AP: Iraqi Died While Hung From Wrists

[Career Prole]

SAN DIEGO - An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back, according to investigative reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that it had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances of the death were not disclosed at the time.

<snip>

His death in November 2003 became public with the release of photos of Abu Ghraib guards giving a thumbs-up over his bruised and puffy-faced corpse, which had been packed in ice. One of those guards was Pvt. Charles Graner, who last month received 10 years in a military prison for abusing detainees.

Al-Jamadi died in a prison shower room during about a half-hour of questioning, before interrogators could extract any information, according to the documents, which consist of statements from Army prison guards to investigators with the military and the CIA's Inspector General's office.

One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets," according to a summary of his interview.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050217/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraqi_prisoner_s_death

"Hey Mister Attorney General Gonzales, sir...we did what you said and he still didn't talk!"

[Spazito]

1. Geez

There is no friggin way this is not a war crime, imo.

[NNN0LHI]

2. I am starting to find out how the sane Germans felt in Nazi Germany n/t

[Ganja Ninja]

10. And how they felt trying to live down the evil legacy after the war.

I'm so F**ing ashamed of my country.

[Just Me]

17. What have we become?

:cry:

We're just as bad as the rest of the "evil-doers" in this world.

:cry:

[Say_What]

18. America's Amnesia

This kinda sh*t's been going on for years. That *beacon of freedom and democracy* they spoon fed us was nothing more than indoctrination.

<clips>

America's Amnesia

...Americans are "very naïve," she says. "They don't want to see" the involvement of the United States in torture over the years. The Abu Ghraib scandal "is nothing new," she says. "This has been happening behind your eyes for many years."

The United States likes to see itself with a halo on its head, and whenever a revelation like Abu Ghraib or My Lai surfaces, U.S. citizens tend to shrug it off as an anomaly. When you look at the last fifty years of U.S. history, it is anything but.

From Greece to Iran to Indonesia to Vietnam and throughout Latin America, the U.S. government has been complicit in the torture or murder of hundreds of thousands of people.

"If we had photographs of what our so-called allies in Honduras and El Salvador and Chile were doing, based on training they had received from us in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the American public would have been even more horrified," says Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. This was torture by proxy, but it was at the direction of Washington. "The only difference between this kind of conduct now and in the past is that there wasn't somebody with a digital camera back then keeping track of what was going on," says Kornbluh.

http://www.progressive.org/july04/roth0704.html

[Just Me]

23. We need more "conservative Republicans" like Schwarz,...

,...tearing down the lies and more iconoclastic media coverage serving the interests of our people!!!

http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/07news01.htm

[Say_What]

31. This guy has the balls so needed by the Dems

WOW!! Spot on!

...I now believe that is the underlying agenda of the Patriot Act, so that they may put down dissent from an outraged nation where we can all be defined as ‘Al Qaeda terrorist.’”

...I’ve been convinced since 9/11 happened that 9/11 was a staged Pearl Harbor, that these people have gone out there and waged war. They have killed the truth to take over a business deal that they couldn’t otherwise get done through a commercialized transaction.

ICONOCLAST: So in your opinion, was Osama bin Ladin in on this at all?

SCHWARZ: I don’t think he was involved at all. And the reason I don’t think he was involved is Part 6 of my Bush Mythology Bubble series on Online Journal. The Part 6 article is about a post 9/11 payoff flight that left within six to eight hours after 9/11 happened with a very large amount of cash. There was a post-9/11 payoff made. We know somebody who was on that flight. We were able to track him down, and now he’s dead. He’s no longer with us.


Here's a link to his Pop goes the Bush mythology bubble

[tlcandie]

52. Karl Schwarz actually posted here some time ago and several

folks gave him a VERY hard time. Thanks for posting this! :hi: Might could search archives with poster as Karl Schwarz.

[KayLaw]

48. Fantastic article!

I wish Freepers who imagine themselve conservatives would read it and find out what Conservative really means!

[Briar]

25. America's Amnesia

"Discarding this tool may not be easy, says Dorfman. "If Americans were to truly acknowledge (let me emphasize that word 'truly') what is being done in their name, they would have to change the way they live and remember, work and play," he says. "Or give up seeing themselves as ethical."


Great article. The Germans were forcibly re-educated after 1945 - that's how they came to loathe Naziism. So what force can make those Americans who voted for Bush look their nation's atrocities in the face?

