Black sites in the invisible universe of tortured torturers
The words "secret prison" caught my eye. Much as "hidden tunnel" or "enchanted forest" might.
"Host countries have signed the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as has the United States. Yet CIA interrogators in the overseas sites are permitted to use the CIA's approved 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,' some of which are prohibited by the U.N. convention and by U.S. military law. They include tactics such as 'waterboarding,' in which a prisoner is made to believe he or she is drowning."
Sounds like a terrible blockbuster movie that Generation Extreme and the aging lazy might slather their faces in popcorn butter to, may you pardon my biting morning judgment. Only it’s real. When something that seems like movie material presents itself as real, I generally have a swollen moment of disbelief—head bobbling, eyes lose focus and drool spills down my chin, followed by a uniquely child-like excitement.
As I giddily read the paragraph above, I glanced directly to the right of it to find a list of most popular articles at the moment:
CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons
Harry Reid sparks a dramatic Senate standoff
Pentagon: Top al-Qaida operative escaped
Will Holmes make Cruise sign a prenup?
Bandleader Skitch Henderson dies at 87
She damn well better. What with the lunacy exhibited in his recent basely pedantic monologues on scientology and the administration of pharmaceuticals to people in the grips of psychological challenge. Loose cannon. Risky business. (Forgive me my pun. May I wedge my nose in the corner and dance like a Munchkin.) It’s nice to see such diversity of interests among internet travelers. Yeah.
Here’s a quickie from Wikipedia on waterboarding.
Apparently the CIA felt they should keep terrorists alive for interrogation rather than assassinate, as the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center suggested. "Some [CIA] officers worried that the CIA would not be very adept at assassination. ‘We'd probably shoot ourselves,’ another former senior CIA official said."
I thought it was only ok for low-profile people to loose-lip such faithlessness. Isn’t that the stock predictable talk of workplace-damners? "You can always count on This Place to screw up even a cup of coffee." Or: "We’d probably shoot ourselves." Here the castle crumbles and Jill climbs the mountain on her own. "Could the Zambians be trusted with such a secret?" I ask myself this at every crossroads—particularly at a trivia, where small-talk feeds the great protective phallus.*
*I tried to find a nice link explaining the way that stone phalli were erected (why not ride out syndrome: pun?) at crossroads in ancients cities to ward off evil; however, searching phallus at work proves difficult. Risky business. The trade-off: I learned the root of "trivia".
"Host countries have signed the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as has the United States. Yet CIA interrogators in the overseas sites are permitted to use the CIA's approved 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,' some of which are prohibited by the U.N. convention and by U.S. military law. They include tactics such as 'waterboarding,' in which a prisoner is made to believe he or she is drowning."
Sounds like a terrible blockbuster movie that Generation Extreme and the aging lazy might slather their faces in popcorn butter to, may you pardon my biting morning judgment. Only it’s real. When something that seems like movie material presents itself as real, I generally have a swollen moment of disbelief—head bobbling, eyes lose focus and drool spills down my chin, followed by a uniquely child-like excitement.
As I giddily read the paragraph above, I glanced directly to the right of it to find a list of most popular articles at the moment:
CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons
Harry Reid sparks a dramatic Senate standoff
Pentagon: Top al-Qaida operative escaped
Will Holmes make Cruise sign a prenup?
Bandleader Skitch Henderson dies at 87
She damn well better. What with the lunacy exhibited in his recent basely pedantic monologues on scientology and the administration of pharmaceuticals to people in the grips of psychological challenge. Loose cannon. Risky business. (Forgive me my pun. May I wedge my nose in the corner and dance like a Munchkin.) It’s nice to see such diversity of interests among internet travelers. Yeah.
Here’s a quickie from Wikipedia on waterboarding.
Apparently the CIA felt they should keep terrorists alive for interrogation rather than assassinate, as the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center suggested. "Some [CIA] officers worried that the CIA would not be very adept at assassination. ‘We'd probably shoot ourselves,’ another former senior CIA official said."
I thought it was only ok for low-profile people to loose-lip such faithlessness. Isn’t that the stock predictable talk of workplace-damners? "You can always count on This Place to screw up even a cup of coffee." Or: "We’d probably shoot ourselves." Here the castle crumbles and Jill climbs the mountain on her own. "Could the Zambians be trusted with such a secret?" I ask myself this at every crossroads—particularly at a trivia, where small-talk feeds the great protective phallus.*
*I tried to find a nice link explaining the way that stone phalli were erected (why not ride out syndrome: pun?) at crossroads in ancients cities to ward off evil; however, searching phallus at work proves difficult. Risky business. The trade-off: I learned the root of "trivia".
5 Comments:
Secret Prisons? I have to say the appallingness of the US gov't and bush administration fails to surprise me anymore.
Indeed on both counts. I don't want to be one of those people, hudson, but I expressed my feelings about your voting choice at the time. Flimsily "disguised" barbarism.
I saw Skitch Henderson last year when he was conducting a free concert at the Garden State Arts Center. I'm not sure why this matters but I paused longer than usual on the obituary section of the paper. He seemed like a nice guy, vibrant. And the concert was great because they played several Gershwin pieces they don't normally play. The Cuban Overture and Serena's aria from Porgy & Bess. And they ended with Ravel's Bolero. Plus, when performing the Star Spangled Banner they added some pauses in the middle which threw off the entire audience who had, to that point, been singing along in their jingoistic, post-sept. 11th kind of way. I and a young lady nearby were highly amused and everyone else remained shamefacedly quiet for the rest of the anthem. Plus during the evening there was a confrontation between a middle-aged man and a loud, severely retarded black teenager. Given the scenario it seemed like a recipe for disaster and was quite a tense moment which resulted, luckily, in nothing. I must go back again next year!
middle-aged white man. and mentally retarded in the literal sense, as opposed to slang. A group of 3 black people, perhaps the only ones in the entire audience.
This is the third--if not the fourth--time Ravel's Bolero has crossed my path in the past week and a half. I feel like I should listen to it on repeat for just as long.
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