Torture

DC Media Girl has a short little rant written by Larry C. Johnson that encapsulates how many of us feel about torture at Guantanamo and other fun resorts run by the U.S. military. The story of Spc. Sean D. Baker and Rep. Duncan Hunter's idiotic press conference are the factors behind this particular rant.

In January 2003, Spc. Baker volunteered to take part in a training episode at Gitmo. He was to play the part of an uncooperative detainee in the exercise, so he donned the orange jumpsuit and slid under a bunk in an isolation wing. Soldiers participating in the drill were supposed to have been told that Baker was an American soldier and that this "extraction drill" was only an exercise. Baker is now suing the Pentagon for $15 million because of what happened next...

The Pentagon initially said that Baker's hospitalization following the training incident was not related to the beating. Later, officials conceded that he was treated for injuries suffered when a five-man MP "internal reaction force" choked him, slammed his head several times against a concrete floor and sprayed him with pepper gas...

As he was being choked and beaten, Baker said, he screamed a code word, "red," and shouted: "I'm a U.S. soldier! I'm a U.S. soldier!" He said the beating continued until the jumpsuit was yanked down during the struggle, revealing his military uniform.

The lawsuit says of the extraction team: "Armed with the highly inflammatory, false, incendiary and misleading information that had been loaded into their psyches by their platoon leader, these perceptions and fears...became their operative reality, and they acted upon these fears, all to the detriment of Sean Baker.

"No one has been disciplined or punished for the assault, said Baker's lawyer, T. Bruce Simpson Jr.

Last June, a military spokesman said an internal investigation in February 2003 had concluded that no one was liable for Baker's injuries. He said training procedures at Guantanamo had been reviewed after the incident.

"While it is unfortunate that Spc. Baker was injured, the standards of professionalism we expect of our soldiers mandate that our training be as realistic as possible," the spokesman said.

Baker claims the assault "left him with seizures, blackouts, headaches, insomnia and psychological problems." Larry Johnson's rant reflects the feelings of many of us who are distressed that the country we love is conducting torture...

The point of the outrage over abuses at Guantanamo is that we are a country based on morals and principles that require us to conduct ourselves in an honorable, proper fashion. If we lower ourselves to use the tactics and methods of terrorists we become the very thing we are fighting against. We cannot be content to argue that it only happened to a few. One act of deliberate abuse is one too many.

Today we learn in L.A. Times that a U.S. soldier was badly beaten by the U.S. guards at Guantanamo because they were misled to believe he was a Muslim prisoner who had attacked a U.S. soldier. According to the Times: "Spc. Sean D. Baker, 38, was assaulted in January 2003 after he volunteered to wear an orange jumpsuit and portray an uncooperative detainee. Baker said the MPs, who were told that he was an unruly detainee who had assaulted an American sergeant, inflicted a beating that resulted in a traumatic brain injury."

Hopefully this causes Congressman Duncan Hunter to reflect on his idiotic assertion that what a prisoner eats determines how well they are treated. We are confronted with an uncomfortable reality that U.S. soldiers were beating unarmed prisoners. That my friends is the conduct of bullies and cowards. When you have guns and clubs and your opponent is unarmed and you proceed to beat the hell out of your opponent then you are a bully and a coward.

Maybe Representative Duncan Hunter could take Specialist Baker out for a lunch of glazed chicken and warm pita bread and try to persuade him that his brain damage is no big deal. Maybe it is Hunter who is brain damaged? Too much time at altitude without oxygen Congressman?

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