[davekriss]

59. The American Holocaust...Central America

I am well aware of the torture and terrorism by proxy the USG has practiced world-wide since WWII. Our practices in Central America were dubbed "the American Holocaust" by a dissenting former State Department official. Which brings me to this chill.

Once while flying back to the states I had occassion to sit next to a forty-something man that just gave me the creeps even before he spoke. He appeared fit, well dressed, tan. We started talking about lives not lived, about personal paths not taken; then he told me that he had just resigned from a high position in the intelligence community, that he was stationed first in Costa Rica, then Honduras in the eigthies, then about a half dozen other places in South and Central America and was now returning home (mid-nineties). He pretty much covered the nations subjected to "The American Holocaust". We were sitting in a full first class (few upgrades), making me more inclined to believe him (the well dressed, well monied, usually aren't crippled by mental illness -- well except some of the personality disorders).

The first thoughts I had were Honduras + eighties + intelligence community = crimes against humanity. Did this man personally clip the sensitive parts of young students, labor leaders, and simple peasants and then, with perfunctory professionalism, turn on the electricty? Or did he just supervise his Contra and Honduran charges on how to do it right -- move it here, he instructs, catch that flap of skin, that will maximize the screams and tears. I bit my tongue; I was polite. For all I knew this man was a back room administrator far from the crimes against humanity his colleagues deployed. But then again... I mentioned the School of the Americas and he got very quiet.

He was drunk; drinking very heavilly. He told me he only has a sister left back in the states. O, a vacation?, I said. No, I'm going back to die, he said, I have inoperable brain cancer. They tell me I have less thana few months to live. I said I was very sorry for him and that I wished him well, and we said nothing to eachother for the rest of the trip.

When we landed, he asked me if I wanted to stop for a drink. I said no, my wife was going to pick me up, then we started walking to the customs area. I walked slowly, letting him walk ahead. I felt sorry for him, with no sister present to receive this drinking and dying man. But at the same time I felt anger and rage at this pig of a man that could of personally degraded, tortured, and killed any number of other human beings. He walked ahead, turned a corner, I saw him no more and I felt relief.

Evil exists, it is found in the hearts of men; when you come upon it, you know -- and your impulse is to get as far away from it as possible. I envision those Gustave Dore etchings in my father's copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy, there he is, my jet-mate "high up in the intelligence community", half submerged in a pool of fire, a wild-eyed demon gnawing at his head, in pure unending misery for the iniquities he unleashed while he walked the earth.

A cosmic tragedy all round.

[Barrett808]

20. Yes, it seems like we're ever closer to being the next White Rose Society

White Rose Society
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/wr.htm

[tom_paine]

26. Starting to, Don? We already fully know

Just because they haven't started murdering us at random.

They are in the Same Family of Rulers as the Nazi, the Soviets, Ferdinand Marcos, and Augusto Pinochet.

ANYONE who lives in those countries knows how we feel, and we they.

It is only the luck of the National Myths of Old America that they aren't rounding us up right now.

It's funny, Don. Living through It Happening Again has made me feel more sympathetic to the 1930s Germans, because as we all know once the waters of information have been so poisoned, once enough Goebbelsian automatons are programmed to shriek lies, once THE PARTY's power reaches a certain tipping point, nothing can be done to stop it. Nothing.

As I have gained more sympathy to the plight of the Good Germans of the 1930s I have become more contemptuous of the Imperial Subjects of Amerika in 2005.

Pecause we should KNOW better. We HAVE the examples of the nazis and the Soviets and Marcos and Pinochet that the Good Germans of 1933 didn't.

This is, without a doubt (and to be honest I must include all of us, too) the most disgraceful set of Americans to ever inhabit this nation.

Not even Americans, really. Imperial Subjects. Nothing more.

[Barrett808]

29. I try to resist this kind of fatalism, but today it's pretty difficult

It does seem like it's just too late. The only choice now is whether to emigrate and be a victim of the Bush mafia's foreign policy, or stay put and be a victim of the domestic policy.

[Patchuli]

Please don't include all of us

because there are lots of us who have been fighting this evil administration from the start and will continue to do so. I am
horrified and embarassed by what our troops have been told to do
to innocent civilians. I spoke out before this war began and have
stayed active since. I can only hope that the world knows that at least 48 percent (or so, maybe more) did our best to throw the American dictatorship out of office.

[tom_paine]

50. Sorry, Patchuli, but we ARE all to blame, me, you, everyone...

And I, too, have fought and spoken out from the beginning. Wrote letters and made calls to Congresspeople. Spoke out and kept speaking out, even when it has hurt me to do so.

