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

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.

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.

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.

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.