Open Letter to Eric T. Fair
That dream, along with a host of other nightmares, has plagued me since my return from Iraq in the summer of 2004. Though the man in this particular nightmare has no face, I know who he is. I assisted in his interrogation at a detention facility in Fallujah. I was one of two civilian interrogators assigned to the division interrogation facility (DIF) of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Mr. Fair:
I read your piece about your role in torturing innocent people, and I have to say I’m not impressed.
Let me get this straight: you want some sympathy for your tormented soul after your decision to participate in torture. Furthermore, now that you’ve admited to it, three years after the fact, you want some credit for your bravery and honesty. Please. “Spare me,” as your captives may have said.
You claim that, as a civilian interrogator, “I lacked the courage to challenge the status quo.” Well then why didn’t you quit? It’s not like you were a member of the Army anymore. I’m sorry, this is an unacceptable excuse: you sound like Sergant Schultz from “Hogans Heroes”, barking “I vass only vollowink orrrders.” That excuse didn’t fly at Nuremberg.
You write, “Despite my best efforts, I cannot ignore the mistakes I made at the interrogation facility in Fallujah. I failed to disobey a meritless order, I failed to protect a prisoner in my custody, and I failed to uphold the standards of human decency. Instead, I intimidated, degraded and humiliated a man who could not defend himself. I compromised my values. I will never forgive myself.”
You and Klaus Barbie and every other octegarian nazi war criminal hiding in Argentina. Let me remind you, no one seems to have held a gun to your head and forced you to torture those people: you did this of your own free will.
“I am desperate to get on with my life and erase my memories of my experiences in Iraq.”
I’m sure the Iraqis feel the same way, no thanks to you.
Your words are empty and hollow. I do not accept a single one of them. But let me offer you a suggestion if you want to do the honorable thing: kill yourself. Leave a note. Name names.
Until that day, I hope you never sleep another hour for the rest of your life. I hope that man’s memory drives you insane. I hope his ghost haunts you for the rest of your life: I hope you never close your eyes again without seeing those people you chose to
torture. So far as I’m concerned you are a horrible, ugly, soulless animal. “Men like me have refused to tell our stories”? You’re not a man, you’re a monster who waited three years to admit his behavior: oh how brave you are. Let’s get you a medal and a dozen doughnuts for your honesty and willingness to speak
truth to power, three years after the fact.
I am ashamed to call you my countryman.
Brendan Skwire
Philadelphia, PA
And yes, I really did send this to Mr. Fair.
Added: Over Christmas at my folks’ house, I started reading a French novel, The Dance of Genghis Cohn, about the ghost of a Jew murdered at Auschwitz. The story, a grimly black comedy, is told from the murdered man’s perspective: before the war, he’d been an entertainer, a comedian: in death, he returns as a dybbuk whose sole purpose is to haunt and torment the concentration camp commandant who killed him, now a police chief trying to solve a murder. As I read Mr. Fair’s cri de couer, I was remidned of the novel.
9 Responses to “Open Letter to Eric T. Fair”
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February 9th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
[...] not always in 100% agreement with Brendan (Brendan Calling) but in this post he is totally correct. Anyone in our military that was part of torture of prisoners deserves any [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Brendan- you share my vitriol. I think suicide is too good for a torturer.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:43 am
You know what, Brendan?
You’re absolutely right.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
well give the guy some credit for feeling shame, something many of his compatriots see incapable of.
i suggest that rather than suicide, he devote the rest of his life to the demise of CACI, his probable ex-employer, which he doesn’t even mention! continue to speak out publicly about how many billions this company makes by contracting out interrogators who are free from any legal liability. most americans by now surely know the name halliburton, but CACI is still pretty unknown.
and he doesn’t mention how long he worked for them but if he was there a few years he made several hundred thousand dollars the stinking mercenary. he should give it all away as part of his penance and have this confession of his be just the start of his lifelong campaign to end the use of private contractors for all military functions.
if not, go fucking blow your brains out, eric fair. it’s not about your pain, mercenary asshole.
