In Our Name
From the Red Cross report, which I’ll be excerpting all day:
[Abu Zubayda] went on to say that a cover was placed over the boxes while he was inside making it hot and difficult to breathe. The combination of sweat, pressure, and friction from the slightest movement possible to try to find a comfortable position, meant that the wound on his leg began to re-open and started to bleed. He does not know how long he remained in the small box; he says he thinks he may have slept or fainted. The boxes were used repeatedly during a period of approximately one week in conjunction with other forms of ill-treatment, such as suffocation by water, beatings and use of the collar to slam him against the wall, sleep deprivation, loud music, and deprivation of solid food….
Then, about two and a half or three months after I [Zubaydah] arrived in this place, the interrogation began again, but with more intensity than before. Then the real torturing started. Two black wooden boxes were brought into the room outside my cell. One was tall, slightly higher than me and narrow…the other was shorter, perhaps 1 meter in height. I was taken out of my cell and one of the interrogators wrapped a towel around my neck, they then used it swing me around and smash me repeatedly against the hard walls of the room… as I was still shackled, the pushing and pulling around meant that the shackles pulled painfully on my ankles.
I was then put into the tall black box for what I think was about one and a half to two hours. The box was totally black on the inside as well as the outside. It had a bucket inside to use as a toilet and had water to drink provided in a bottle. They put a cloth or cover over the outside of the box to cut out the light and restrict my air supply. It was difficult to breathe. When I was let out of the box, I saw that one of the walls of the room had been covered with plywood sheeting. From now on it was against this wall that I was then smashed with the towel around my neck. I think that the plywood was put there to provide some absorption of the impact of my body…
After the beating, I was then placed in the small box. They placed a cloth or cover over the box to cut out all light and restrict my air supply. As it was not high enough even to sit upright, I had to crouch down. It was very difficult because of my wounds. The stress on my legs held in this position meant my wounds both in the leg and the stomach became very painful. I think this occurred about 3 months after my last operation. It was always cold in the room, but when the cover was placed over the box it made it hot and sweaty inside. I don’t know how long I remained in the small box, I think I may have slept of fainted.
I was then dragged from the small box, unable to walk properly, and put on what looked like a hospital bed, and strapped down very tightly with belts. A black cloth was then placed over my face and the interrogators used a mineral water bottle to pour water on the cloth so I could not breathe. After a few minutes the cloth was removed and the bed was rotated to an upright position. The pressure of the straps on my wounds was very painful. I vomited. The bed was then again lowered to a horizontal position and the same torture was carried out again with the black cloth over my face and water poured from a bottle. On this occasion my head was in a more backward, downwards position and the water was poured for a longer time. I struggled against the straps, trying to breathe, but it was hopeless. I thought I was going to die. I lost control of my urine. Since then I still lose control of my urine when under stress.
And what actionable intelligence did we get from Zubaydah? Nothing. AKA “jack diddly” or bupkes.
No, the only thing we got out of our little extra-legal adventure is an endless, unwinnable war in the Middle East, an indelible stain on our national history, the animosity and distrust of the rest of the developed and developing world, exposure to war crimes charges (don’t vacation in Europe anytime soon John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington, Alberto Gonzales, William Haynes and Douglas Feith), and of course increased risk to Americans everywhere.
And you can thank the Bush Administration, the Republican party, and a very large handful of complicit Democrats.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Im sure if I was held in a detention center for an extended period of time I would also state that horrible atrocities were forced on me. Im sure some of the torture is true if you consider water boarding torture. Maybe what we should have done is decapitated all the captives and dismember their bodies the way the terrorists did to our people. Im amused that people like you want us to follow the Geneva Convention for terrorists, for people who do not follow the Geneva Convention. Yes, IN OUR NAME and for our protection!!!
April 8th, 2009 at 7:55 am
it didn’t work. no actionable intelligence, no results.
torture doesn’t work.
and we stick to the geneva convention because that’s what makes our cause morally superior to the terrorists’.
it’s not just me that considers waterboarding torture, it’;s the US government. go read what happened to the japanse who waterboarded our guys in WW2, and then come give me a lecture.