Torture...

[babylonsister]

Torture is the polar opposite of freedom. It is the banishment of all freedom from a human body and soul, insofar as that is possible. As human beings, we all inhabit bodies and have minds, souls, and reflexes that are designed in part to protect those bodies: to resist or flinch from pain, to protect the psyche from disintegration, and to maintain a sense of selfhood that is the basis for the concept of personal liberty. What torture does is use these involuntary, self-protective, self-defining resources of human beings against the integrity of the human being himself. It takes what is most involuntary in a person and uses it to break that person's will. It takes what is animal in us and deploys it against what makes us human.

From 2005.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=a4e8a176-9c0c-4f26-ae58-8ef750a566b0

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

1. Thank you

and thanks for all your work informing us on the many threads you've posted.

[sam sarrha]

2. interesting article on torture.. >Link>>

http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5015&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=167&no_cache=1
Radical Islamist literature and discourse is replete with references to torture. The infamous al-Qaeda training manual “Military Studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants,” more commonly referred to as the “Manchester Document,” includes references to the oppression and torture endured by Muslims at the hands of “apostate” rulers whose prisons are “equipped with the most modern torture devices” <4>. Al-Zawahiri’s*** public statements often contain references to torture by the Egyptian regime and others in the region. In addressing the nature of U.S.-Egyptian relations during a May 2007 statement, Zawahiri criticizes what he labels “American hypocrisy, which calls for democracy even as it considers Hosni Mubarak to be one of its closest friends, and which sends detainees to be tortured in Egypt, exports tools of torture to Egypt and spends millions to support the security organs and their executioners in Egypt, even as the American State Department, in its annual report on human rights, criticizes the Egyptian government because it tortures detainees!” <5> .. .

...Torture and Social Control
In the Middle East, the use of torture is not reserved for violent militants. On the contrary, authoritarian regimes regularly resort to draconian measures against moderate democratic reform-minded Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, secular and liberal opposition dissidents, or even student protestors to eliminate challenges to their rule. These measures are often carried out in the name of maintaining stability or protecting national security. In reality, they are about regime survival. Many observers are convinced that this vicious cycle of systematic abuse has the potential to radicalize dissident activists, leading some to join the ranks of violent militants to avenge their ordeal. At the very least, these practices vindicate the claims of extremists regarding the conduct of regional governments.

Conclusion
Based on the discourse of al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist organizations, the current trajectory of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East will continue to serve as a battle cry for militants to take up arms against the United States. The prevalence of systematic torture and the persistence of authoritarianism in countries the United States counts as loyal allies will facilitate this process. These conditions will also provide al-Qaeda’s highly-effective media and propaganda wings with ample material to implicate the United States in the activities of regional security services. Regardless of political sensitivities, this subject requires far more attention from serious researchers examining the paths toward political radicalization. ...snip"



########################################################################
Al-Zawahiri***
. 911911911911 what really happened, revenge for torture?.. Al-Zawahiri's revenge for torture apparently planned 911, he was evidently driven insane by torture our ally did to him in Egypt, we contracted egypt torture, he was tortured several times a day for years, shit like cuffing hands behind back.. hanging the cuffs over the top edge of a door. then putting an electrode made of a piece of pipe on a wire up his ass then a copper wire inserted up his penis.. and unmercifully electrocuted while being beaten unconscious repeatedly with hydraulic hoses.. for hours then dragged back to his small cell where they has put a crazed vicious dog. they threw his food on the floor and he had to fight the dog for his food.. for 2 years. he vowed to get even with the united states for that torture and he apparently did with 911.

SO I GUESS YOU CAN SAW TORTURE WORKS.. JUST NOT THE WAY WE PLANNED

THE ReThuglicans seem genetically predisposed to torture.. and Corporatist-Fascist Cleptocratic Plutocracy... just look what they did to central/south America during Reagan/Bu$h41.. we are responsible for the torture and death of at least 240,000 innocent people.. i am sure some did become rebels because of what we did to their people.. the UN declared what we did there with milton friedman economics and Bu$h41/kissinger/rumsfield/negroponte mindless
corpo-fascist brutality to be GENOCIDE..