[Dialogue] Torture, the president and SMU

[KarenBueno at aol.com]

Torture, the President and SMU

Appalling admission underscores criticisms of  library site
By the Rev. Dr. Andrew J. Weaver
On April 11, three days after the Southern Methodist  University (SMU) chief 
executive wrote a letter extolling the benefits to the  school of hosting the 
George W. Bush Presidential Library, President Bush  admitted that he had been 
involved from the beginning in the torture of  prisoners suspected of 
terrorist activities.  
SMU President R. Gerald Turner sent a letter on April 8 to  delegates to the 
South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist  Church (UMC) 
lauding supposed financial advantages to the school and other  virtues of the 
Bush library and partisan think tank.  
President Bush says he knew … details  about how high-value al Qaeda suspects 
would be interrogated by the Central  Intelligence Agency. 
On April 11, ABC News reported: “President Bush says he knew  his top 
national security advisers discussed and approved specific details about  how 
high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central  Intelligence 
Agency.” According to White House sources, the discussions about  torture 
techniques were so detailed that some of the “interrogation sessions  were almost 
choreographed.”  
Vetoed legislation
A month earlier, on March 8, Bush vetoed legislation banning  waterboarding 
and other methods of torture used by government employees. The  legislation 
would have limited CIA agents to 19 less-aggressive tactics outlined  in the U.S. 
Army Field Manual. The president stated that the government “needs  to use 
tougher methods” than the U.S. military to wrest information from  terrorism 
suspects.  
This statement is appalling, given that Steven Miles  documents in Oath 
Betrayed: Military Medicine and the War  on Terror that at least 19 prisoners have 
been tortured to death by the  U.S. military.  
Waterboarding has a long and sickening history. It was used  as a means of 
torture and coerced baptism during the Protestant Reformation and  Spanish 
Inquisition to convert Jews, Mennonites, witches and other suspected  heretics.  

Torture is a  crime against humanity and a violation of every human rights 
treaty in  existence. 


Waterboarding consists of immobilizing an individual on his  or her back with 
the head inclined downward. Water is then poured over the  individual’s face 
to force the inhalation of water into the lungs. As the victim  gags and 
chokes, the terror of imminent death becomes pervasive.  
Torture is a crime against humanity and a violation of every  human rights 
treaty in existence. It represents a betrayal of the deepest values  of the UMC 
that founded and built SMU.  
In the supposedly “less enlightened” 18th century, John  Wesley explicitly 
preached against the torture of prisoners of war:  
"War itself is justifiable only on principles of  self-preservation. 
Therefore it gives us no right over prisoners, but to  hinder their hurting us by 
confining them. Much less can it give a right to  torture, or kill, or even to 
enslave an enemy when the war is over." 
No sign of contrition
President Bush claims to be a “proud Methodist,” but shows  no sign of 
contrition or regret or repentance for his support of torture. To the  contrary, he 
continues to try to justify himself and protect those in our  government who 
have used and continue to use torture.  
Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died while being  incarcerated by 
Nazi Germany, rightly called the cowardliness of Christians to  make evil-doers 
accountable for their wicked deeds “cheap grace.”  
It is a defilement of our church to build a monument on a  UMC campus to “
celebrate [President Bush’s] accomplishments,” as the project was  described in 
the New York Times by Don Evans, chair  and a chief fundraiser for the George 
W. Bush Foundation. This monument to a man  who approves torture will 
permanently damage the UMC’s credibility to share the  good news of Jesus Christ.   
____________________________________
  
Editor’s note: Andrew Weaver is  a United Methodist minister and research 
psychologist living in New York City.  He is a graduate of The Perkins School of 
Theology at SMU and organizer of _www.protectSMU.org_ 
(http://www.protectsmu.org/) . Weaver has co-authored 14 books  including: Counseling Survivors of 
Traumatic Events  (Abingdon, 2003) and Reflections on Grief and the  Spiritual 
Journey (Abingdon, 2005).  
The United Methodist Church General Conference, the  denomination's top 
policy-making body, voted overwhelmingly 844 to 20 to refer  a petition for the 
library’s rejection to the South Central Jurisdiction of  the denomination where 
Southern Methodist is situated. A vote on the petition  is expected at the 
jurisdictional conference this July. 
Date: 5/9/2008 12:00:00 AM
©2005-2008




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