Skip to main content

with regard to torture

Mr. Bush claims that, "That's not the way we do things in America," and "They must also understand that what took place in that prison does not represent the America that I know." Well, of course not. It's not America at all. It's Iraq; even vague familiarity with a map will preclude such a misunderstanding. I wonder what America he does know, though. He further says that those who inflicted the abuse, "do not reflect the nature of men and women we sent overseas" -- I don't see how this can be true. They're there. You sent them there. They apparently have all this in their nature.

It dawned on me that I'm an elitist bastard. As a life-long Left-Coaster, it's really easy to simply dismiss backwater hicks, and what appears to be the commonality of the American South until they start showing up in the news as executors of our foreign policy. The sad truth is that generally Americans are poorly educated about tolerance and acceptance of other cultures. And as long as the backward billies stay in their prefixed hills, we can usually rest easy that our fellow citizens' ignorance and "charm" will remain a little dirty secret. But then we send them off as soldiers, sometimes the only Americans in any area will ever meet, and BANG, the cat is out of the bag. I mean, did no one see this coming? (via DPH)

Update: A Salon piece mentions that the torturers used the pics as screensavers and desktops. I feel like I'm going to puke.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

dan simmons’ fiction

“I came back for my own purposes,” said the Time Traveler, looking around my booklined study. “I chose you to talk to because it was . . . convenient. And I don’t want you to do a goddamned thing. There’s nothing you can do. But relax . . . we’re not going to be talking about personal things. Such as, say, the year, day, and hour of your death. I don’t even know that sort of trivial information, although I could look it up quickly enough. You can release that white-knuckled grip you have on the edge of your desk.” I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said. “The Century War,” said the Time Traveler. I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .” “I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he ...
8 comments
Read more

se7en of nin9

You could tell William Shatner that you hadn’t lived until you’d seen his one-man production of Se7en . He”d probably tell you to “get a life.” ( Chad Underkoffler )
6 comments
Read more

yakuzploitation?

NERSFW horrifyingly non-PC female yakuza exploitation flick trailer that features more questionable content than you can shake a broken bottle at. However, if this is your thing, there is a guide to this whole “pinky violence” subgenre available to you. On a side note, if you ever get tired of watching Shintaro Katsu being such a cool good guy in Zatoichi films, check out a couple of Kamisori Hanzo (The Razor) movies to increase your sense of moral dischord. (inspired originally by this boingboing article)
6 comments
Read more