That’s as in Americans who torture.
‘Brooke'[a female interrogator at Guantanamo] came back round his [the prisoner’s] other side, and he could see that she was beginning to withdraw her hand from her pants," said Sgt Saar.
"As it became visible, the Saudi saw what looked like red blood on her hand."
When the interrogator wiped what he thought was menstrual blood on his face, the prisoner raged, almost breaking free from his handcuffs.
But "Brooke" taunted him further, said Erik Saar, asking whether Allah would be pleased with him and telling him to have fun trying to pray.
Finally the detainee was returned to his cell without water, leaving him unable to cleanse himself.
Posted by Larry
OK, its gross.
But is it torture when its power relies on the "victim’s" own irrationality, superstition and misogyny? Mistreatment, sure, but torture?
The effect is impressive, and I am not too displeased by the poetic justice created by this interrogation tactic.
I’m sorry, but this story makes me very angry, I usually have to pay 30 quid extra for that sort of treatment.
Tulkinghorn: yes it’s torture. In Orwell’s room 101 people were tortured by exposure to their greatest fear, often a highly irrational fear. Rationality has nothing to do with it. I don’t think it’s necessarily misogynistic to hate the idea of having menstrual blood smeared on your face (their misogyny will increase the emotional impact – but no-one would like it).
The bottom line is that, particularly in the context of indefinite detention, and where abuse is regular (not one-off), this sort of treatment is calculated to and will cause psychologically damaging levels of suffering. I’d call that torture.
And you have us and Gitmo to thank to have the Tower and Big Ben STILL STANDING.
What a bunch of ingrates. Carry on surrendering your nation to Osama; he’ll be sure and do you last.
And you have us and Gitmo to thank to have the Tower and Big Ben STILL STANDING.
Bloody hell, haven’t you been watching Doctor Who?
I said this YEARS ago – I told them, "All you need to do to stop these bloody people letting off bombs and blowing up our buildings is wipe a jam rag in their face. It’s as simple as that."
It’s obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that it would have worked with the IRA just as well, if not better, as it’s working on the Al Queda lot now.
But did anyone listen to me? Did they? Did they bollocks. Did I tell them they’d rue the day they disregarded my advice? Yes, I did.
But they ignored me. And look what happened. Idiots.
Good to see that along with a guest poster comes a new crop of special guest loons in the comments section.
I don’t think it’s necessarily misogynistic to hate the idea of having menstrual blood smeared on your face (their misogyny will increase the emotional impact – but no-one would like it).
Hmmm. It’s certainly not irrational not to want to come into contact with a stranger’s blood – that’s where a bunch of scary diseases live. It’s certainly not irrational to refuse to be touched in any circumstances. It’s certainly not acceptable to mistreat detainees, in any way, ever. Those who do so need to be prosecuted, those who allowed and/or ordered them to do so need to be prosecuted. However, I’d argue that showing fear and/or hatred of something that happens to every healthy bio-woman for decades of her life is really very misogynistic. I forget who said that if periods happened to men they’d be treated as a near-holy ritual, but she/he had a good point.
I disagree with Tulkinghorn that it’s not torture – I’ve got enough irrational phobias that wouldn’t make sense to another human being, and I wouldn’t want anybody preying on those. It should never have been done. Still. Is it possible to uphold human rights in all circumstances while not being impressed by people who think menstruation is the Worst Thing Ever? If so, that’s where I am.
And you have us and Gitmo to thank to have the Tower and Big Ben STILL STANDING."
What a bunch of ingrates.
It’s terrible, isn’t it? Every day, on the train to work and again on the train home, I take my rifle and shoot randomly out of the carriage window. By doing this I have kept Peterborough free of tigers for two years. Do the people thank me? Do they bollocks.
However, I’d argue that showing fear and/or hatred of something that happens to every healthy bio-woman for decades of her life is really very misogynistic.
A-hem. Anything that bleeds for seven days and doesn’t die just ain’t natural. Athankyew.
I’d argue that showing fear and/or hatred of something that happens to every healthy bio-woman for decades of her life is really very misogynistic.
Yes this is entirely true, and entirely irrelevant.
Good to see that along with a guest poster comes a new crop of special guest loons in the comments section.
They’re nothing to do with me!
Well, yeah, it’s not relevant to a debate over whether it should have happened or not – though I’d hope civilised humans wouldn’t be having one of those. *Shrug* I’m just bothered by acceptance of misogyny ("ew! Women’s bodies! Icky!"), is all. Wasn’t necessarily meant to have any point to it.
There’s gotta be a way of having a problem with this without resorting to victim-blaming… Anyway, I’ve only had one cup of tea this morning, so I suspect I’m not making much sense.
It occurs to be that this is a highly appropriate place to shamelessly plug my brand spanking new blog: tampon teabag
They’re nothing to do with me!
I know, correlation does not imply causation and all that.
Guantanamera sounds like a biker gang’s initiation ceremony to me. Has Larry never yodelled down the valley when the decorators are in ?
There were apparently even worse tortures – involving young ladies rubbing their chests against the necks and backs of their victims. Is there no end to the evil of Amerikkka ?
There were also apparently tortures where the victims ended up not as alive as they had used to be.
Died of blood poisoning ?