In 2004 I worked and donated my ass off to Kerry, my Congressional and Senate Campaigns, and sent money to campaigns across the country like Tom Delay's opponent.

And yet, by late 2000, everything was already in place. The time for concerted action was the 90s. But so few of us comprehended the growing problem. This is a New Beast the Busheviks constructed, and people are STILL being caught by surprise by it's unique Totalitarian Engine.

My point, is in the 90s I did NOTHING. So did our Democratic Leaders, when taht was their job, not just to counter the opposing Party, although that was the case, but to observe and respond to any action that fundamentally weakened the Constitution of the Old United States or the Mechanisms of Democracy, such as a Free Press.

well, all these things happened and we slept right through it. At least I, our Democratic leadership, and millions upon millions of others did.

Well, there's nothing wrong with fun, that's what Old America was about. But we abrogated our duties as citizens, and under our noses the foundations had crumbled before December 2000 gave them a finishing whack and the first facade fell. But otherwise it was:

"Everything is working FINE. Why do I need to bother myself with that boring crap? Let's BBQ! Let's party! Let's have fun!"

I mean, by impeachment's end I was plenty pissed off in the Old American Way, against injustice and abuse of power because the Busheviks broke more laws to bring that bullshit charge than Clinton did in getting his BJ. But I had no idea and I laughed, too, when Hillary mentioned "A Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy".

That's my point. Pleae don't take it personally. And if you are one of the few, the proud, who recognized this all before that fateful December day when Old America was struck a fatal blow, and Lady Liberty raped and left in the gutter. The first Presidential "election" in 225 years to be decided by means other than laid out in the Articles of the Constitution.

Why did the Buseviks do that? They had the votes in the Imperial Kongress to do it Constitutionally. Why take it to the Courts.

I think it was to ensure Double-Jeopardy would cause the issue to be closed forever, and NEVER reexamineed under subpeona, which is how they gfot the tobacco companies.

So now I am rambing, but we are all to blame. 99% of us. If you are in the 1%, I apologize for offending.

[Patchuli]

58. No we aren't to blame

The neo-cons are to blame. Clinton was a fine president and if we
are to blame for anything, it was to allow the whack birds to harass
his presidency for 8 years. What * has done makes Bill's bj look
even more ridiculous than it did back when it was happening.
All this current insanity, beginning in 2000 (the true Y2K scary thing)
was never expected from the so-called 'conservative' party.

I don't think any of us thought the RW was as f***ing crazy as they
are. Under the misrule of these freaks, up is down, black is white
and nothing makes sense.

It will be our fault though, if we continue to allow their destruction of our lives and our world unabated!

[catgirl]

65. Our troops aren't all murderers

Just because they were told to do horrible things doesn't
mean they HAD to. Only the sadistic ones could do such things.
And to receive only 10 years? There's NO JUSTICE in that sentence.
I would have given anyone involved in this LIFE in prison. This
poor man suffered more than I can imagine.

Didn't Dan Rather do an interview with a higher ranked army
officer? I seem to recall it. Funny how he was harrassed & arrested after leaving a restaurant. Am I confused? That was him, right?

[tabasco]

57. For the last two days I have said the exact thing to myself.

This must be what the sane Germans felt like as their country spiraled into insanity.

[psychopomp]

3. I remember that photo

RIP

Hey USA, you've come a long way, baby.

[0007]

36. N/A

N/A

[0007]

37. How could one forget?

[Politicub]

64. I weep for my country

:(

We are no better than the nazis.

[yellowcanine]

4. "Mistakes were made. Nothing to see here. Move along now."

I will be very surprised if this is even a one day story.

[GodlessBiker]

7. I agree. It's all for the better cause, you know.

After all, you never know the information they could have gotten out of him if he had just come clean before he died.

It's disgusting and no one is taking responsibility. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; no one took responsibility 60 years ago either.

[enough]

5. I am nominating this, though

A story like this can't be called "greatest." Maybe we should have another DU page called "worst."

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Imagine the sick sadistic minds at work there. Suspending someone

by the hands that are handcuffed behind their back. I don't ever recall hearing about this particular thing even being done in the nazi camps. Just imagine what it would be like there by now if the story didn't break.

[psychopomp]

9. Who need imagine? We all saw his photo

And he looked like a "regular guy." We've met the enemy and the enemy is us..

[atreides1]

13. The Nazis had Worse Techniques

Reports say that the Vietnamese used this particular form of intimidation on US POWs.

