Ronald Reagan stood AGAINST torture, Will you?

[sweet-a-kins]

May 20, 1988, when sending the Convention Against Torture to the U.S. Senate to be ratified, Reagan said:

"The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention. It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

"The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called 'universal jurisdiction.' Each State Party is required required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution."

Here's what the Convention actually said:

"No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, maybe invoked as a justification of torture...Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law."