Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　　　　　On December 9, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report concluding that “enhanced interrogation” of suspected terrorists conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency under the Bush administration had been nothing other than torture and failed to provide any effective intelligence. (Democrats released the report despite opposition from Republicans.) In response, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who had come under fire for the reported torture, ceded no ground in his defense of the enhanced interrogation, emphasizing that the Bush administration did what it should to capture those responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and prevent further attacks.
　　　　　Even among Democrats, Leon Panetta, who served as CIA director and secretary of defense in the Obama administration, said in his memoir that while waterboarding and the like are unfavorable, every means should not be excluded in a ticking timebomb scenario where suspects have key intelligence with millions of American lives being at stake. In fact, enhanced interrogation brought about useful intelligence, he said. We may have to pay attention not to political struggles in Washington but a common perception between Cheney and Panetta (whether they differ over the range of ticking timebomb scenarios or enhanced interrogation).

"Rape of Nanking" cited abruptly
　　　　　Twenty-four Japanese were among the victims of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Many Japanese abductees are waiting for rescue from North Korea. In such situations which require prompt action, how to get intelligence from enemy spies is a key challenge for Japanese politicians as well.
　　　　　Meanwhile Cheney and interviewer Chuck Todd exchanged implicative remarks on NBC's Meet the Press (broadcast on December 14) as follows:
　　　　　Chuck Todd: “When you say waterboarding is not torture, then why did we prosecute Japanese soldiers?”
　　　　　Dick Cheney: “Not for waterboarding. They did an awful lot of other stuff. To draw some kind of moral equivalent between waterboarding … with the rape of Nanking (Nanjing) and all of the other crimes they committed, that’s an outrage.”
　　　　　On the previous day in China's first National Memorial Day ceremony at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Japanese soldiers slaughtered 300,000 people in Nanjing in 1937. His remark represented an outrageous distortion of history. There was not any indiscriminate massacre of any scale or magnitude surprising to the Chinese Communist Party.

China's ongoing evil should be blamed
　　　　　In the next year to commemorate the 70 anniversary of the end of World War II, the Chinese Communist Party will focus on taking advantage of the card of history for separating the United States from Japan. Chinese leaders might have been pleased to hear the more propaganda-oriented word of "Rape of Nanking" than "massacre" from leading U.S. conservative Cheney. When a third party provocatively likens the CIA's actions to those of defunct imperial Japanese forces, an American may say: "It's out of question. Look at the Rape of Nanking." Such U.S. response could come as a check for Japan's Abe administration. In such twisted way, China may increasingly use the history card.
　　　　　What Japan and the United States that share basic philosophy should attack is the Chinese Communist Party regime that is abusing human rights and taking arrogant hegemony actions at present. Japanese and American conservatives must not mistake the target and time frame for their criticism, although leftists may do so.

Yoichi Shimada is Planning Committee Member, Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, and Professor at Fukui Prefectural University.