Torture is Part of the Territory of Occupation by Naomi Klein www.dissidentvoice.org June 7, 2005 First Published in The Los Angeles Times
Brace yourself for a flood of gruesome new torture snapshots. Last week, a federal judge ordered the Defense Department to release dozens of additional photographs and videotapes depicting prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
The photographs will elicit what has become a predictable response: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will claim to be shocked and will assure us that action is already being taken to prevent such abuses from happening again. But imagine, for a moment, if events followed a different script. Imagine if Rumsfeld responded like Col. Mathieu in "Battle of Algiers," Gillo Pontecorvo's famed 1965 film about the National Liberation Front's attempt to liberate Algeria from French colonial rule. In one of the film's key scenes, Mathieu finds himself in a situation familiar to top officials in the Bush administration: He is being grilled by a room filled with journalists about allegations that French paratroopers are torturing Algerian prisoners.
Based on real-life French commander Gen. Jacques Massu, Mathieu neither denies the abuse nor claims that those responsible will be punished. Instead, he flips the tables on the scandalized reporters, most of whom work for newspapers that overwhelmingly support France's continued occupation of Algeria. Torture "isn't the problem," he says calmly. "The problem is the FLN wants to throw us out of Algeria and we want to stay\ufffd. It's my turn to ask a question. Should France stay in Algeria? If your answer is still yes, then you must accept all the consequences."
His point, as relevant in Iraq today as it was in Algeria in 1957, is that there is no nice, humanitarian way to occupy a nation against the will of its people. Those who support such an occupation don't have the right to morally separate themselves from the brutality it requires.
Now, as then, there are only two ways to govern: with consent or with fear.
Most Iraqis do not consent to the open-ended military occupation they have been living under for more than two years. On Jan. 30, a clear majority voted for political parties promising to demand a timetable for U.S. withdrawal. Washington may have succeeded in persuading Iraq's political class to abandon that demand, but the fact remains that U.S. troops are on Iraqi soil in open defiance of the express wishes of the population.
Lacking consent, the current U.S.-Iraqi regime relies heavily on fear, including the most terrifying tactics of them all: disappearances, indefinite detention without charge and torture. And despite official reassurances, it's only getting worse. A year ago, President Bush pledged to erase the stain of Abu Ghraib by razing the prison to the ground. There has been a change of plans. Abu Ghraib and two other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq are being expanded, and a new 2,000-person detention facility is being built, with a price tag of $50 million. In the last seven months alone, the prison population has doubled to a staggering 11,350.
The U.S. military may indeed be cracking down on prisoner abuse, but torture in Iraq is not in decline -- it has simply been outsourced. In January, Human Rights Watch found that torture within Iraqi-run (and U.S.-supervised) jails and detention facilities was "systematic," including the use of electroshock.
An internal report from the 1st Cavalry Division, obtained by the Washington Post, states that "electrical shock and choking" are "consistently used to achieve confessions" by Iraqi police and soldiers. So open is the use of torture that it has given rise to a hit television show: Every night on the TV station Al Iraqiya -- run by a U.S. contractor -- prisoners with swollen faces and black eyes "confess" to their crimes.
Rumsfeld claims that the wave of recent suicide bombings in Iraq is "a sign of desperation." In fact, it is the proliferation of torture under Rumsfeld's watch that is the true sign of panic.
In Algeria, the French used torture not because they were sadistic but because they were fighting a battle they could not win against the forces of decolonization and Third World nationalism. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein's use of torture surged immediately after the Shiite uprising in 1991: The weaker his hold on power, the more he terrorized his people. Unwanted regimes, whether domestic dictatorships or foreign occupations, rely on torture precisely because they are unwanted.
When the next batch of photographs from Abu Ghraib appear, many Americans will be morally outraged, and rightly so. But perhaps some brave official will take a lesson from Col. Mathieu and dare to turn the tables: Should the United States stay in Iraq? If your answer is still yes, then you must accept all the consequences.
Naomi Klein is a leading anti-sweatshop activist, and author of Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate? (Picador, 2002) and No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (Picador, 2000). Visit the No Logo website: www.nologo.org. This article first appeared in The Los Angeles Times.
RH
2005-06-12 15:06:11 EST
Torture has become the ugly American way, the way of those idiots in power now who think that they are right and all who oppose them are wrong - no matter what.
It is a blatent form of torture to lock up thousands with no charges - to abruptly dissappear them - torture for them, their loved ones, and everyone else with at least half a heart. The USA has tortured the entire world with the violence and needless bloodshed that Bush brought to Iraq.
All kind and conscious people on the planet have been tortured, by the thousands of people on both sides who have been killed or crippled for life, with American tax dollars, in the insanely wicked invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Some of our family pictures are here for free viewing: http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm I hope that all the weasels behind our self-proclaimed 'war president' are proud of them.
RH
P.S. Naomi Klein is great. She would make a terrific President.
Tom Quarlous
2005-06-12 16:48:12 EST
On 12 Jun 2005 12:06:11 -0700, "RH" <halcon7roho@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Torture has become the ugly American way, the way of those idiots in >power now who think that they are right and all who oppose them are >wrong - no matter what. > >It is a blatent form of torture to lock up thousands with no charges - >to abruptly dissappear them - torture for them, their loved ones, and >everyone else with at least half a heart. The USA has tortured the >entire world with the violence and needless bloodshed that Bush brought >to Iraq. > >All kind and conscious people on the planet have been tortured, by the >thousands of people on both sides who have been killed or crippled for >life, with American tax dollars, in the insanely wicked invasion and >occupation of Iraq. > >Some of our family pictures are here for free viewing: >http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm >I hope that all the weasels behind our self-proclaimed 'war president' >are proud of them. > >RH > >P.S. Naomi Klein is great. She would make a terrific President.
