#20 The tongue is fairly firmly in cheek with all the pictures.
On the other hand, I'm pragmatic about torture. Sounds awful, I know, but there are occasions where it's useful even though it's not policy, as are various types of drugs, good cop-bad cop, lying, sleep deprivation, Barry Manilow played at nosebleed levels, and a bunch of other tools best not dwelt upon.
The danger comes when the person making the decision on tools enjoys it. If a person's doing interrogations to get his sexual jollies, he should be someplace else. If he's playing -- like the Abu Ghraib nitwits -- he should be someplace else. The objective is extraction of usable information, not sexual jollification, ego massage, or even revenge.
And God knows, there are enough reasons for revenge, given the behavior of our enemy. Read today's account of a beheading -- that's sadism. |
The Iraqi national guards have announced the arrests of 73 Afghans who have entered the country illegally through Iran, said Al Mashriq newspaper. The Iraqi national guards forces arrested the Afghans in the city of Ummarah, south of Baghdad, where foreign fighters usually come from, said captain Furat Al Timimi, spokesman for the national guards forces in the south of Iraq. The arrested Afghans would be turned to the Iraqi police for investigation because of terrorist suspicion. The Iraqi interim government continues its effort to control the borders with neighboring countries in a bid to control the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, especially with the approaching of the elections, he emphasized, adding that Iraq needs cooperation of its neighboring countries to prevent foreign fighters from infiltration. Hazim Shaalan al-Khuzaei, the Iraqi defense minister, had accused Iran on several occasions of interfering in the Iraq internal affairs and of allowing fighters to enter Iraq through Iran.