In the quest to expand "private enterprise"
and dismantle government
being waged by some,
we have allowed a business to develop
providing torture services.
[Gregor Zap]
I always think it's my last post. Over and over I've felt that I had nothing more to say. Then I come across a comment like the one above. And the totality of the brutality of the former administration hits me - once again - like a ton of bricks. And I have to write.
There's this weird debate going on in our country. And many of our fellow citizens apparently are willing to let human beings be summarily captured and provided with the greatest possible degradation, ill treatment, and shocking abuse that the human mind can devise - without leaving too many visible marks.
We all knew about torture as soon as we saw those Abu Ghraib photos. And I had my own suspicions as soon as I saw hooded detainees on TV over and over, from the time of the invasion of Afghanistan, carrying over into the invasion of Iraq. Right away, to me, as a psychologist, aware of the Stanford prison study, those hoods were a tip-off. They were widespread. They seemed to be something that had been requisitioned and handed out to soldiers as another piece of equipment, like plastic handcuffs and so on. I was concerned that detained individuals had been herded into metal containers in Afghanistan. I was concerned that there were bounties being paid for handing over people to US custody. And I was concerned when they moved the prisoners to Guantanamo, when I saw them shackled, when I read about 200 of them going on hunger strike there. I knew something very suspicious was likely going on. Especially when those Abu Ghraib photos surfaced. And when we knew the Red Cross was being hampered in assessing the welfare of persons in US custody. And when we read about those secret renditions to black sites or being turned over to foreign governments - where, despite bushco denials, we had to suspect torture.
But do these same folks, our fellow citizens, who willingly endorse torture, realize how much they are actually paying for this? Do they realize whole industries have been created, just to service the torture? Would the polls change if we asked: Do you want your taxes going to pay for torture services?
Let's think about the Torture Business for a bit:
It starts with hoods. Do we manufacture them here at home? Or get them cheaper from Mexico? Do we order "torture hoods" or just call them "sacks" on the requisition list? Is this a no-bid contract? Or can anybody get in on it? Do you provide health care for the workers making torture hoods? Retirement? I wonder what the business plan looks like. Maybe there's a lobbying group specific to the torture industry, trying to make sure there's a continual stream of victims, so they don't go out of business any time soon.
Let's move on to plastic handcuffs. I'm sure that stock has gone up lately! How about shackles? The ones that are designed for the floor or the wall or the ceiling. There's a nice investment opportunity. Apply the same questions from the paragraph above (health care, retirement). And consider the taxes you pay. All for torture.
Moving right along here - in our tour of the torture business. Let us not forget that some manufacturers are already in it. Even if they didn't know that till recently. I mean, of course, the manufacturers of Ensure and Depends. I wonder if they put out bids for those products or not. Your taxes at work! How about orange jumpsuits? There's a business opportunity! Or maybe not. Since the forced nudity. Well, at least that saves the taxpayer money, doesn't it? Along with money saved in showers. And toilet facilities. And beds.
And we haven't even gotten to much of the torture yet.
Guards: Surely we can farm that out. Picture the ads: "Thugs wanted!" As Interrogators. Translators. Even Psychologists, willing to sacrifice ethics, morality, their good name, and maybe years of prison down the road. All for the purpose of designing, teaching, and supervising torture and doing experiments to find more ways of torturing. "War Criminals urgently needed!" They actually formed businesses to sell torture.
Your tax dollars at work!
Let's not forget Halliburton here. Through a no-bid contract with the Vice President's former company, you paid for high tech facilities at Guantanamo Bay. Cells. Interrogation Rooms. Living quarters for those who do the dirty work. Halliburton had to purchase shackles and all the other accoutrements of torture. Built in shackles. Built in torture chambers. Complete with refrigeration. Speakers to blast deafening noises. Harsh lights. Video cameras for off-site viewing. All of the fixtures of modern torture. All paid for by you.
In addition to the homegrown companies in the torture business, this TAX PAYER FUNDED torture program included a Foreign Aid component: Black Sites in foreign lands and Rendition to foreign prisons, where I'm pretty sure we're paying Tax Dollars to subsidize torture by means we do not even want to contemplate. And a whole fleet of airplanes, along with pilots, mechanics, and guards to accompany the soon-to-be-disappeared.
All of this supposedly "legalized" by attorneys, working in our own Department of Justice, in the Office of Legal Counsel, where the lawyers are supposed to make sure nothing the executive branch does betrays the Constitution. And we paid for it. We paid for time lawyers spent twisting the "law" - perverting our values, betraying oaths to the Constitution in a misbegotten conspiracy to subvert the very Rule of Law, which is supposed to guarantee that no one endures cruel and unusual punishment, that everyone has the right to Habeas Corpus. And we paid for it! We paid for Justice Department lawyers to do this. In our name.
I'm sure I've forgotten some things. But honestly I can't bear to go on here. This whole torture business is horrifying. From A to Z. It's horrifying that it's being farmed out. That businesses are profiting. From torture. It's horrifying to remember that we are paying for this. Our taxes are subsidizing torture.
This has been a hard post to write. Go back and read the links. Many are blogs of my own. And I'm going to close with one quote, from the beginning of one of those blogs:
Torture is against the law.
It is always wrong.
It shocks the conscience.
It shames the nation.
Do you really want to be in the Torture Business?
Torture: A TAX PAYER FUNDED war crimes business.....
____________________________________________________
Afterword:
In the comments section, I have provided some links and quotes to articles related to how neocons planned to invade Iraq long before 9/11 and how they manufactured "intelligence" and ultimately resorted to torture in an effort to sell and justify that premeditated war. It is a trail of lies to war. And a trail of tears to torture. [to access original TPM comments, use permalink below]
Torture: A TAX PAYER FUNDED war crimes business.....
____________________________________________________
Afterword:
In the comments section, I have provided some links and quotes to articles related to how neocons planned to invade Iraq long before 9/11 and how they manufactured "intelligence" and ultimately resorted to torture in an effort to sell and justify that premeditated war. It is a trail of lies to war. And a trail of tears to torture. [to access original TPM comments, use permalink below]
PERMALINK
You nailed it all, kgb! You're doing a great job here yourself! Thanks for commenting.
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