January 14, 2009
Posted by Claire
How many of our military members have been tortured?
According to the definition used by a Bush top official they have all been tortured.
From the Washington Post
(h/t Right Nation)
Emphasis mine:
The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “life-threatening condition.”
Ok, barring nudity (and even then I am sure guys can tell you all about passing a hygiene inspection and the fun that entails) our men go through this regularly in training — with the exception of the sustained isolation. They are slammed in the other direction where they get no privacy and that can be maddening as well — especially in red phase when you have a new mommy who yells insults at you, belittles you and then smokes your butt for the sake of smoking your butt.
Damon, Toy Soldier… care to chime in here?
We even have civilian reports that prisoners in Guantanamo live better than our own soldiers.
Then, the article continues….
Crawford, 61, said the combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on Qahtani’s health led to her conclusion. “The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent. . . . You think of torture, you think of some horrendous physical act done to an individual. This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. It was abusive and uncalled for. And coercive. Clearly coercive. It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge” to call it torture, she said.
We are not talking about torture techniques. Instead we are talking about a cumulative effect on a prisoner who has been in prison and is not cooperating. How will we ever determine how much each prisoner can handle when it comes to authorized techniques? Remember we are not talking about unauthorized or torture techniques. This is a new definition. Isn’t that special?
Does anyone give a diddly-squat that we tried to be “coercive” with a prisoner who was linked to terrorist acts against our Country? Could it be, that maybe, just maybe, we were actually trying to get information that could save us from another attack? Terrorists are not know for being loose lipped. Now, they have even less reason to be.
Thanks.
Bah.
I need to give a Jackass of the Day award. I feel it coming on.
8 Comments
January 14, 2009
I guess what Islam does to “our” soldiers and civilians doesn’t count as torture. After all, that process ends in the individuals death. So it can’t be a part of the sample population according to the new definitions of torture. As a result only the US is guilty of torture. Bah.
(
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
January 14, 2009
You go, girl . . . dole out that Jackass of the Day Award . . . I’ll second that notion . . . . .
January 14, 2009
Ask any fraternity/sorority pledges about their initiations.
For that matter, I remember my own initiation as a Navy Chief way back there in January 1976. Given a choice – which I wasn’t – I’d have opted for Sob Sister Susan’s “torture” in about half a heartbeat.
JotD should be only the beginning for this clueless ninny (hinny?)
January 14, 2009
Hinnyninny? :ch
Yep, and some may argue that the prisoner’s deprivation went over a longer period of time… well I know what our guys go without when an invasion is new! They don’t go into a war with FOBs and Pizza Hut! Gah!
Being in prison is a consequence. What did Barretta always say? “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!”
January 14, 2009
I remember my sons initial days as part of the “Surge” and the nonstop work and no sleep. In the beginning they would generally sleep two hours a day.Many of you know because your soldiers went thru the same thing!! It is amazing the disconnect some elites or just plain airheads have with reality. If some of the Gitmo prisoners are returned they will be executed and of course it has been well documented some have returned to fight another day.Where are all the grownups!!! We are in a war against an ideology that is captivated and fixated on death!! Man have I got carried away.!!! Bulldog Out!! Claire thanks for the kind words.
January 14, 2009
Bulldog, you didn’t get carried away at all. Heck, I’d vote for you! Common sense and a realistic world view is exactly what we need most and exactly what we see lacking in our leadership.
January 14, 2009
I saw a BIG write up on this on the BBC of course…Drives.me.crazy. Can you see the smoke coming out of my ears?
I tell ya, those residents at Gitmo get better treatment than a lot lot of folks who live outside Gitmo..(And yes, I have also heard from some of our soldiers of the conditions they face in the sandbox.) YES! Mr Hooah! The name Matt Maupin came to mind as I read YOUR words…
JackAss of the Day Award is too good for any of those morons, but it’s a start.
January 15, 2009
Matt Maupin, yes, but Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca too!
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