Last week Major General Antonio Taguba (US Army, Ret.) joined PHR and a bipartisan group of civil society groups and national security experts, including Judge William Sessions, the former Director of the FBI, in calling for a national commission to investigate the torture of detainees by US personnel.
General Taguba, the head of the US Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal, and the author of the preface to PHR's landmark report, Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and its Impact, spoke to Salon.com about why he supports accountability for detainee abuse:
This is not a political issue, but a moral and ethical dilemma which has far-reaching implications…. We have future generations who will be the beneficiaries of these actions. We have a lot of unanswered questions on accountability, questions that need to be answered … We have an integrity issue to contend with if we are to prevent this matter from recurring.
Join with PHR's Campaign Against Torture in the weeks and months ahead as we work to ensure that the full history of the Bush Administration's detainee treatment policies are known, perpetrators are held to account and survivors receive compensation and psycho-social assistance. PHR will also continue to be the leading voice calling for full disclosure of, and accountability for, violations of medical ethics committed by US health professionals involved in the torture and abuse of detainees.