US military tells '24': Cut out the torture scenes

In the hugely popular television series "24," federal agent Jack Bauer always gets his man, even if he has to play a little rough. Suffocating, electrocuting or drugging a suspect are all in a day's work. As Bauer–played by the Emmy Award winner Kiefer Sutherland–tells one bad guy: "You are going to tell me what I want to know–it's just a matter of how much you want it to hurt." But while "24" draws millions of viewers, it appears some people are becoming a little squeamish. The US military has appealed to the producers of "24" to tone down the torture scenes because of the impact they are having both on troops in the field and the US's reputation abroad. Forget about Abu Ghraib, forget about Guantánamo Bay, forget even that the White House has authorized interrogation techniques that some classify as torture, that damned Jack Bauer is giving us a bad name. The United States Military Academy at West Point confirmed that Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan recently traveled to California to meet producers of the show, broadcast on the FOX network. He told them that promoting illegal behavior in the series–apparently hugely popular among the US military–was having a damaging effect on young troops. According to the New Yorker magazine, Finnegan, who teaches a course on the laws of war, said of the producers: "I'd like them to stop. They should do a show where torture backfires.... The kids see it and say, 'If torture is wrong, what about '24'? "The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do." The meeting in November was arranged by Human Rights First, a nonprofit organization that has launched a campaign against torture both in the real world and on television. It says that since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, the incidence of torture in television shows has soared. In 2000 there were 42 scenes of torture on prime-time US television, while in 2003 there were 228. The group's David Danzig said: "I think there is no question [it is having an effect]. We have spoken to soldiers with experience in Iraq who say, for young soldiers, there is a direct relationship between what they are doing in their jobs and what they see on TV.... It's the same abroad. "The image of the US and its military [being involved in torture] is being affirmed." The show, first broadcast in November 2001, is produced by Joel Surnow, whose California office reportedly contains a US flag that once flew over Baghdad. Surnow boasts that both the military and the Bush administration are fans of his series and insists that "24" is "patriotic." But during the fourth series of the show, broadcaster FOX was forced to air a series of public service announcements, following criticism about the series' portrayal of Muslims by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In addition, while Surnow may not have any qualms about "24," it appears the show's main protagonist does. In a television interview last month, Sutherland said: "You torture someone and they'll basically tell you exactly what you want to hear, whether it's true or not, if you put someone in enough pain.... Within the context of our show, which is a fantastical show to begin with, the torture is a dramatic device to show you how desperate a situation is." Others point out that coercive interrogation techniques that some argue amount to torture, including the use of stress positions, military dogs and sleep deprivation, have been authorized by the highest levels of the Bush administration. Meanwhile, last year, when President Bush signed into law a piece of legislation authored by Senator John McCain to prohibit the "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" of prisoners, the White House issued a so-called signing statement in which it insisted the ban could be ignored if the president so authorized. Wayne Smith, of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, an international human rights group, said: "Even the FBI has confirmed executive orders authorizing the use of hoods and dogs and stress positions. "If [these things] were being done to US troops, we would call it torture."