• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Guantanamo Torture? Then I Was Tortured

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Guantanamo Torture? Then I Was Tortured

David C. Stolinsky, MD
April 20, 2009

The Obama administration released secret memos detailing interrogation techniques that were used on suspected terrorists during the Bush years. Some dispute the effectiveness of these techniques, but it is a fact that America has been kept safe from terrorist attacks for seven and one-half years. A former official stated:

It’s damaging because these are techniques that work, and by Obama’s action today, we are telling the terrorists what they are…We have laid it all out for our enemies. This is totally unnecessary…Publicizing the techniques does grave damage to our national security by ensuring they can never be used again − even in a ticking-time-bomb scenario where thousands or even millions of American lives are at stake.

Former CIA Director Hayden and former Attorney General Mukasey stated:

The release of these opinions was unnecessary as a legal matter, and is unsound as a matter of policy. Its effect will be to invite the kind of institutional timidity and fear of recrimination that weakened intelligence gathering in the past, and that we came sorely to regret on Sept. 11, 2001.

The “torture” included: deprivation of sleep, humiliation, exposure to cold, emotional stress, and threats of physical violence. These methods reportedly were used on only about 28 of the worst offenders, and valuable information was obtained.

One method involved giving the detainee only liquids to eat, then removing his clothes. This resembles preparation for a colonoscopy, which people undergo voluntarily. It is unpleasant, but it isn’t “torture.”

Another detainee was afraid of insects, so he was confined in a box with a caterpillar. This reminds me of the time my wife and I went to a restaurant and were served vegetables crawling with worms. It was revolting, but it wasn’t “torture.”

The harshest technique, used only when vital information was needed, was waterboarding. This involved tying the detainee to a horizontal board, covering his face with a cloth, and pouring water on the cloth. This gives the sensation of drowning without the risk. It reminds me of a root canal. I don’t mind dental work, but I hate the feeling of choking caused by lying on my back with a rubber dam blocking my mouth and throat. It is uncomfortable, but it isn’t “torture.”

The inappropriate use of the term “torture” slanders Americans who obtain information that has prevented terrorist attacks. And it dilutes the word until it no longer disgusts us. If all this was “torture,” then I have been “tortured.”

● I never went through the physical and mental stress of Army basic training or Marine boot camp. But that would be worse than “torture,” so there is no word for it.

● I was in the Army Reserve, where I went places I didn’t want to go and did things I didn’t want to do, under threat of imprisonment if I didn’t comply. This included putting on a gas mask, going into a chamber filled with tear gas, and taking off the mask. This caused severe eye and nose irritation, and often vomiting.

● Military personnel undergo training to prepare them for being captured, including waterboarding. Yet no one protests when our own troops are treated this way. Why?

● During internship and residency, I was often deprived of sleep to the point of being clumsy, confused or even silly.

● In the midst of my residency, I was injured in a vehicle accident with the Army Reserve. I limped for months on a badly swollen knee, while the 14 stitches in my face healed. But my supervisor made no allowance, and was irritated at my inability to keep up with him on the stairs.

● During my residency, I was on call every third night. That meant that one week I worked Sunday, the next week I worked Saturday, and only every third week I was free for the weekend – that is, after 12 noon on Saturday.

● In addition, I attended Army Reserve meetings every Wednesday night, and all day Sunday once a month. So I was free for one and one-half days about one weekend a month.

● The on-call room held two or three beds, and there were no pagers. If anyone in the room was needed, the phone rang, and everyone woke up. I was lucky to get two or three hours’ sleep.

● At night and on weekends I was totally responsible for the lives of my patients, with no one to ask for advice. This heavy responsibility, plus the excess number of patients and lack of sleep, caused emotional stress − and a duodenal ulcer.

● Chief residents and attending physicians criticized me in front of my colleagues. We considered this teaching, not “humiliation.”

● When my fellow resident was ill, I was responsible for four interns caring for between 40 and 60 patients. While I was trying to do the work of two people, the chief of the service appeared holding a yardstick. He slapped it into his hand as he angrily asked why we were not at a conference he had scheduled. I protested that we had many critically ill patients, but he insisted. So we left our patients and went to the conference. My only alternative was to refuse, be fired − and leave my ward even more understaffed. But at least I would have found out what he intended to do with the stick. You want stress and threats? You’ve got them.

● Our patients included alcoholics who vomited blood, sometimes on me. In the emergency room, I saw a man with his throat cut ear-to-ear, a man shot in the head, and a comatose child hit by a car. I’ll never forget two young Marines in uniform. They had shotgun wounds, one in the leg (he lived) and one in the back (he didn’t). When I see war or crime movies, sometimes I think I smell blood. And I can’t stand the smell of Parmesan cheese – it reminds me of vomit. You want bad memories? You’ve got them.

● Nights at old San Francisco County Hospital were cold and damp. (Watch the film “Bullitt.”) I wore two scrub shirts under my white jacket. There was no snack bar or vending machine, so if I missed the evening meal, I was hungry as well as tired and cold.

By liberal standards, I was “tortured” regularly. But so are many other young people who go through medical training, not to mention our military, firefighters, paramedics and police. Then there are construction workers, miners, farmers and others who do actual, physical work, under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions.

Those who define “torture” so loosely probably have liberal-arts or law degrees and work in offices. They think getting a report in on time is “stress,” getting a stain on their shirt before a staff meeting is “trauma,” driving a BMW older than two years is “humiliation,” and having to drink plain coffee instead of decaf nonfat latte is “deprivation.”

They have no idea of real torture – you know, what Saddam did until our troops stopped him. Or what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of those who were interrogated, did to Daniel Pearl. Those who insist that we follow the Marquess of Queensbury rules, while our enemies follow no rules at all, may claim to be “humanitarian,” but in fact they are aiding the triumph of barbarism.

If the detainees were “tortured,” so was I, and so are millions of people who undergo rigorous training, then actually work for a living. And if you think what happened at Guantanamo was “torture,” try going through basic training, not to mention airborne or Special Forces training. Then try living under combat conditions in Iraq or Afghanistan.

When liberals feel as much empathy for our own troops as they feel for our enemies, I will pay attention to what they say. When they show as much concern for Daniel Pearl as for the man who beheaded him, I will listen. When they are as distressed by the 3000 innocent people who died horribly on 9/11 as by the discomfort of 28 terrorists who are still alive, I will hear them. Until then, they should shut up. Listening to them is painful − in fact, it might be “torture.”

We live in a dangerous world. We need to know what our enemies are doing and planning. Weakening our government’s intelligence-gathering ability can have only one of two results: Either private companies will take over the intelligence field, which will endanger our freedom. Or the need will remain unmet, which will endanger our lives.

Dr. Stolinsky writes on political and social issues. He can be contacted at [email protected]

http://www.stolinsky.com/news/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=592
 
Top