January 10, 2009 10:30 AM
Gitmo Whistleblower Talks To BBC About Torture
Former Gitmo guard Chris Arendt has told a BBC interviewer about the abuses he saw there. He was quite clear that what he saw was ''torture'' and that some of his fellow guards were so violent as to be ''psychotic.''
Here's Arendt talking at the "Winter Soldiers" press conference hosted by IVAW back in April last year.
He tells the BBC in this new interview that the abuses he witnessed included heavy beatings, shaving insults into inmates hair and the usual "enhanced interrogation" techniques wingnut senator Jon Kyl is so proud of - for opposition to which he would contest Eric Holder as Obama's nominee for Attorney General.
Personally, I'd say Kyl's opposition was a great reason to confirm Holder.
without upsetting their mutual animosity.
The other week Scott Horton, on the Harper's blog (No Comment) explored the animus against Holder from the Right. Mostly, it's Roverian self-ass-covering.
From the left, criticism of him stems from his being such an unapologetic CorpoRat tool.
in the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and White House should be FORCED at the points of a pitchfork to go through what this soldier describes.
if our president sez it's not torture. it only seems like torture to those being tortured. in essence it's like a simulation of torture because it seems so like torture as to be....well.. just like torture without being torture at all..
Only Traitors Torture !!!!!!!!
Just think how lovely it will be to have these sickos blend back into the fabric of america.
There should have to be an ID program, like the sex offender register, to keep track of these creeps.
Would you want your daughter to marry one of these guys? First time she steps out of line may be her last. How else would anyone know where these clowns decide to settle in?
It's widely known that Israel tortures Palestinians, and the US government supports Israel fully, so.......
Let's put blame where blame belongs, at the feet of GW Bush and his administration.
Young kids, far from home, without adequate leadership is a recipe for disaster. If anything, we should be applauding the ones who are willing to speak out against this kind of abuse.
Thank goodness for the IVAW.
loves their torture. It's a good thing they have zero empathy, so like sociopaths they can sleep like babies.
Still no word how it can be that we prosecuted the Japanese for torture because they waterboarded but if we do it is it not torture. Please answer the damn question.
That suggests one answer to your question.
All you have to do is ask these assholes whether or not they'd support the same techniques against American soldiers.
these assholes do not care if our troops got tortured.
Last night Rachel Maddow had the most incredible segment with Jonathan Turley I've ever seen.
I wish you would put that clip up for everyone to see (or if any of you techno-geeks can find it and link it here...we'd all appreciate it.)
Did anyone else see that segment? Very powerful comments from Turley on torture and war crimes.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Rachel talks to Jonathan Turley about why the Obama administration needs to go after the Bush administration for war crimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkNoVjrOJmM
Got it.
All the arguments and points made by many comments here yesterday.
Biggest revelation for everyone that likes the choice of Panetta, the Number 2 guy at the CIA is the man that presided over the detention programs.
If he still has a job, don't expect any prosecutions.
n/t
While I was busy cleaning the cat box and the bird cage and sweeping and doing my "Snow White" routine (including whistling and singing), you manned 'em up and found the link.
Muchos gracias!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
If we don't work together we are screwed. Good request as well.
Deserves its own thread, IMHO.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Thanks from me also. If these war criminals and those that autorised the illegal wiretapping also are not prosecuted then America is no more.
The US has kidnapped and tortured men/woman/children over the pass 7 years and Dick Cheney is proud of it. Bush lied as long as he could but when Hicks was released to help Howard win an Election the full secrets were out. Hicks was never a terrorist and even his US Military lawyer said so. It was a mistake by the US as was many others who we kidnapped on false information. Bush/Cheney had hoped McCain/Palin would win so the no one would know the truth. With 8 more yiears of Republicans in the White House all these detainees would be dead and no one would be the wiser. Most Americans really don't care because their not Americans being tortured. Yes Bush Torture Policy is now Legal around the World thanks to the UN doing nothing. We just watched Israel lie and say their killing Palestine people for their own good to remove Hamas who were elected by those same people.
I saw in the 50's/60's Americans hang Black men from trees/kill children and even burn churches. Black people were tortured by the KKK before they killed them and if whites helped they were killed too.
We still have some of that hate in America what's sad is it's in our Govenment. WE HAVE NOW BECOME LIKE OUR ENEMY. Obama/Biden can change back the Law to make the US human again but they can't change the pass 8 years of the horror we were. The World didn't learn a thing. When Evil Leaders reach out an committ horror on other humans and their not stopped future generations pick up the same thing. Americans in the future will be kidnapped/tortured/raped/murdered and held without charges or fair trial and that group will hold up the 2002-2009 Bush Torture Policy for approvel.
Out of the media spotlight, the US has been the enemy to a great number of nations around the world, and for a very long time. Past American foreign policy as somehow virtuous has been more myth than fact. Certainly there have been acts of benevolence, but the overthrow of governments around the planet for the benefit of either corporate interests or military interests, with support for murderous dictators with torture lessons from U.S. advisors, has been an ongoing program for decades. Thousands have been tortured and hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, with more permanently disabled, thanks to Uncle Sam.