February 15th, 2007 at 5:37 am
As both a fan of this blog and a personal friend, I’ve gotta say Brendan, I find this post really disturbing and disappointing. It’s not because I don’t share your views on torture, I do. I also really appreciate your usual vitriol as well as your sense of humor, both of which are all-too-rare.
What you risk though, even before this post, is not being taken seriously in a public forum — or, more specifically: you make yourself dangerously easy to write off. Generally though, you take it out onto the edge and then win back your credibility with undeniable facts, strong analysis, and the validation of real emotion. Still — and you know this, buddy — I worry about you. I feel sometimes the greater risk is your ability or inability to maintain this angry intensity without it acting as a slow-acting corrosive on your heart. That’s where my personal concerns come in.
Suggesting this guy kill himself on a blog is one thing. It’s fucked up and pretty extreme but it’s your forum, and y’know… people say crazy shit on the internet every day. But it’s a huge public risk to your credibility which, as a fan, I’d like to see you maintain.
However, to actually lick the envelope on a letter to a troubled person suggesting they kill themselves and drop it in the post box makes me start to worry about you. Do you realize how seriously fucked up that is? It makes me worry if the de-humanizing effect of the world’s violence has begun to de-humanize you. It’s especially troubling when it’s the only response you can muster to a pretty serious admission of guilt and a request for understanding. This guy steps up not just anywhere, but in an international newspaper, not to mention in the face of a military and colleagues, many of whom I’m sure would rather see this guy dead than talking at all. Not giving him the slightest bit of credit? Not offering him any understanding whatsoever? I dunno… maybe. But personally recommending his suicide?
I think it’s important to recognize, whether you agree with him or not, that he is making a plea for his own humanity. And yes, I realize that sounds hollow when his own crime is precisely denying others their own humanity. But I feel how we respond to this is extremely important — do we do what he did, and what too many others do on a daily basis: turn around and deny him his own humanity, eye-for-an-eye style? Sure, you can philosophically (& sorta mathematically) add it up: say that because he didn’t show mercy, he deserves no mercy. But that robs everyone of their humanity, including you.
It’s something I would expect in a less-serious blog, or in a moment of wild indignation, but taking it to the level of a personal letter makes me think you’re pretty seriously misjudging your involvement in the issue. Judges endowed with the power of the state put people to death. Grieving families call for death sentences for the murderers of their loved ones. But you’re a blogger sitting at a computer at your dayjob in Philadelphia. You suggest — urge, even — this guy to kill himself, press enter, then go out on a coffeebreak? I understand how deeply emotionally you take things — which is why I think your blog is so important and valuable — but once you start prescribing people’s death, what separates you from ‘pro-life’ websites that print pictures of Planned Parenthood doctors in rifle sites? It saddens me for both your public standing and your personal emotional life.
I don’t need a lecture on the hideous realities of torture. Thankfully, I have your blog to remind me. I also don’t purport to forgive this guy his sins, or write off what he did — which frankly, I don’t think he’s even asking for. I’m talking about the relative ease, carelessness, and frankly sloppiness with which you write off the situation. I think you can do better.
February 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
“However, to actually lick the envelope on a letter to a troubled person suggesting they kill themselves and drop it in the post box makes me start to worry about you.”
Actually, it was email.
It’s especially troubling when it’s the only response you can muster to a pretty serious admission of guilt and a request for understanding. This guy steps up not just anywhere, but in an international newspaper, not to mention in the face of a military and colleagues, many of whom I’m sure would rather see this guy dead than talking at all. Not giving him the slightest bit of credit?
Read Mr. Fair’s piece, and identify for me exactly where in that article Mr. Fair mentions his colleagues, or even the company that employed him. Show me exactly where he says “So-and-so ordered me to do this.” he doesn’t do anything at all like that. It’s the equivalent of someone walking up to the police and saying “I was contracted killed someone, but I won’t say who I killed, who told me to do it, who paid me, or where the body is buried. But I feel so bad about what i did I wanted to get it off my shoulders.” Fair’s piece is devoid of substance. “Admissions of guilt” carry consequences: this man wants to admit guilt without consequences.
“I think it’s important to recognize, whether you agree with him or not, that he is making a plea for his own humanity. And yes, I realize that sounds hollow when his own crime is precisely denying others their own humanity.
