Sen. Dick Durbin got all choked up and apologized for his comments. He had said that reading the accounts of prisoner abuse, without knowing it was Americans performing the abuse, he would have thought it was notes from the Nazi, Soviet, or Pol Pot regimes of the past.
People are always going to recoil when you compare American acts to Nazis, and I agree the senator could have chosen his words better. We’re not gassing people, using them for medical experiments, or dumping them in mass graves.
But read some of these descriptions, all recently released records from the FBI, and tell me that it makes you proud to be an American. If this ain’t torture, then it’s Torture Lite. It’s not full-fledged atrocity, but it’s a gateway atrocity.
4/6/02: Records detainee saying that Military Police “have been mistreating the detainees by pushing them around and throwing their waste bucket to them in the cell, sometimes with waste still in the bucket and kicking the Qur’an.” He adds that “in the Muslim culture, people do not get dressed, shower or use the bathroom in front of others; however, they are being forced to do so.”
6/7/02: Records detainee stating that “he had been beaten unconscious approximately three or four weeks ago when he was still at Camp X-ray. According to REDACTED an unknown number of guards entered his cell, unprovoked, and started spitting and cursing at him. The guards called him a “son of a bitch” and a “bastard,” then told him he was crazy. REDACTED rolled onto his stomach to protect himself . . . A soldier . . . jumped on his back and started beating him in the face. REDACTED then choked him until he passed out. REDACTED stated that REDACTED was beating him because REDACTED was a Muslim and REDACTED is a Christian. REDACTED indicated there was a female guard named REDACTED who was also beating him and grabbed his head and beat it into the cell floor.”
8/1/02: Notes that “[p]rior to his capture, REDACTED had no information against the United States. Personally, he has nothing against the United States. The guards in the detention facility do not treat him well. Their behavior is bad. About five months ago, the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Qur’an in the toilet. The guards dance around when the detainees are trying to pray. The guards still do these things.”
8/23/02: Notes, “[w]hen REDACTED was turned over to US authorities, he was beaten by the US military forces. REDACTED was turned over to US authorities REDACTED. He was taken by helicopter to an unknown location where he was beaten. While his eyes were covered, he was kicked in the stomach and back by several individuals. He noted American English accents. After being moved to an unknown facility in Bagram, his head was placed against the cement floor and his head was kicked. As a result of other beatings in Bagram, REDACTED received a broken shoulder. During one evening REDACTED was left outside of the facility where he was being held. The ground was wet and it was snowing. He was wearing only pants and a ragged shirt. As a result of being out in the cold, he became unconscious. . . . . When he was moved to Kandahar, he was not beaten as frequently and severely. Periodically, REDACTED was kicked and pushed. He was dragged three times to interrogations. On one occasion during prayer time, a soldier placed his foot on REDACTED head and sat on his head. REDACTED stated that the soldiers wore tan and brown camouflage uniforms, with US flags on their arms.”
8/28/02: Notes, “REDACTED stated that one of the guards at Camp Delta recently removed his prayer cap from his head and threw it in the trash for no apparent reason. REDACTED does not think it to be religiously proper to use this cap again . . . . Accordingly to REDACTED he lost a filling from the right side of his mouth after he was kicked in the mouth by an American soldier in Afghanistan. REDACTED states that after he had been captured by the Northern Alliance and turned over to American soldiers, he was then interviewed on several occasions by the United States (US) military. According to REDACTED immediately after his final interview he was being taken back to the holding facility when he tripped and fell to the ground. REDACTED hands were handcuffed behind him at the time. Before REDACTED had an opportunity to stand up, REDACTED states a US soldier kicked him violently in his jaw. REDACTED states he did nothing to provoke this assault.”
10/12/02: According to the detainees, some of the guards are telling the detainees that while they are sitting in a cell in Cuba, American soldiers are having sex with the detainee’s mothers.
1/8/03: Notes that, “REDACTED claimed that detainees were often put in freezing cold isolation cells with no blankets for days at a time. He also stated that they (the detainees) are only given the equivalent of 12 hours of exercise per year. REDACTED also said that the guards often beat the detainees when they search their cells . . . . He also said it was not right to use the Qur’an as reward/punishment; doing so is disrespectful of the Qur’an.”
3/27/03: Notes that “REDACTED claimed that when he was first captured, he was tortured by those asking him questions. He had to stand up for five days straight and answer questions. He was also forced to strip naked and stand in front of a female interrogator.”
4/21/03: “REDACTED . . . Gave an example of the behavior of Americans. A detainee returned from an interrogation with blood on his face and head. He said a female interrogator, after not getting cooperation from him, called four guards into the room. While the guards held him, she removed her blouse, embraced the detainee from behind and put her hand on his genitals. The interrogator was on her menstrual period and she wiped blood from her body on his face and head.”
4/28/03: REDACTED did say that two detainees have recently complained of being sexually assaulted in the interview rooms. REDACTED did not say who the detainees were but did say that they were embarrassed because an interrogator had pulled their trousers down during the interview and sexually assaulted that individual. REDACTED felt that such practices ‘might create a new terrorist.'”
7/31/03: The following day he was taken to medical and handcuffed to the bed with a hood over his head. A female came into the room and started to rub her chest on him. She removed his pants and fondles his private with her hand until he was erect. She then raped him. He was told ‘the next time it will be a man.’ After this he told the interrogators that he made the oath to UBL.”
I think you get the picture. Now I’m sure someone will make the “our torture is luxury compared to their torture!” argument, or the “wouldn’t you beat a guy to find out where the ticking bomb is about to go off?” argument, but I’m not playing. I expect the United States of America to behave better than a despotic regime. The fact that there’s even a question here to discuss — is our behavior torture? — speaks volumes. If we were behaving the way we’re supposed to, anyone asking that question would be laughed out of the room. To think that we have to go to the extreme to justify our actions (well, it didn’t cause organ failure, did it?) makes me sad for our nation