Excellent post on the former American soldier who blew the whistle on American torture overseas. This simply underscores the fact why those in the military today should be following the example of Chris Arendt by speaking out against the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and/or deserting from their units. The GI movement helped to bring about the end of the Vietnam War and if enough soldiers emulate the example of their predecessors [as was demonstrated in the powerful documentary Sir! No Sir!] the same thing can happen today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The best way to halt an occupation/war is to have is happen from within.
is humiliation considered torture under the geneva convention?
I don't believe it is descibed there as torture but is still included as being proscribed.
I wish there was a more effective way of putting a stop to this madness. Blogging is informing and a good alternative from the piss poor media in this country. We did get Obama elected, which is a good thing. But this doesn't seem enough. I wish a million or more of us could march on Washington and put a stop to this madness once and for all. These talks by people like Mr. Arendt are good, I wish there was something more we could do.
The documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side" is heartbreaking as well.
Obama can mean what he says is to prosecute those who ordered torture. Otherwise his stand against torture is toothless. Let the right-wing bastards spin in the wind all they want, if there is no punishment for crimes there is no justice.
Jo
Excellent observation. Unfortunately, as this article points out, Obama, the [alleged] agent of change, has no desire to prosecute anyone in the Bush administration for torturing people. In addition, the article also has Senator Pat Lehay saying that no one in the current administration will be tried for war crimes.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/108905/if_obam...
Is this not wonderful? Obama had no hesitation in criticizing Bush when Obama was a senator but now that he will soon be president he and the rest of the Democrats now feel that war criminals should not be held accountable for their actions. One wonders how long it will be before the Obamamaniacs will finally begin to express buyers' remorse for having voted for a weak-kneed enabler like Obama.
That's because my Senator Leahy is scared shitless that any trials would implicate him as well as a few other prominent Dems. Leahy has been covering Rumsfelds ass since the torture story first broke back in '04.
Has Obama yet said anything about Gaza? He did about Mumbai, so his argument about one president at a time is inherently dishonest.
If he passes on all the crimes then he is no better than those who carried them out, and becomes an accessory after the fact in at least a moral sense.
Lazy Cosmos
Obama finally made a statement regarding Gaza a few days in which he only issued a tepid statement saying that he is "deeply concerned" with the Israeli and Palestinian deaths while drawing absolutely no moral distinction between the miniscule deaths of the Israelis and the many more Palestinian casualties that have occurred as a result of Israeli bombs that have been supplied by the United States. It would seem that Obama does not wish to incur the wrath of AIPAC while offering, to use one of Obama's favorite words, absolutely no hope for the people of Gaza.
Australian ex Gitmo prisoner, David Hicks hasn't talked about his ordeal yet, he is so screwed up because of his treatment he is undergoing rehab. His plea bargain guilty plea release was fast tracked to get Howard back into power, and his need to get the hell out of there for he was losing his mind. In the meantime, hunt down a doco, The President and David Hicks.
You can find out about this document here:
http://www.linktv.org/program/spot_hicks
Sorry, bad link. Just type into Google--- The President versus David Hicks and it comes up.
in Italy during the stand-off at Monte Casino. He has told me, personally, that his BEST TOOLS for getting good information were a fresh pack of American cigarretts, a hot meal, a warm cot, and a bottle of wine.
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/04/us-milit...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
sing like canaries.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Here is the link to the video on the BBC World News website.
I saw the story Friday but failed to record it.
A better synopsis than the YouTube video.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
I understand why they use young men for the job. What I don't understand is why adults would torture people upon orders from the president? Don't they know that someone that would order someone to torture someone else, is a fucking lunatic.
What does that say for someone that takes orders from a idiot?
For gods sake people wake up!
Those old enough to remember, "following orders" was NOT an excuse that could be used after World War 2 when they held the dog and pony trials. Pretty sad.
that you were never in the military. Taking orders from idiots is what you learn on the very first day.
They say it has prevented more attacks.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/011009.html
These SOBs will be brought to justice at some point. Kyl and the other wingnuts are welcome to continue their defense of the torture that they promoted as Cheney ordered and Bush allowed them to go hog wild with it. Blood sport. Let them enhance their public record of supporting these crimes. They will pay, even if it's years down the road after the economy that Bush ruined has been tended to. It will be an integral part of fixing the foreign relations disaster that Bush has wrought.
As Obama said there is one President at a time. Many feel Obama should step up while Bush is the one who made the plan with Israel and Abbas of the Fatah Party to wipe out Palestine. Yes Cluster bombs are used to kill as many woman/children as possible. These people voted for Hamas but Bush/Israel didn't like their choice so this is the results. As noted with film coverage one family was told by Israeli soldiers to go to the safe building and then that building was bombed. Israel will continue the Holocause Massacre on Palestine until Bush leaves office Jan. 20th 12:01pm. Israel has said this is the plan because without McCain they know Obama will not support Israel in this attack. Yes the Israel cells planeted in the US Govenment will and did support murdering Palestine men/woman/children but our New Commander-in-Chief wont. Feinstein and Lieberman will have to get new orders from Israel. Most of the Law Makers have gotten kick backs to go along with this invasion and now either do as their told or their names will come out that they supported it in the first place. I look forward to the Middle East stepping up and taking back all their land that was given to Israel in 1948 by the United Nations. Now the UN can't do anything since they allowed Bush to illegally invade Iraq and kill 1 million people. Iran and North Korea now have reason to develop Nuclear Weapons as Israel could use it's Nuclear Weapon at anytime.
VISIT: http://thetorturer.com
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