yes, that is gargamel from the smurfs. why gargamel, you ask?
last night on my new favorite channel, pbs (seriously guys, pbs rocks. check out http://www.pbs.org/ for upcoming programs), i watched torturing democracy, a documentary about bush and cheney's horrific policies on torturing prisoners of the "war on terror." my stomach turned. my blood boiled.
here we are, demanding that the rest of the world treat our soldiers humanely, per the geneva conventions. yet we think it is appropriate to employ emotional, mental, and physical torture on people who haven't even been formally charged with a crime? we "opted out" of geneva, people, and the orders to do so came DIRECTLY from cheney and rumsfeld. rumsfeld was signing off on the kinds of torture tactics that could be employed, which included, among other gems, chaining people's hands to the floor in a dark room with a strobe light blasting headbanger music for 24 hours on end, waterboarding (creating the sensation of suffocation by sticking a wet cloth over someone's face, and pouring water on them until they puke), and a chaining people's wrists above them to slowly dislocate their shoulders.
not only are these tactics inhumane, but they're not even effective- confessions produced can't even be used in a trial because, shockingly, most prosecutors believe people will say anything when subjected to such intense physical and mental stress.
international conventions condemning these practices NEED to be enforced. i think instead of taking the third grade approach toward resenting America and its foreign policy (which does, admittedly, suck), whispering behind its back while continuing to eat at the same lunch table with the cool kids, the UN should grow a pair and put this administration's ass on trial. guantanamo, abu ghraib- how much evidence do you need?
here we are, demanding that the rest of the world treat our soldiers humanely, per the geneva conventions. yet we think it is appropriate to employ emotional, mental, and physical torture on people who haven't even been formally charged with a crime? we "opted out" of geneva, people, and the orders to do so came DIRECTLY from cheney and rumsfeld. rumsfeld was signing off on the kinds of torture tactics that could be employed, which included, among other gems, chaining people's hands to the floor in a dark room with a strobe light blasting headbanger music for 24 hours on end, waterboarding (creating the sensation of suffocation by sticking a wet cloth over someone's face, and pouring water on them until they puke), and a chaining people's wrists above them to slowly dislocate their shoulders.
not only are these tactics inhumane, but they're not even effective- confessions produced can't even be used in a trial because, shockingly, most prosecutors believe people will say anything when subjected to such intense physical and mental stress.
international conventions condemning these practices NEED to be enforced. i think instead of taking the third grade approach toward resenting America and its foreign policy (which does, admittedly, suck), whispering behind its back while continuing to eat at the same lunch table with the cool kids, the UN should grow a pair and put this administration's ass on trial. guantanamo, abu ghraib- how much evidence do you need?
so yes, in my endless sophistication, in my outrage i thought of gargamel.
on the bright side, it is a BEautiful day and obama is running for president.
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