We can learn from US fight on terrorism

What you need to know:

  • At least 26 suspects were brutalised and detained without trial. The report concluded that the “enhanced” interrogations were ineffective in achieving the desired results.
  • So, what can Kenya learn from this? Coming hot on the heels of allegations of human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings, police brutality, corruption, and dishonesty, this report presents Kenya with moral lessons.
  • on that Kenyans ought to embrace and internalise. We have a dark history marked by police brutality, state-sanctioned torture, corruption, negative ethnicity, extra-judicial killings, detention without trial, intimidation, and lawlessness.
  • Our expectation that reports by commissions of inquiry appointed in the past to investigate some of these incidents would act as a mirror to help us repair our tainted image have not materialised as some of them have not been released.

The US Senate report on the CIA’s actions in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks shows the spy agency in bad light in the way it arrested, interrogated, and detained terrorism suspects. The damning report claims that CIA agents tortured and wrongly held suspects in contravention of international human rights.

The document said the CIA officials deceived their superiors at the White House, members of Congress, and even sometimes their own colleagues about how the interrogation programme was being conducted and what it had achieved.

At least 26 suspects were brutalised and detained without trial. The report concluded that the “enhanced” interrogations were ineffective in achieving the desired results.

This report could subject the US government and its officials to prosecution and numerous civil suits. It could put at risk American global interests and jeopardise security at home and abroad. Yet, the US still put out the report to be scrutinised by the whole world. Why?

The United States must have considered the cost of releasing the report. The advantages must have outweighed the disadvantages. Even though the report may subject some US officials to prosecution and potentially open the floodgates for civil suits, it presents a lesson from which the US and the world can learn, improve justice systems, and uphold human rights.

The US seems to want to reclaim its position as a global moral leader that upholds human rights, protects freedom, and promotes principles of democracy and also to repair its battered image.

OPEN SOCIETY

So, what can Kenya learn from this? Coming hot on the heels of allegations of human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings, police brutality, corruption, and dishonesty, this report presents Kenya with moral lessons that are critical to propagating an open society that abides by the rule of law, punishes lawlessness, protects freedom, and promotes the principles of democracy.

The United States of America is a super power and the biggest economy on the face of the earth, but the release of the report shows that it is willing to learn from its mistakes and enhance national cohesion.

That is a moral lesson that Kenyans ought to embrace and internalise. We have a dark history marked by police brutality, state-sanctioned torture, corruption, negative ethnicity, extra-judicial killings, detention without trial, intimidation, and lawlessness.

Our expectation that reports by commissions of inquiry appointed in the past to investigate some of these incidents would act as a mirror to help us repair our tainted image have not materialised as some of them have not been released.

The mwananchi needs to know what these inquiries unearthed as they cost taxpayers millions of shillings. So, how can we avoid past mistakes in the future if we do not know what we did wrong in the past?

President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Jubilee administration should borrow a leaf from the US. Yes, we are fallible. Yes, we have a dark past, but our past mistakes should not dictate our future, which should be determined by our ability to learn from history.

By admitting our mistakes and being willing to learn from them, we can rebuild our society and make it into a lighthouse of hope. Denial of the truth can only lead to destruction.

The writer is a Kenyan working and living in Philadelphia, USA. ([email protected])