The American Way of Torture

“America’s idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations.” Mr. Justice Collins, high court British judge.

Torture has style. The torture techniques of every sadist, psychopath, institution and nation display characteristic patterns. The American brand of torture can be described in one word, soft. Soft doesn’t mean mild. On the contrary, the effects of soft torture are severe, but the pain is mostly mental and the methods leave no physical evidence. No traces of the torture can be seen by examining the victim.

Soft methods have allowed the perps to torture the definition of torture itself. Some of these nitwits with law degrees seem to believe that if it can’t be seen, it doesn’t exist. Discussing what can be considered torture diverts from the practice itself, but in reality is akin to asking if rape is love or not. Take isolation, supposedly the mildest form of torture, that some officials say should not be classified as such. Try spending 24 hours in a large empty closet before commenting. How about two weeks? Two months? Two years! After two days you’ll think a postage stamp is interesting reading. Or, interview any one of the 80,000 prisoners living in isolation in today’s stars-and-striped penal system.

Other methods of soft torture include
– constant strong light or complete darkness.
– extreme temperatures, long periods of very hot or very cold.
– audio irritation with constant loud music.
– audio deprivation with dead silence.
– stress positions putting internal pressure on muscles.
– sleep deprivation.
– extreme long periods of interrogations.
– causing fear using dogs or threats.
– forced nakedness.
– humiliation such as men put in women’s clothes and made to dance with each other.
– waterboarding.
– etc.

These are some samples. Being arrested and thrown in jail without knowing what you are accused of and not being allowed to contact the outside world and having no idea how long you are going to remain in jail is also a form of torture; a very familiar form experienced by all too many ”suspected terrorists” caught in the web of American injustice throughout the world.

Keep these victims in mind, those in the American prison system and those on American bases and those in the black sites in friendly torture-accommodating countries, the next time you hear a representative of the uncivilized Yankee nation speak of tyrants.

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“Simple minds can be very creative at devising evil.”
Dartwill Aquila

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