Over the last 24 hours, news about U.S. torture in Iraq has been leaking out:
- A former prisoner testified to Congress that he was beaten, hung by his arms for five days, subjected to electrical shocks and, "They stuck my head into a bucket of water and punched me in the stomach," he said. "I inhaled the water. ... It was a strong punch."
- The FBI was so disturbed at what they saw at Guantanamo that FBI staff created a "war crimes file" to document accusations against American military personnel at Guantanamo. For example, the head of the FBI's national security law unit wrote in July 2003: "Beyond any doubt, what they are doing (and I don't know the extent of it) would be unlawful were these enemy prisoners of war"
- The U.S. military not only tortured prisoners for themselves, but also did the "dirty work" of "softening up" prisoners for Chinese interrogators
The U.S. has also tortured prisoners to death in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
Not bad enough for you?
Well, the U.S. has imprisoned 2,500 children since 9/11 as "enemy combatants", in violation of the Geneva Convention against classifying children as POWs.
Okay . . . Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh says that the U.S. Government has videotapes of boys being raped at Abu Ghraib prison (see also this and this).
This doesn't come as a complete surprise, given that assistant deputy Attorney General John Yoo has publicly argued that the president can order the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.
Congratulations, America. This is being done in your name.
If you're not sick to your stomach by learning that your government has been killing and torturing people - including children - then you are a psychopath or a pervert.
Don't try to tell me that torture is a necessary evil. It is well-known by professional interrogators that torture doesn't work. Experts on interrogation say that torture actually interferes with the ability to gather useful information.
