Just read this article (
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003345862) in Editor and Publisher, and tell me that torture isn't destroying our troop morale.
“Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed….”
She was was then assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards, and sent to suicide prevention training. “But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle,” the documents disclose.
The Army talked to some of Peterson's colleagues. Asked to summarize their comments, Elston told E&P: "The reactions to the suicide were that she was having a difficult time separating her personal feelings from her professional duties. That was the consistent point in the testimonies, that she objected to the interrogation techniques, without describing what those techniques were."
I listened to an old episode of Art Bell the other night from 2002. He had published pictures of prisoners being transported to Gitmo on his website and was surprised that anyone was alarmed at their treatment. He went into a jingoistic rant that if a few of them blew out of the plane, that would be OK with him. This was all pre-Iraqi invasion. Caller after caller called in to say that yeah, these prisoners would be treated better in our custody than in some Arab countries.
Yeah, that sure turned out to be the case. Most of these guys turned out to be innocent and the torture, in addition to being pointless, was gratuitous.
We sold our moral high ground for nothing more than Republican pride and the inability to face the fact that their methods gained us NOTHING.
So damn them all to hell. (A heavily discounted statement from an atheist to be sure, but a heartfelt one.)
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Sandy Clark - Writer - Geek - Dad
www.daddyzine.com - www.americanscary.com