THE TORTURE TIMES (All the Torture News That’s Fit to Print) — by Steve Nadis
$10 million for spilled coffee versus $75,000 for being detained, kicked, beaten, and administered drugs over the course of months? It doesn’t add up for me. But what do I know about this stuff? I still use the archaic term “torture,” whereas today’s practitioners have moved way beyond that, referring to “powers of persuasion” and all sorts of terms (like “enemy combattants”) I’d never heard of before.
For example, there’s this new word being floated around by the Bush Administration called “rendition,” which sounds like the latest version of “New York, New York” or “White Christmas,” but actually means kidnapping terror suspects and transporting them to secret prisons for long, private chats. The amount of thought Bush and his friends have given to this matter is really quite amazing; somehow they’ve managed to convince the best legal scholars they could grab to find ways of circumventing international codes of conduct and decency. In his lame-duck term, Bush has got to be thinking about “legacy,” and, after a slow start, he is now lining up one heck of an impressive one.
Condi Rice, of all people, has come out in favor of “rendition,” which must be a relief to the Administration as she appeared to be a bit of a holdout–i.e., not coming out squarely behind torture as Cheney and Rumsfeld have. It’s nice to see that she’s finally ready to play ball. It took awhile, but now she’s just “one of the guys.”
And to think Colin Powell had a chance to be part of all this and instead walked away. What on Earth was he thinking?
zardoz says:
in all probability there keeping the prices down
for torture
to about 15,000 dollars
per month so the u.s. gov. can pick up anyone in the
world , (beat him, without killing him)
and when they get
whatever there after
THEY COME BACK TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
AND SAY
…WE REIMBURSED OUR ENEMIES……
we know its wrong…SORRY
………BUT THEY ARE REIMBURSED.
so is this news ?
would a reporter think it , newsworthy
in a few months or years , when it becomes
standard procedure ,
A STORY OF REIMBURSEMENT.
and in eight years from now maybe
mr COLIN POWELL can drive the prices even lower.
so everybody sleeps quietly.
….
……
……….except for the highly trained proffesional
who used to work for DUNKIN DONUTS, whos out of work
and in and out of courts to prove
how well he can apply a lid to a styrofoam cup .
and maybe he’ll apply for work in the cia ,
i mean his got qualifications for burning people.
AND twentyfive years later he’s retired as cia
director, and writes a book :
FROM DUNK DONUTS COUNTER TO TO GEORGE TENNETS SEAT
——– A BURNING WAY———–
THEN there’s the lady who got the ten million
for a scalding burn , is she the one who will help
mr COLIN POWELL into the white house. ?
SHES NEWSWORTHY: even ten years later;
—-BURNED BUT RICHER, FOR IT ———–
ANYWAYS THERE’S A BOOK HERE SOMEWERE.
GRAB IT BEFORE THE POST DOES.
——————— ZARDOZ
[quote]"$10 million for spilled coffee versus $75,000 for being detained, kicked, beaten, and administered drugs over the course of months?"[/quote]
Your article raises a tormenting question: How much IS human dignity worth?
Anyone else care to bid?
They probably took into account the frequent flyer miles he got from the "rendition" flights.
We’re being "renditioned" right now with this administration. I guess that’s why at Border’s when I ordered my grande non fat chai tea latte’ - the guy refused to put the lid on it. FYI, I didn’t get my windfall from a lawsuit. I did date a lawyer who ended up being an ambulance chaser, so do I need to be "renditioned" for that? Can the word "rendition" be made into a verb?
Thanks again folks! Sorry about the windfall (or lack thereof) Windfall. Doc, I love the point you made about "freqent flyer" miles; that rarely comes up in these discussions. You ask a good question, FW. Right now the value of human dignity may be at an all-time low. (Buy low, sell hi?) And thank you, Z. I’m working on the book proposal as we speak…
Snake, today it’s me slow on the uptake. I did receive a windfall but my point was that I didn’t get it from suing anybody. I’ve had lots of questions about that. My latest windfall was the rediscovery of a gift.
I suppose a windfall is a windfall even if you didn’t have to sue anybody for it. In any case, that’s great news. (I found a $5 bill last week though it might have been mine, in which case it was merely a "rediscovery" or a "recovery" rather than a true windfall.)
Bush’s legacy: the most corrupt and incompetent administration in a century.
Amen. (Or should I say "ditto"?)
PLEASE PEOPLE CUT THE BUSH
Thanks TM; that might work as a bumper sticker, although I might say "CUT THIS BUSH."
Ummm…..I think my mind isn’t on the right track.