Recently, documents have been released outlining the United States torture policy at Guantanamo Bay, and it makes me sad to know that our country committed war crimes.
Here is a good summary of what was official US policy:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/03/09/waterboarding_for_dummies/index.html
a key quote:
The documents also lay out, in chilling detail, exactly what should occur in each two-hour waterboarding "session." Interrogators were instructed to start pouring water right after a detainee exhaled, to ensure he inhaled water, not air, in his next breath. They could use their hands to "dam the runoff" and prevent water from spilling out of a detainee's mouth. They were allowed six separate 40-second "applications" of liquid in each two-hour session – and could dump water over a detainee's nose and mouth for a total of 12 minutes a day. Finally, to keep detainees alive even if they inhaled their own vomit during a session – a not-uncommon side effect of waterboarding – the prisoners were kept on a liquid diet. The agency recommended Ensure Plus.
That is beyond chilling. I made myself read the entire Salon piece rather than look away when I wanted to. I don't know what to do with this, either, except use it to goad myself into action when the conflict-averse side of me does not want to go to the next anti-war anything.
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to think about the victims of this that I found myself thinking about psychological/spiritual damage to the perpetrators. Can you imagine trying to relate to a spouse or child after that? "Gee, honey, how was your day?"