The Road To Surfdom

Consider the sheer irony steeped hilarity of this front-page report in The Australian Friday morning:

AUSTRALIAN soldiers are being blindfolded, stripped naked and menaced by savage dogs for up to three hours in extreme training exercises to prepare them to resist torture.
The intensive regime, approved at the highest level of government, is about to be upgraded in response to the growing threat from enemies who do not respect the rules of the Geneva Conventions.

Yes, curse those awful people who do this sort of stuff and do not respect the Geneva Conventions.

You remember the Geneva Conventions, don't you? They were those rules of behaviour that the White House thought were "rendered quaint" and no longer operative, right before they allowed their soldiers to, what was it now? Oh yes, blindfold, strip and harrass with dogs anybody they deemed an enemy. (Amongst other things.)

Defence Minister Robert Hill has confirmed interrogators are authorised to use threats of physical and sexual abuse during simulated interrogation sessions at the Defence Intelligence Training Centre at Canungra, near the Gold Coast.

"When approved by the exercise director, working military dogs that are muzzled and short-leashed may be used during advanced RTI (resistance to interrogation) training, in the presence of RTI trainees (including naked trainees), in order to create realism," Senator Hill said in a written response to a parliamentary question from federal Labor MP Daryl Melham.

"Create realism"? Oh, come on, Senator Hill. Haven't you been listening to the endless explanations from supporters on the pro-war right that this stuff bears no relation to torture or abuse and is no more threatening than a bit of fraternity hijinks?

This won't prepare our soldiers for anything other than three years at university.