Posted by Sir Four at 10:59am May 7 '09Outspoken anti-torture blogger Andrew Sullivan has suggested that torture of prisoners should be regarded as rape. I wonder what 4K thinks of this.
Like rape, torture need not leave permanent scars or lasting physical damage. Like rape, torture is about violating someone you have complete control over. Destroying their autonomy, breaking them down, doing things that no one ought to do to another human being.
America had prisoners lying naked, chained to the floor, doused with water in cold rooms, shivering in their own shit and urine, unable to use the bathroom or have a shower. We waterboarded, we blasted high-volume music day and night, we locked them in tiny boxes. We used techniques employed by the Gestapo, the Soviets, the Khmer Rouge. Techniques that we would unequivocally call torture if used against Americans. Some of the prisoners died in our custody. Some of them were al Qaeda, some were just picked up off the street and knew nothing. More than one was an American citizen, but it didn't matter.
Like rape, torture need not leave permanent scars or lasting physical damage. Like rape, torture is about violating someone you have complete control over. Destroying their autonomy, breaking them down, doing things that no one ought to do to another human being.
America had prisoners lying naked, chained to the floor, doused with water in cold rooms, shivering in their own shit and urine, unable to use the bathroom or have a shower. We waterboarded, we blasted high-volume music day and night, we locked them in tiny boxes. We used techniques employed by the Gestapo, the Soviets, the Khmer Rouge. Techniques that we would unequivocally call torture if used against Americans. Some of the prisoners died in our custody. Some of them were al Qaeda, some were just picked up off the street and knew nothing. More than one was an American citizen, but it didn't matter.
Torture as Rape - Sir Four