GLOBAL DIALOGUE Volume 12 ● Number 1 ● Winter/Spring 2010—Working the Dark Side

Torture and the Ideology of National Security

ROBERT CRAWFORD

Robert Crawford is professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Tacoma.

he political struggle over torture by United States’ military and intelligence personnel took an unexpected turn in 2009. Contrary to what might have been expected, the issue was not put to rest with the election of Barack Obama. Instead, the conflict over torture escalated dramatically throughout 2009. The new president’s anti-torture position set the stage, and a series of events related to torture propelled the controversy forward.

The critical events were as follows: in November 2008, Obama, who had vowed to end torture, won the presidential election. On 22 January 2009, President Obama issued an executive order that required US interrogations to comply with Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and with the Army Field Manual. The order also revoked all Justice Department legal interpretations pertaining to interrogations between 11 September 2001 and 20 January 2009, and required the Central Intelligence Agency...