Brendan Calling

If He Wasn’t Then, He Sure Is Now!

One of the most troubling issues, for me, about the Bush Administration’s policy of locking up and torturing people based on suspicions of terrorism, as detailed here and heren is “What happens after tortured innocents are released”?

Greenwald:

Nonetheless, under legislation enacted in the aftermath of 9/11, he was declared by Attorney General Ashcroft to be a “domestic terrorist” and, as a result, was kept in his tiny cell, in solitary confinement, for 23 out of 24 hours a day, allowed one hour for “recreation,” by himself, in an indoor recreation room. His contact with the outside world was extremely limited.

He had no history or prior signs of mental illness. But within six months of confinement under those conditions, he was forced to take large doses of anti-depressants after he attempted suicide. His behavior changed palpably — fundamentally — and he became extremely passive and, a short time thereafter, was visibly broken. All of that occurred before he was convicted of any crime.

Atrios:

They’d found an 1830s or so era prison (IIRC). After they did their thing they conducted a few public tours of the site, which included descriptions of the prisoners’ rooms, and some discussion of the warden’s diary and other things. [This is from memory, so my details may not be precise - it may not have been the warden, but some other prison official, or outside observer]

Anyway, in the diary were observations about the mental health of the prisoners. The prisoners lived in solitary confinement, in small rooms lacking natural light. The diarist expressed genuine surprise that it didn’t take very long (6-12 months) for prisoners – many of whom were in for minor offenses – to start displaying signs of profound mental illness.

Digby:

“Today is May 21,” a naval official declared to a camera videotaping the event. “Right now we’re ready to do a root canal treatment on Jose Padilla, our enemy combatant.”

Several guards in camouflage and riot gear approached cell No. 103. They unlocked a rectangular panel at the bottom of the door and Mr. Padilla’s bare feet slid through, eerily disembodied. As one guard held down a foot with his black boot, the others shackled Mr. Padilla’s legs. Next, his hands emerged through another hole to be manacled.

Wordlessly, the guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padilla’s cuffed hands to a metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next: noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his root canal.

[...]

Now lawyers for Mr. Padilla, 36, suggest that he is unfit to stand trial. They argue that he has been so damaged by his interrogations and prolonged isolation that he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is unable to assist in his own defense. His interrogations, they say, included hooding, stress positions, assaults, threats of imminent execution and the administration of “truth serums.”

The list goes on, ad nauseum. So what happens, if as it seems, Mr. Padilla isn’t guilty of anything? Justice demands he be released. What then? And what of the hundreds (thousands?) of innocent Arabs, Afghanis, Iraqis, and Muslims that are currently being detained and presumably tortured? What happens when they are released back to their countries of origin?

If Jose Padilla wasn’t a terrorist motivated by a grudge against the United States three years ago, there is no doubt in my mind that he is now. And worse, now he’s certifiably insane.
In fact, there is no doubt in my mind that any of these people who may not have been terrorists when they were captured are now furious with the United States. Is there any doubt that, if released, these men are going to go back home and immediately join up with any militia or organization that gives them the opportunity to kill Americans?

And yet if they are innocent, justice DEMANDS their release.
It is a bloody Catch-22 the Bush Administration has created. And remember, if they can do it to Padilla, they can do it to you.

Thanks Arlen Specter!

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