I Saw A Film Today, Oh Boy...
 ...about
a lucky man who got tortured.
Before I go on, please watch
this video of a journalist who
volunteered to be waterboarded. There
are probably very few people nowadays who don't
understand the basic priciples of the procedure but this
video is like
an auto accident... you just can't help but look.
Now, understand that this is a guy who thought he knew what he
was getting himself into. He'd prepared himself for the experience,
mentally and physically, and he's no 97-pound weakling. He was
so sure of his chances he even took bets
he'd
last more
than fifteen seconds.
Yes, fifteen whole seconds. That seemingly sets the bar pretty
low... or so you'd think.
After he'd been strapped, head down, to the inclined board he was
given a heavy metal object that he was instructed to drop to the
floor when he'd
had
enough. The "torturer" then slapped a wet towel over the journalist's
face and then proceeded to pour water from a gallon jug onto it.
Six seconds later the metal object hit the floor.
Visibly shaken and heart still racing the journalist then discusses
the experience and it's clear that this a gruesomely effective
method
of manifesting
the
blackest
fears
of
death the
mind and body can imagine.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad underwent this procedure at the hands of
Americans six times a day, every day, for a full month. He was
not given the opportunity to stop the procedure whenever it felt
uncomfortable.
It was torture, pure and simple. It's no wonder he confessed to planning the
9/11 attacks. He probably confessed to a lot of things he may
not be guilty of.
I
know
I would have.
In 1945 the U.S. military executed several Japanese officials for
waterboarding Americans during the war in the Pacific. They were
all hanged. Considering that the Bush administration used torture
to gin up false data
regarding
WMD
in Iraq as an excuse
to start a vanity war in that country I'd say that hanging is too
good for those we find guilty.
My fervent wish is that this administration somehow find the guts
to carry out what has become already perfectly clear are war crimes
of the worst kind. Let us not let almost
a million
innocent Iraqi men, women and children plus almost 50,000 dead,
wounded or mutilated American soldiers go unavenged.
Please make it clear this cannot happen again.
I'm now going to leave you with two quotes. You decide which is
worse:
"I did not have sex with that woman." - Bill Clinton
"We do not torture." - George W. Bush.
=mike=
Addendum: Former CIA officer Bob Baer explains why torture
doesn't work on Bill Maher's Real Time. See
it here.
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