Naomi is Canadian.
Stan De SD
2005-06-12 18:08:35 EST
"RH" <halcon7roho@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1118603171.433553.114570@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com... > Torture has become the ugly American way, the way of those idiots in > power now who think that they are right and all who oppose them are > wrong - no matter what. > > It is a blatent form of torture to lock up thousands with no charges - > to abruptly dissappear them - torture for them, their loved ones, and > everyone else with at least half a heart. The USA has tortured the > entire world with the violence and needless bloodshed that Bush brought > to Iraq. > > All kind and conscious people on the planet have been tortured, by the > thousands of people on both sides who have been killed or crippled for > life, with American tax dollars, in the insanely wicked invasion and > occupation of Iraq. > > Some of our family pictures are here for free viewing: > http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm > I hope that all the weasels behind our self-proclaimed 'war president' > are proud of them.
And you know for a fact that those people were injurd by Americans, as opposed to the so-called "insurgents" who are just as happy to kill their own people with car bombs and grenade attacks even when there are no Americans to be found?
Al953
2005-06-13 23:15:52 EST
"Stan de SD" <standesd@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:Dn2re.3227$hK3.97@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... > > "RH" <halcon7roho@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:1118603171.433553.114570@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com... >> Torture has become the ugly American way, the way of those idiots in >> power now who think that they are right and all who oppose them are >> wrong - no matter what. >> >> It is a blatent form of torture to lock up thousands with no charges - >> to abruptly dissappear them - torture for them, their loved ones, and >> everyone else with at least half a heart. The USA has tortured the >> entire world with the violence and needless bloodshed that Bush brought >> to Iraq. >> >> All kind and conscious people on the planet have been tortured, by the >> thousands of people on both sides who have been killed or crippled for >> life, with American tax dollars, in the insanely wicked invasion and >> occupation of Iraq. >> >> Some of our family pictures are here for free viewing: >> http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm >> I hope that all the weasels behind our self-proclaimed 'war president' >> are proud of them. > > And you know for a fact that those people were injurd by Americans, as > opposed to the so-called "insurgents" who are just as happy to kill their > own people with car bombs and grenade attacks even when there are no > Americans to be found? >
>None of this would have happened if Chimp-in-Chief has not illegally >invaded Iraq in the first place. All blood shed as a result is on America's >hands!
Tempest
2005-06-13 23:39:31 EST
al953 wrote: > "Stan de SD" <standesd@earthlink.net> wrote in message > news:Dn2re.3227$hK3.97@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... > >>"RH" <halcon7roho@yahoo.com> wrote in message >>news:1118603171.433553.114570@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com... >> >>>Torture has become the ugly American way, the way of those idiots in >>>power now who think that they are right and all who oppose them are >>>wrong - no matter what. >>> >>>It is a blatent form of torture to lock up thousands with no charges - >>>to abruptly dissappear them - torture for them, their loved ones, and >>>everyone else with at least half a heart. The USA has tortured the >>>entire world with the violence and needless bloodshed that Bush brought >>>to Iraq. >>> >>>All kind and conscious people on the planet have been tortured, by the >>>thousands of people on both sides who have been killed or crippled for >>>life, with American tax dollars, in the insanely wicked invasion and >>>occupation of Iraq. >>> >>>Some of our family pictures are here for free viewing: >>>http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm >>>I hope that all the weasels behind our self-proclaimed 'war president' >>>are proud of them. >> >>And you know for a fact that those people were injurd by Americans, as >>opposed to the so-called "insurgents" who are just as happy to kill their >>own people with car bombs and grenade attacks even when there are no >>Americans to be found?
>None of this would have happened if Chimp-in-Chief has not illegally >invaded Iraq in the first place. All blood shed as a result is on America's >hands!
We're all wearing the blue dress now.
-- "Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens." - William H. Beveridge, 1944
Al953
2005-06-14 00:23:26 EST
"Tempest" <tempest@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:42AE523C.7040603@hotmail.com... > > > al953 wrote: >> "Stan de SD" <standesd@earthlink.net> wrote in message >> news:Dn2re.3227$hK3.97@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... >> >>>"RH" <halcon7roho@yahoo.com> wrote in message >>>news:1118603171.433553.114570@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com... >>> >>>>Torture has become the ugly American way, the way of those idiots in >>>>power now who think that they are right and all who oppose them are >>>>wrong - no matter what. >>>> >>>>It is a blatent form of torture to lock up thousands with no charges - >>>>to abruptly dissappear them - torture for them, their loved ones, and >>>>everyone else with at least half a heart. The USA has tortured the >>>>entire world with the violence and needless bloodshed that Bush brought >>>>to Iraq. >>>> >>>>All kind and conscious people on the planet have been tortured, by the >>>>thousands of people on both sides who have been killed or crippled for >>>>life, with American tax dollars, in the insanely wicked invasion and >>>>occupation of Iraq. >>>> >>>>Some of our family pictures are here for free viewing: >>>>http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm >>>>I hope that all the weasels behind our self-proclaimed 'war president' >>>>are proud of them. >>> >>>And you know for a fact that those people were injurd by Americans, as >>>opposed to the so-called "insurgents" who are just as happy to kill their >>>own people with car bombs and grenade attacks even when there are no >>>Americans to be found? > > > >>None of this would have happened if Chimp-in-Chief has not illegally >>invaded Iraq in the first place. All blood shed as a result is on >>America's hands! > > We're all wearing the blue dress now. > >
You hit the nail on the head, bro!
> -- > "Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their > dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens." > - William H. Beveridge, 1944 >