Fair sold his humanity to the highest bidder. No one put a gun to his head and said “torture that man.” Because he wasn’t in the military, he didn’t even face the threat of “torture that man or get court martialed” or “torture him or you get a dishonorable discharge.”
No, what happened was Mr. Fair saw a lucrative opportunity in Iraq: private contracters make hundreds of thousands: I checked a federal jobs site, and found the base pay is close to $125,000. Starting salary.
what separates you from ‘pro-life’ websites that print pictures of Planned Parenthood doctors in rifle sites?
I’m not printing Fair’s address and encouraging my readers to kill him. I’m not printing his phone number an encouraging my readers to stalk him. I haven’t even posted a picture of Mr. Fair.
In short, when Fair begins: offering sworn testimony; naming names, including superiors, managers, and the military officers he worked with; and starts using his blood money to support anti-torture legislation, NGOs that fight against torture, then I’ll be prepared to give him a break (and by the way, you should read my Menendex Does the Right Thing piece, which shows how a person who did the wrong thing can redeem himself). But until I see that, all I’m hearing is whining from Eric Fair. “Waah, I can’t sleep. What I did was bad. Pity me.” I can’t get on that bandwagon.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Forcing a man to stand naked, vs. suggesting another commit suicide. Wow, hard to figure which one is worse. I know I did wrong. You can come to your own conclusion.
Mr. Skwire, you’re just the sort of person that made things so difficult in Iraq. Convinced you’re right, and willing to say or do whatever is necessary to make your point. Welcome to the world of inhumanity. Like so many of my colleagues in Iraq, I’m sure you’ll sleep just fine.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Sir (if you are who you say you are):
You write “Forcing a man to stand naked, vs. suggesting another commit suicide. Wow, hard to figure which one is worse.” I hope you’re being facetious. Your treatment of Iraqis, as you acknowledge in your piece, has helped foment the insurgency and gotten American soldiers killed. I haven’t gotten anyone killed, sir, and would thus argue that your actions were worse than my words.
“I know I did wrong. You can come to your own conclusion.” So do something to make amends. You made a lot of money doing what you did: I didn’t see one mention of what you’ve done to make amends for what you yourself admit was wrong,a crime. Do we waive prison for murderers who regret their crimes? Shoplifters? Arsonists? Be a mensch.
You write, “Mr. Skwire, you’re just the sort of person that made things so difficult in Iraq. Convinced you’re right, and willing to say or do whatever is necessary to make your point.”
“Say or do anything”? By that do you mean “write a blog post that argues that your column was self-serving”? With all due respect, that is HILARIOUS: the self-admitted torturer accuses me, a guy who’s never tortured anyone, Iraqi or otherwise, and who has a readership of perhaps 500 people, of being willing to “do whatever is necessary” and “making things so difficult in Iraq”. I think that’s more YOUR job description than mine: after all, it’s your actions, not my blog, that “have created some of the most determined opponents”. I fail to see how my blog makes things difficult in Iraq, please explain.
Your concern for my sleep is precious, but I’ll bet if you dedicated your life to helping torture victims, you’d sleep a lot better. How much did you get paid? $80,000? $100,000? You have the dough to take a few years off to join the peace corps or work for a mission to the poor. Go to Darfur or something. Better yet testify against your bosses.
The fact is if you had done what you did in Philadelphia, you’d be in jail: writing a “mea culpa” wouldn’t have been anywhere near enough. You’re no better than Sammy the Bull Gravano. No, you’re not even as good as him: Gravano turned state’s evidence and sent mobsters and murderers to jail. What have you done?
I guess if I was on the receiving end of that post my feelings would be hurt too, but if you are who you say you are, your defense is just lame and full of holes.
And if you’re a troll impersonating Mr. Fair, you’re double the asshole for making a guy who did the very least, but at least did something, sound like a blithering idiot.
In either case, your conscience needs calisthenics, and I stand by my statement.
brendan skwire
June 6th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
[...] few months ago, I caught a ration of shit from a right winger for arguing that not-so-repentant Eric Fair, tormented by guilt from his role as a paid torturer, should…. After all, fair didn’t name names, didn’t point any fingers, and pretty much expected [...]