The Cost of Torture on Returning Vets

The Cost of Torture on Returning Vets
by: Matthew Alexander
Mon Jun 21, 2010 at 13:46:54 PM EDT

I've been following what happens to the soldiers who torture detainees after the soldiers return from war. Some of you may remember that I wrote previously of Nancy Sherman's excellent book, The Untold War, about the effects on soldiers who do the right thing but still experience guilt. As Richard recently pointed out about former President Bush's admission that he ordered the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammad and he'd do it again, there are all types of ill-effects of that policy. We're now beginning to see some new ones - severe PTSD and suicides among those that were asked to torture and abuse detainees. Step in author Joshua Phillips and the men of Battalion 1-68.

Phillips investigated the case of one soldier, Adam Gray, who committed suicide because of the guilt he felt over torturing prisoners in Iraq. And what happens next you'll have to read None of Us Were Like This Before to believe because Gray's isn't the last suicide. Phillips continues to interact with Gray's former comrades to this day and I can tell you from what he's related that the soldiers continue to battle with the mental scars of having tortured detainees. Those who authorized torture and defend it don't want to talk about this. They took honorable, patriotic young soldiers and convinced them to sacrifice the very principles that they had signed up to defend. That paradox is what Phillips investigates and brings to light. And he does it with the utmost respect for the soldiers.

Phillips is also, correctly, highly critical of two major failures of the military. The first is the failure of too many leaders to actively ensure that their soldiers treated detainees humanely. And, secondly, he points to the failure of military criminal investigators to pursue allegations of torture and abuse, which in effect was carte blanche approval for such unlawful activity. But mostly what makes None of Us Were Like This Before such an engaging read, and why there needs to be more attention on the issue of what happens to those who torture when they return, is that the stories are up close and personal. Phillips interviews extensively Gray's family members and other members of Gray's unit and what emerges is a picture of the tremendous toll this policy has taken not just on the soldiers, but on our country. For those who thought that torture and abuse were isolated to Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq (not counting the CIA's black sites or extraordinary rendition), think again. It's coming home.

If the military is to make amends for this disastrous policy, one way to do so is to take care of the soldiers who are suffering from the effects of having implemented it. It's the least we owe them.

a good idea. bush and cheney need to go on trial

Well, not "none"; Bush would apparently torture people by remote control again. And again. And again. And what we learn is what has been learned over and over through human history: Torture has demeaning effects on the victim, but also on the perpetrator. The people least affected by it are the ones who order it done. The ones who never hear the ineffectual screams of the victims or the sniggering approval of comrades in the room. That approval comes at a very high price, as the torturers must bond and encourage one another to do what they all know is wrong.

And then, weeks or months or years later, as the torturers' psyches have time to work and a sense of balance comes back into life, the horror and inhumanity of what they've done is a very efficient torturer in its own right. The government that ordered the torture doesn't care; in fact, it will use a wide array of denial techniques to minimize or ignore what happened. The torturers are on their own against their consciences. And so are we, the ordinary citizens.

George W. Bush and his outlaw administration fucked us nine ways from Sunday, and it will go on for the rest of my life and yours.

These Warmer and Fuzzier GESTAPO style types of operations never fooled anyone but the fools. How can you ever hope to "WIN" when you act just exactly like the "despotic regimes" you are trying to eliminate?

The smoking lamp might be lit, but the Beacon of Freedom is all but extinguished.

:kick:

Have you seen Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's 10 episode show, The Pacific? It's based on the true story of quite a few Marines' lives during WWII. The Marines who are now in their 70s and 80s are in each show at the beginning telling their stories.

This isn't new. This isn't a big fucking secret. They take people who are young and idealistic and patriotic and turn them into killers just at the age when they can because these people want to serve and be grown up and responsible citizens. Then when they're finished they just throw them away because they're damaged.

It's sick and yet so many people think it's just normal human behavior. If it were then people who kill and torture would be the most healthy.

It's not fucking normal.

Because the folks advocating torture should really have a chance to present their case, and explain in detail why folks like Adam Gray are just a bunch of wimps who can't face what the price of our freedom truly is.

Color me shocked! Or not.

First, it has to stop.

good post