It’s a question that I’ve heard a lot of people discussing. The more ignorant and angry seem to believe that any means necessary to protect whatever it is they want to protect is okay… To me, that sort of thinking is just as disgusting as that of fundamentalists of all stripes who are willing to promote their agenda by any means necessary. I’ve heard people say that it was alright to drop an atomic bomb on cities filled with innocent men, women, and children because it achieved an unconditional surrender from the Japanese. I have a real issue with this sort of thinking…Read the following and then consider whether you want whatever nation you claim as your own to use tactics such as these…I certainly don’t.–cd
Because They Can: The Logic of the Torture State by William Norman Grigg
“This is your god!”
That profane outburst fell from the lips of Pfc. Damien M. Corsetti – aka “Monster,” aka “King of Torture” – as he straddled a helpless Saudi detainee in a Soviet-constructed Afghan prison. Corsetti had just threatened to rape the detainee, and the supposed deity he referred to was the appendage with which he would commit that act. At the time, said appendage was pressed against the prisoner’s face.
This account was offered by a witness at Corsetti’s court martial. That witness testified for the defense. As Eliza Griswold recounts in the current issue of The New Republic, the tribunal “cleared Corsetti of all charges. His lawyer successfully argued … that the rules for detainee treatment were unclear: `The president of the United States doesn’t know what the rules are. The secretary of defense doesn’t know what the rules are. But the government expects this Pfc. to know what the rules are?’”
So – at the time of Corsetti’s trial a year ago, the assumption was that sexual assault was considered a permissible interrogation tactic in the absence of a specific prohibition. He’d used the tactic before while working at Abu Ghraib: With the help of two comrades he forced an Iraqi woman to strip.
Why did he do this? Because he could.
There was no “rule” against it, after all – apart from the law written on the heart by the Creator, that is. But Corsetti, as we’ve seen, had his own theology. And because he was permitted by his superiors to ignore the moral law, Corsetti finished his military career with an “honorable” discharge.
He has since disappeared from public view. To me it seems likely he found a career in law enforcement, like his fellow torturer Samuel Franklin.
Read the rest at http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w12.html
