Tuesday, October 07, 2008

What, us torture?

Sickened but not surprised:

Documents say detainee near insanity

By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A U.S. military officer warned Pentagon officials that an American detainee was being driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in a U.S. military brig, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.


While the treatment of prisoners at detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan and Iraq have long been the subject of human rights complaints and court scrutiny, the documents shed new light on how two American citizens and a legal U.S. resident were treated in military jails inside the United States.

The Bush administration ordered the men to be held in military jails as "enemy combatants" for years of interrogations without criminal charges, which would not have been allowed in civilian jails.

The men were interrogated by the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, repeatedly denied access to attorneys and mail from home and contact with anyone other than guards and their interrogators. They were deprived of natural light for months and for years were forbidden even minor distractions such as a soccer ball or a dictionary.

"I will continue to do what I can to help this individual maintain his sanity, but in my opinion we're working with borrowed time," an unidentified Navy brig official wrote of prisoner Yaser Esam Hamdi in 2002. "I would like to have some form of an incentive program in place to reward him for his continued good behavior, but more so, to keep him from whacking out on me."


("whacking out on me")

So. Anyone planning to ask Senator McCain about this tonight? I mean I'd really like to hear what he in particular has to say, all things considered.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I won't bother to ask McCain, as he does not give a shit, indeed, I think he'd like to see even more people being tortured.

The person that I want to ask that question of is Obama, given that he is rather more likely to win election. I am concerned that he does not see this as a priority and that these "prisoners" (victims, really) will continue to languish in the brigs and at gitmo.

Nichole said...

This isn't the best place to post this, belledame. But, it was handy and I couldn't discover another way to get it to you.

You are a nominee and winnder of the "I Love Your Blog" award. If you email me, I'll send you your award.

Or, drop by To A T: Gender Journeys at http://radnichole.wordpress.com and I can send it to you with the nice link WordPress will provide if you comment on something there.

If you want the comment not to be posted, then just say that in your comment.

Thanks so much for a great blog.

belledame222 said...

hey, thanks, Nichole, I'll swing by, appreciated. and, welcome.