Thoughts on Prisoners, Torture and Hypocrisy

This is another post I knew would be inevitable. Ever since the story broke I wondered how I would write about the CIA's torture program. How does anyone write about such things? I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for people like Shaker Aamer or what it was like for Moazzam Begg. All I can do is look at the information I have and somehow try and comprehend. I think this article will be a massive failure in that respect. Still, the bigger failure would be to say nothing so I'm going to share my thoughts here.

Shaker Aamer is a Saudi man who was a British resident. He has spent the last twelve years and ten months of his life however locked up in Guantanamo Bay. Normally when someone is arrested, they are charged with a crime, taken to court and judged by a jury of their peers. If they are found guilty, then they are sent to prison. Shaker Aamer's case is not a normal case however. He wasn't found guilty by a jury of his peers because he didn't receive a trial. He didn't receive a trial because he hasn't been charged with a crime. Even after almost thirteen years incarceration, he still hasn't been charged with a crime. He was simply taken and given to the CIA. The CIA then tortured him and are still torturing him. As if this whole situation wasn't ludicrous enough, he has been cleared for release by Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Yet he's still inside because they won't let him join his family in the UK. These are the facts. Some people may point out that he confessed to participating in terrorist activity, which is true. Yet this was a confession obtained through torture. While I can't imagine what he went through, I can say for certain that if you torture me enough, I'll confess to killing JFK, but that doesn't mean I did.

I said Shaker Aamer was tortured. It's likely he is one of thousands of people who have been tortured. The CIA has plenty of methods of what they call "enhanced interrogation". These are the ones that we  now know about.

• Force Feeding (Both orally and anally)
• Excessively forceful rectal exams
• Threats to rape and murder the families of prisoners
• Inflicted hypothermia
• Prisoners forced to stand on broken/amputated legs/feet
• Prisoners told they would be killed
• Threatening with a gun and power drill
• Russian roulette
• Mock executions
• Waterboarding
• Sleep deprivation
• Buckets to use instead of toilets
• Sensory deprivation
• Keeping prisoners in coffins
• Keeping prisoners in boxes measuring 21in x 30in x 30in
• Forcing prisoners to stay in stress positions
• Ice water baths

If it isn't already clear, what I'm saying is "enhanced interrogation" is a bullshit term. It's torture.

Shaker Aamer is a British resident kept in an American prison, without being charged with a crime, despite two Presidents saying he can go. Imagine for a amount that Shaker Aamer was an American resident, with an American family. Imagine he was kept in a British prison without being charged and was tortured in there. How long do you think it would take the United States to send in the Navy SEALs? There's not much else to say. One thing does need saying though. Americans love to say that America is the greatest country in the world. These people are far too arrogant and far too ignorant.

Steven