The hands were tied behind your back, and tied to a rope, which was then pulled upwards. This would cause the arms to be pulled from the sockets.


Not a pleasant thought is it?

By the way the Gestapo would actually hang people from meathooks, while they were still alive!!!

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. No doubt they did worse, however I didn't recall this

particular technique.

[SnowGoose]

21. Wow! Great news, the Nazi's were worse than us...

Somehoe that doesn't make me feel any better about what my tax dollars paid for.

[atreides1]

30. It's Not A Question of Being Worse Then Us

The point is that the no matter who does it, it is still wrong and a crime. It's not the severity, but the fact that it was done at all.

[SnowGoose]

43. Guess I misunderstood your point

it seemed to me like your meaning was something akin to "hey, what our troops did was *nuthin*, lemmie tell you about those dang Nazis...", and in so doing, were minimizing the seriousness of what had been done.

I guess we agree, as you put it, "no matter who does it, it is still wrong and a crime"

All the best,
'goose

[spinbaby]

33. That's our standard now?

Not as bad as Nazis?

[Career Prole]

38. Didn't they make a campaign poster?

BUSH/CHENEY'04
Not As Bad As Nazis!

[DS1]

40. That's apparently why John McCain can't lift his arms above his shoulders.

Totally destroyed sockets.

[daleo]

28. I think this is a pretty common torture technique

Pinochet's men did this, I believe, among many other U.S. allies. One wonders whether the CIA taught them this trick.

[starroute]

34. It's a Spanish Inquisition sort of thing

I've run into descriptions of it when reading about the medieval witch-hunts. Definitely out of the era of racks and thumbscrews. This one qualifies as torture even under the narrow definitions the US is trying to apply.

[truebrit71]

42. This method was commonly used by the Nazi's in Auschwitz.

n/t

[Cocoa]

8. something to ask Negroponte about

it's clear from the first day of TV coverage that they won't broach the human rights issue when discussing Negroponte.

They'll leave it to the dems to do at the confirmation hearing and then they'll alternately ignore them, and/or trash them for doing it.

[DrWeird]

11. The Passion of the Iraqi.

Fucking savages.

[Say_What]

12. What many people fail to realize is that this is nothing new in US history

It happened all over Latin America (and the rest of the planet) and these SAME TORTURE techniques were used there as well. The USSA has a record of human rights abuses that would rival Stalins.

Here's a little clip from Negroponte's past and the School of the Americas.

<clips>

...During the Reagan administration, and while Negroponte was ambassador to the country, �Contra� militias were trained in Honduras. The Contras had hitherto made relatively small attacks across the border into Nicaragua until in 1982 thousands of marines arrived with up to 200 military advisers � airstrips were built, arms supplied and radar stations erected, all courtesy of the US taxpayer.

The Contras were trained in some of the most gruesome guerrilla war techniques. Some were trained by military officers from Argentina�s dirty war who knew nothing about the jungle but plenty about torture and execution. Others were trained in Florida and California while many others, like Honduras� military dictator, General Gustavo Alvarez Mart�nez, were educated in torture techniques, execution and combat at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. While it was purported by Reagan that the Contras were fighting the evil scourge of communism, referring to them as �freedom fighters,� the Contras raped, tortured and terrorised the civilian population throughout the subsequent decade, leaving the destroying the civilian infrastructure, leaving tens of thousands dead and many more displaced.

...During Negroponte�s stay in Honduras, human rights violations peaked. The infamous US trained death squad, Batallion 3-16, was notorious for the torture, rape, kidnapping and killing of Honduran dissidents. Hundreds of people disappeared. By the end of the 1980s at least 10,000 were dead, not to mention the conservative estimate of 200,000 deaths in Central America as a result of US intervention. Negroponte, however, claims no knowledge of the human rights abuses the US carried out and funded despite being ambassador at the time. He told CNN, �I think on balance if you look back at what we did, I think a good case can be made that there was actually less suffering in Central America as a result of the actions the United States took than there would have been if we had just folded our arms and done nothing.�

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/leaders/2004/0709negroponte.htm

[mike_c]

44. this point needs to be made over and over until people get it....

The mechanisms of US foreign policy on the ground have involved murder, terror, torture, starvation, and violence for the last 50 years. U.S. foreign policy is rooted in greed.

[gottaB]

14. Jesus *#@!@&! Christ

"I voted for President Bush most importantly because he holds strong moral convictions that do not waver. I believe America is in the middle of a culture war, perpetuated by Hollywood, the media, and elitists who are tearing down the traditional values that are so important to me and my family. Secondly, I voted for him because he has not turned a blind eye to the problem of Islamic terrorists who are determined to kill us. He is a good man with clarity in his beliefs, and he sets a good example for my children. God Bless President Bush."

