to protest what they called the inhumane treatment of prisoners by the U.S. government in the War on Terror.

"It's very important that Americans step up and say that torture is incompatible with what we stand for as Americans," said Asheesh Siddique '07, coeditor of the Princeton Progressive Nation, who organized the event. He cited the urgency of the protest in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal last year and the recent discovery of covert prison facilities in Iraq and Eastern Europe.

Despite an enthusiastic start to the rally, the group disbanded prematurely before its scheduled march around campus due to cold weather, Siddique said.

"It is sad to me that more people didn't turn out, but it's not too surprising," Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 said after the protest. "We need to find different ways to convince people that now is the time to make their voices heard."

Siddique organized the rally in support of Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) proposed amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill that would standardize interrogation practices and prohibit cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of persons detained by the U.S. government.

The Senate passed the McCain amendment 90-9 last month, but corresponding legislation was not included in the House authorization bill.

"We need to support what 90 senators finally found the courage to stand up and support," Slaughter said.

The bill — which the White House has threatened to veto — is stalled in the Congressional Conference Committee. The Vice President's office has been the main source of opposition to extending McCain's amendment to the CIA, Slaughter said.

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"While we can establish a legal framework for stopping torture by passing his amendment, we also need the means to verify that the new law is being carried out," Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) wrote in a statement he prepared for the protest, read by his district representative. Holt has proposed legislation that requires the videotaping of interrogations.

"This is a national security issue where I believe the United States risks making itself more vulnerable by mistreatment of prisoners," politics professor Gary Bass said at the protest.

He described U.S. policy as a "battlefield disability," potentially making enemies less likely to surrender for fear of mistreatment.

Professor Frederick Hitz '61, former inspector general of the CIA, agreed and added that the CIA historically has forbidden the use of torture directly or indirectly.

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"Until the last few years, it would have been unthinkable that we would not comply with the Geneva conventions," which dictate the international treatment of prisoners, Slaughter said.

Due to the new category of non-state combatants, such as al-Qaeda terrorists, who are attacking foreign states, Slaughter said the United States needs to negotiate with United Nations allies to formulate a new protocol within the Geneva conventions.

Students also spoke in favor of standardization of interrogation tactics.

"If our new definition of war is to spread our ideals and democracy, then we can't use the outdated concept of torture," said Kelsey Johnson '08, who skipped lecture to attend the event.

Johnson added that the event was poorly publicized, attracting few students. She said that many liberal groups depend on mass email lists to publicize for events, instead of visibly posting around campus.

"If you create better outlets, then people would want to know about [interrogation tactics] and talk about it," Johnson said.

Peter Varela '08 said some students lack awareness regarding these issues. "It's the world we live in, so we should at least have some sort of understanding outside of the Princeton community and this country," he said.

Although Slaughter believes "Princeton is politically quite healthy," citing last year's filibuster, she said when she was an undergrad in the late 1970s, students protested in front of Nassau Hall on a weekly basis to support Africa.

"A lot of this stuff is very removed from students' lives," Siddique said. "I don't think that Princeton students don't care; I think sometimes they may not have all the information."