Comments on: Is the GOP the Party of Torture?

By: Dave L

Dave L — Fri, 18 May 2007 22:07:47 +0000

“Sleep deprivation would be very merciful indeed compared to having one’s head sawed off with a dull knife by al-Qaida thugs, or having air bubbles injected into one’s blood stream by Japanese torturers, or being placed in a vacuum by Nazis.”
Oh yea? Well those aren’t torture either. Torture is being covered in honey and buried in an nest of hungry fire ants, but you’re purposely kept somewhat alive for days and days while they eat you alive. Genitalia first. Tripping on bad acid.
Seriously, the question isn’t whether there’s worse torture, it’s is sleep deprivation torture? I notice you didn’t take Foltz up on his suggestion above.

By: napoleon15

napoleon15 — Fri, 18 May 2007 21:33:37 +0000

Sleep deprivation would be very merciful indeed compared to having one’s head sawed off with a dull knife by al-Qaida thugs, or having air bubbles injected into one’s blood stream by Japanese torturers, or being placed in a vacuum by Nazis.

By: Joshua Claybourn

Joshua Claybourn — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:38:31 +0000

Sigh, it’s hard to argue with that Jason. Perhaps I’m seeing the glass half full when it’s really 3/4 empty.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:21:19 +0000

I hate to join in the chorus, but to suggest that sleep deprivation is not torture is an abuse of plain English. Sleep deprivation is not a kinder-gentler form of ‘rendition’ invented to supplant real torture by civilized Americans. It has been practiced by every foul horde and fascist warmonger in history. Mohammed’s successors routinely used it against political enemies before executing them. Perhaps I suffer from a misplaced faith in my country, but Americans hate torture because it stinks not only of barbarism but stinks of desperation and incipient defeat. We don’t need to torture to win. We are better. And you, “Napoleon” (nice choice of pseudonym), like all would-be fascists and the cowardly enemies we face, are obviously a loser.

By: JohnS

JohnS — Fri, 18 May 2007 14:02:28 +0000

napoleon15
The British and Northern Ireland used sleep deprivation as part of their “interrogation technique” against people suspected of being members of the IRA in the early 1970s.
When Parliament and the British public found out about it, they freaked. There was a gov’t inquiry and the report found sleep deprivation to be illegal under domestic law. UK security forces are prohibited from employing it to this day.
In 1978, the Irish gov’t took a case to the European Court of Human Rightson behalf of the men who suffered sleep deprivation at the hands of the Brits and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The Court ruled that sleep deprivation “did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture … [but] amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment,” which was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
I hope you’re proud.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:38:56 +0000

I’d generally been hopefull about Romney, but his stance on torture is discouraging. Romney and Giuliani sound like posturing teenage boys here, trying to one-up each other on how tough they can be.
It’s unfortunate that American culture happens to have a rather large pro-violence component, and such knee-jerk reaction comments ring true to many people who enjoy action movies and the show “24.”

By: Foltz

Foltz — Fri, 18 May 2007 12:41:01 +0000

napoleon15, would you be willing to submit to a week or two of sleep deprivation and report back to us?

By: Jason Kuznicki

Jason Kuznicki — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:29:35 +0000

Sleep deprivation isn’t torture? Solzhenitsyn disagreed. He thought it was the worst of all the tortures the Soviets employed.

By: napoleon15

napoleon15 — Fri, 18 May 2007 03:56:09 +0000

The US does not practice torture at Gitmo. If you want some examples of actual torture, go to my blog at napoleon15.blogspot.com Suffice it to say, sleep deprivation and other methods of interrogation practiced at Gitmo do not constitute torture.

By: DD

DD — Fri, 18 May 2007 03:07:34 +0000

I fear that Jason is right, and that the modern GOP has dumbed conservatism down to “willingness to do whatever it takes to inflict the greatest amount of pain on our enemies, regardless of legality, morality, or precedent.” McCain and Paul are in the right here, and public opinion backs them overwhelmingly. Too bad they’re likely to suffer for it in the primaries.