Obama provides roadmap to resolve our tortured past

By Rev. Richard L. Killmer

It's difficult to admit wrongdoing, particularly when you did it knowingly and intentionally. But the Obama administration took that difficult step by taking responsibility for our government's actions when it was uncovered that American doctors intentionally infected nearly 700 Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea during the 1940s.

While President Obama and his administration should be applauded for taking the moral high ground, the question remains why the administration has not prioritized allegations of forced torture experimentation on detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere. Medical experimentation without consent is wrong wherever it takes place, and learning how the breach in U.S. law occurred is undeniably important.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius openly acknowledged that the experiments conducted on Guatemalans were "unethical" and "reprehensible" and they apologized "to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices." Meanwhile, the CIA has denied allegations contained in a report issued by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that provided evidence of the involvement of U.S. military and intelligence health professionals in performing illegal and unethical torture experiments on detainees in the custody of the U.S. during the past decade - clearly without the detainees' consent.

While a thorough investigation will now be conducted into the Guatemalan matter and an international group of experts will issue a report on how to ensure that such unethical experiments never happen again, the only public comment the PHR report received was public denial. Twenty national faith groups and many human rights organizations called for an investigation of this issue, but so far the matter has only been referred back to the CIA, the agency responsible for most of the experiments.

The passion, the commitment, and the moral certainty that the administration rightfully brings to the issue of unethical human experimentation in Guatemala suggests that the failure to respond in equal measure to the need for a commission of inquiry on torture may be a political choice.

"We have to look forward, not backward," President Obama has said when pressured to investigate torture practices during the Bush administration. Yet he and his administration know when it comes to human rights abuses like torture we cannot move forward without first investigating our past. In the area of human rights -- specifically the fundamental and universal right to be free from torture -- civilized, democratic governments must be transparent and accountable. It's not only what we've agreed to in our international treaties, it's what we must do to live up to our deepest values.

Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, has recently acknowledged this for his country when he established an independent inquiry into the use of post 9/11 torture and rendition. Mr. Cameron noted the number of allegations of abusive treatment against British personnel and said, "The longer these questions remain unanswered, the bigger the stain on our reputation as a country that believes in freedom, fairness and human rights grows."

Mr. Cameron called for a thorough investigation. He said he is "determined to get to the bottom of what happened." And, similar to the words and thoughts of Secretaries Clinton and Sebelius in the Guatemalan matter, Cameron said, they need to find out "what went wrong, and... what we must do to uphold the standards that people expect."

Given the strong action taken on the Guatemalan experiments, it appears the Obama administration also agrees in principle. May the spirit that guided the administration to admit, apologize, investigate, and make recommendations on the Guatemalan experiment enable the Administration to investigate the torture experiments on U.S.-held detainees and create a commission of inquiry on the use of torture on post 9/11 detainees in U.S. custody.

Rev. Richard L. Killmer is the executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

By Richard L. Killmer |  October 13, 2010; 5:17 PM ET Save & Share:                 
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