tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post6360505412481053250..comments2024-03-28T14:05:25.134-07:00Comments on Sacnoth's Scriptorium: Poke-em-with-a-Stick Wednesday: "It's a Soft Wall"John D. Rateliffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-78568882479454065902009-04-24T20:28:00.000-07:002009-04-24T20:28:00.000-07:00Why yes, I do include myself among those with hot-...Why yes, I do include myself among those with hot-button issues. Hence the use of third person plural ("we") throughout that paragraph<br /><br />And I am aware of the fact that the torturers claim they made the person being tortured wear protective gear before slamming him, repeatedly, into a specially made wall. Hence my reference to Monty Python.<br /><br />Were I to do an update to the post, it wd include the news from yesterday about how of the hundred or so people who died while in our secret prisons, roughly a third of them were murdered and another dozen or so died as a result of being tortured. That's about half of the total. I don't think it includes the suicides, or the many repeated attempted suicides. <br /><br />(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/what-if-khalid-sheikh-moh_b_190385.html)<br /><br />To this I wd also add the account I happened to hear on the radio yesterday by the man sent to Iraq to train troops how to resist torture who, once there, discovered he was instead supposed to teach interrogators how to torture false confessions out of people and, his first day on the job, walked in on a standard interrogation session that he immediately had to stop because of the ongoing prisoner abuse involved.<br /><br />I think the torturers, and their defenders, are basically caught in a catch-22: stress how humane and patient the prisoners' months and months of interrogations supposedly were and make those ordering them seem irresponsible in the "ticking time-bomb" scenario they repeated so often (anthrax! poison gas! atomic bombs in Saddam's hands!). On the other hand, stress how they personally authorized "harsh interrogation techniques" and they admit to war crimes.<br /><br />In any case, I think "it's a soft wall" holds as a good phrase to sum up the mentality of those who are trying to deny, especially to themselves, what they're doing and what they've become.<br /><br />--JDRJohn D. Rateliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-38329808544267540762009-04-23T05:26:00.000-07:002009-04-23T05:26:00.000-07:00John, if you read the memos, you'll see that the w...John, if you read the memos, you'll see that the wall in question was in fact a false wall, specially constructed to have a lot of give in it, but also to make a lot of noise when impacted. It was deliberately designed to minimize the actual force of hitting the wall, so as to reduce physical pain, but to use the element of noise for a shock effect. This is detailed in the memos and is the basis of Brit Hume's comment: it was _in fact_ a "soft wall".<br /><br />I would suggest that your second paragraph cuts both ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com