Carrie, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Why Did you vote for Bush?

God Save us from your children, Carrie.

[Career Prole]

53. "...and thirdly, I voted for him because I cannot or will not look at the

mounds of evidence accumulating that point to St. Simian being quite possibly the most evil American ever to bear the name!"

Carrie in Pittsburgh must be kin to the lady I met here who thought Osama and bin Laden were two different guys and we had one in custody.
:shrug:

[NYC]

66. Osama and Bin Laden were two different people?

What hope can there be when people are so ill informed?

[Willy Lee]

15. 2 words- WAR CRIMES.

The whole lot of sick f***s should be locked up and interrogated.

[Roland99]

35. But King George says the U.S. is above the World Court

[Old Mouse]

19. Oh, god...

What has our nation become?

[oasis]

22. As Rummy would say " fraternity hazing of prisoners can be untidy."

[Supersedeas]

24. like cheerleaders in a pyramid -- the bad apples become great scapegoats

[Career Prole]

27. Maybe a little rudimentary medical training is necessary

for the interrogators.
Nothing special or extensive, mind you.
Just enough to be able to differentiate between "uncooperative" and f**king dead!

Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.

[DU GrovelBot]

32. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v3.0
==================



This week is our first quarter 2005 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend almost entirely
on donations from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for
your support.

[DS1]

39. I thought we rescued Kuwait from this, and then finished the job

when we closed the torture rooms.

Of course, I haven't read any replies yet, and suspect I'm starting to sound like a lefty dittohead :D

[grytpype]

41. Oh, the good old strappado.

A very popular torture. The Inquisition used it on suspected heretics.

[llmart]

45. What the hell has happened to us.......

in this country that we aren't outraged over this? Well, some of us are, but let's face it, the majority aren't. These bastards running this country should be convicted of war crimes.

This is no longer a country to be proud of that's for sure. As soon as we get these assholes out of power than it will take a long time to restore our image.

[Zerex71]

46. This is barbaric torture, plain and simple.

Nuremberg 2008 can't be far off, God willing. These people need to be hauled before a war crimes tribunal pronto.

[Voltaire99]

47. Let The Eagle Soar!

Let the eagle soar
Like she's never soared before
Right into your cornea--what gore!
Then pile you up nude on the floor
Oh, let the fascist eagle soar!

Gitmo-Ghraib flies on eagle's wings
Keep it up until his eyeball stings
He'll see what noncooperation brings
Oops, wrong guy? Sorry, Abdul, for the dings!

Four more years of eagle flight
Doors kicked down in the night
Your husband died of awful fright
This little check'll put things right!

[libodem]

49. Impeach Bush !!!!!!!!!!

I can almost feel myself disassociating out of my body when I read this. My God, wasn't that Bush's whole platitude, of why, Saddam, was so evil....he tortured people? How can he consider us any better. I think there is a lot we will never know. I think dead men don't talk. I bet a lot of the tortured were killed or left to die, so they couldn't talk. Recently I scrolled through a blog, on DU, concerning Tony Snow's colon cancer or inflammatory disease,what ever, he suffers with. Some people were charitable and some thought he deserved what he got. I just remember about 2 weeks ago he had some military guy saying how these captives, were dirty, spitting,poop-flinging, violent animals. More or less if you had any sympathy for the subhumans you were supporting terrorism. Kinda like referring to the, Viet Namese, as godless gooks. Dehumanizing them makes mistreatment, okay. I hate these #@$%^&*. God, I wish they were accountable.

[Dr Fate]

51. I wish we were still the good-guys. n/t

n/t

[suegeo]

54. What did Manadel al-Jamadi do to be dragged into jail?

Was this guy the Iraqi general who our death squads killed?

I tried looking up what this guy's crime was, but grew weary of finding squat.

I thought maybe he was a general, but I thought our death squads killed that guy by putting his chest in a vice, or something similar to that method of torture.

This stuff shames me to no end.

[eek MD]

55. Your tax dollars at work.....

Sick, sick people... =\

[Supersedeas]

62. Fiscal Conservatives have been dormant for nearly four years

[snippy]

56. Just a few republican torture pranks.

Bush and the new republican party are quite proud of this type of thing.

