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May 15, 2007 15:03

US detainee 'mentally tortured'

While I have no doubt Gitmo inmates are tortured (and would be happy to get into a long discussion on whether torture is ever acceptable), this guy really lost me on the last paragraph:

Later, Mr Khan produced a list of further examples of psychological torture, which included the provision of "cheap, branded, ( Read more... )

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areia May 16 2007, 02:41:44 UTC
You make lots of very good points, and I have no intention of dismissing the subject. As I said, there is not a single doubt in my mind that the US uses torture, both at Guantanamo Bay and in any number of other locations. And I'm certain some of it goes way past noisy fans and cheap soap, well into the pliers and electrodes zone.

I've been around military personnel for long enough now that the first thing I thought when reading that paragraph was that it was exactly the kind of statement the government wants to be published. "Oh bless, look at the silly little terrorists complaining about the soap not smelling right. See: this is what we have to put up with in our valiant efforts to save the world from Evil." I guess I should have made my level of cynicism clearer; I think after 18 months in the US there's just too much of it to remember to indicate it.

I did wonder why the guy would have even mentioned some of these, regardless of context. I mean, in the list of things that make you try to chew through and artery, I'm not sure I'd personally get all the way down to the lack of bounciness of the recreational balls. Your suggestions definitely provide some better potential reasons.

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