Gen. Irvine Speaks about the Constitution Project Report on Detainee Torture

On Tuesday August 4th, 2015, dr. al-Hibri was joined by General David Irvine to talk to the Law and Leadership Summer Program participants about the findings of the Constitution Project task force they were part of and which investigated U.S. torture practices. Dr. al-Hibri said: “civil society had to come together to safeguard our nation’s character. That was our reason to do this, because we take our Constitution and our rights seriously.”

Gen. Irvine spoke about his experience in the Army and as a lawyer and how he became part of the task force. Having taught prisoner interrogation and military law in the 6th Army Intelligence School, Gen. Irvine distinguished between the principles of interrogation which he was taught, and the interrogation techniques revealed in the task force’s report. He traced his education in prisoner interrogation back to Stewart Harrington, an interrogator who had said of his philosophy: “I’ve never done anything as an interrogator that I would be ashamed to tell my mother about.” He also described the policy that had been American military policy for 200 years prior to 2002, which specifically noted “in waging war we do not terrorize helpless noncombatants,” and that “respect for the reign of law is expected to follow the flag wherever it goes,” including the law that marks torture as an illegal practice. Gen. Irvine explained the missteps in U.S. military policy since 2002 that enabled torture to be so widely used, but also took note of the steps that have been taken in recent years to move beyond those torture practices. Most importantly, he said of torture, “it’s illegal, immoral, ineffective, and we should never be involved in it again.”

LLSP participants appreciated Gen. Irvine’s lecture. One student said, “your respect and your honesty and the utmost integrity with which you present your material is really honorable,” while another said, “I really appreciate someone at your level talking about these issues…it just makes me really happy to know that at least someone is doing something about it.”