[davekriss]

60. "AP: Iraqi Died While Hung From Wrists"

This for Attorney General Gonzales, John "Death Squads" Negroponte, George W the Child Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Elliot Abrams (were do they have this piece of work held up now?), and the whole regime...

From Carolyn Forche, Return (1980):

...but better to give
them what they want: Lil Milagro Ramirez,
who after years of confinement did not
know what year it was, how she walked
with help and was forced to sh*t in public.
Tell them about the razor, the live wire,
dry ice and concrete, grey rats and above all
who f*cked her, how many times and when.
Tell then about retaliation: Jose lying
on the flat bed truck, waving his stumps
in your face, his hands cut off by his
captors and thrown to the many acres
of cotton, lost, still, and holding
the last few lumps of leeched earth.
Tell them of Jose in his last few hours
and later how, many months later,
a labor leader was cut to pieces and buried.
Tell them how his friends found
the soldiers and made them dig him up
and ask forgiveness of the corpse, once
it was assembled again on the ground
like a man. As for the cars, of course
they watch you and for this don't flatter
yourself. We are all watched. We are
all assembled.

<snip>

And so, you say, you've learned a little
about starvation: a child like a supper scrap
filling with worms, many children strung
together, as if they were cut from paper
and all in a delicate chain. And that people
who rescue physicists, lawyers and poets
lie in bed at night with reports
of mice introduced into women, of men
whose testicles are crushed like eggs.
That they cup their own parts
with their bedsheets and move themselves
slowly, imagining bracelets affixing
their wrists to the wall where the naked
are pinned, where the naked are tied open
and left to the hands of those who erase
what they touch. We are all erased
by them, and no longer resemble decent
men. We no longer have the hearts,
the strength, the lives of women.
Your problem is not your life as it is
in America, not that your hands, as you
tell me, are tied to do something. It is
that you were born to an island of greed
and grace where you have this sense
of yourself as apart from others. It is
not your right to feel powerless. Better
people than you were powerless.
You have not returned to your country,
but to a life you never left.

***

There is no slippery slope! In the poem above Carolyn refers to the torture and violence the USG aided and abetted in El Salvador. Little did we know then how much the Reagan and GHWB administrations would escalate the violence across Central America. Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and the dozens of other "secret" detention centers are standard operating procedure -- except now GWB* doesn't bother even to establish the plausible deniability granted by use of proxy force. That John Negroponte has now been named National Security Czar, former overseer of violence in Honduras in the early eighties and more recently in Iraq, speaks volumes to current intent and purpose. He will oversee the CIA, FBI, NIA, DIA, and a half a dozen other intelligence agencies and thereby blur their carefully crafted protections of U.S. citizens. "...of course they watch you and for this don't flatter yourself. We are all watched. We are
all assembled." Welcome to the 21st century fascist security state. When will US dissenters begin to "disappear"? When will our first group of left leaning nuns, perhaps rattling the cages at SOA, be tortured then dropped to their deaths from U.S. helicopters? When will Chomsky and Parenti and Zinn wake up in their cages in Gitmo? Dresses in wonderful orange jumpsuits, too! All these things Negroponte knows, and knows well. It is why he got the job.

USG foreign policy since WWII is in major part about punishing those that show signs of opting out of neo-liberal arrangements that benefit the owning class (this the legacy of Nitze, Kennan, et alia). We don't invade Panama, escort a leader out of Haiti at gunpoint, or mine the harbors of Nicaragua because anyone perceives them, in themselves, to be a genuine threat. It's all about crushing the example of alternate models. The capitalist says Greed is Good in one breath and whispers apathy is better in the next -- all the more easy to exploit those who labor when there is no hope for a better future!

Please tell me, reader, you don't believe that Iraq represented imminent or even sufficient threat?! In the case of Iraq, their crime was to price oil in Euros; their convenience was to serve as an example to the rest of the oil-producing world; their bad luck is to provide a convenient base to radiate future imperial power ahead of the fall of the House of Saud.

The USG is not stupid; they know very well about the ineffectiveness of torture as a means to uncover truth. The history of the USG and torture, as with all regimes that deploy such means, is one of unleashed terror -- it's a means to instill terror into an insurgent population, to create fear and submission, to get one's way. Abu Ghraib and Gitmo are not exceptions.

The question now is, since Negroponte's resume is so well known, is it the neo-con intent to instill terror into an insurgent U.S. population? What are they preparing for? As the Gonzo would say, Big Dark Coming Soon.

[Career Prole]

61. Great post.

Thank you! :)

[struggle4progress]

63. kick