Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, criticized the Bush era policies of combating terrorism and demonstrated how the American society was silenced in the face of interrogation techniques almost amounting to torture in his book Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis published in 2005. Carter manifested why democratic values, harder to defend during the most delicate periods of combating terrorism, should be persistently advocated.
Needless to say, combating terrorism is more difficult in democracies. In order for democracies to pass ‘the terrorism test’ it is a sine qua non to have people who believe in the virtues of democracy and unwavering adherence to law. The American case illustrates this most aptly. The fact that 1200 people were taken into custody shortly after the attacks in line with the strategy of combating terrorism as enforced by the Pentagon, the CIA and Presidency triumvirate in the midst of the September 11 fear environment also denotes the point made above. Carter expressed the outcome of not having people who adhere to democracy and the values underpinning it thorough combating terrorism when he said that “there has been a dramatic change vis-à-vis the attitudes toward preservation of fundamental individual rights for the last 4 years. Many American citizens approved of these unprecedented policies for fear of terror attacks. This in turn did great damage to America’s prestige around the world.”
Carter found it embarrassing that ‘the United States gave up its role and historical mission as the defender and promoter of human rights, which was, in fact, even legally justified’. Those who will reverse this process, despite all the pressures, will be the American people themselves and opinion leaders, who firmly believe in democracy and the rule of law. This is why Carter says in his book that ‘it will be the American people guiding their government in the right direction to ultimately bring the American values that have eroded with the torture and bad treatment practices’. Even the election of Barack Hussein Obama to as the first African-American president of the U.S. can be considered American people’s reaction to those practices done under the name of combating terrorism.
In fact, the United States still cannot rid itself of the 11 September trauma. The fact that Defense Minister Robert Gates appealed to the Supreme Court to block the release of photos from controversial interrogation techniques and torture done against the suspects and prisoners demonstrates the continuing impact of that trauma. In response to Gates’ appeal, the ACLU , which won the right to release photos, said that ‘these photos will be an important part of our collection. They are also very significant in terms of holding responsible and opening into debate those in Afghanistan and Iraq seen applying these interrogation techniques in the photos.’
Apparently, the American society is still suffering from facing the interrogation techniques that do not respect human dignity at all. This pain is being felt in the media, the courts and administrative levels. For example, President Obama announces the closure of the Guantanamo base and withdrawal from Iraq on the one hand while he increases the number of soldiers in Afghanistan and does not allow the release of controversial interrogation photos on the other.
As a consequence, the process of American antiterrorism combat, which is often referred to but little known in Turkey, offers invaluable lessons to be gleaned. The American example tells us how difficult it is to uphold democracy and the values system accompanying it during the fight against terrorism. Consolidated democracies manage to govern such processes thanks to the astute and selfless defense of people like former president Carter. Such people are then accused of ‘treason’ but praised for ‘patriotism’ in consolidated democracies.
Ihsan Bal
The Director, Center for International Security, Ethnic Studies and Terrorism, USAK/ISRO
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