OF THE
TIMES
They will look like two giant white blimps floating high above I-95 in Maryland, perhaps en route to a football game somewhere along the bustling Eastern Seaboard. But their mission will have nothing to do with sports and everything to do with war.Interesting, I didn't realize we were at war. When was the last time cruise missiles were shot into the United States?
The aerostats - that is the term for lighter-than-air craft that are tethered to the ground - are to be set aloft on Army-owned land about 45 miles northeast of Washington, near Aberdeen Proving Ground, for a three-year test slated to start in October. From a vantage of 10,000 feet, they will cast a vast radar net from Raleigh, N.C., to Boston and out to Lake Erie, with the goal of detecting cruise missiles or enemy aircraft so they could be intercepted before reaching the capital.
But a few days later Muriel, reading over the Seven Commandments to herself, noticed that there was yet another of them which the animals had remembered wrong. They had thought the Fifth Commandment was "No animal shall drink alcohol," but there were two words that they had forgotten. Actually the Commandment read: "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess."Prisoner 063 was called "unclean" and "Mo"[for Mohammed]. . .He was not told, despite asking, that some of the interrogation took place during Ramadan, a time when Moslems have special obligations. He was not allowed to honor prayer times...Transgressions against Islamic and Arab mores for sexual modesty were employed. The prisoner was forced to wear photographs of "sexy females" and to study sets of such photographs to identify whether various pictures of bikini-clad women were of the same or a different person. He was told that his mother and sister were whores. He was forced to wear a bra, and a woman's thong was put on his head. He was dressed as a woman and compelled to dance with a male interrogator. He was told that he had homosexual tendencies and that other prisoners knew this. Although continuously monitored, interrogators repeatedly strip-searched him as a "control measure." On at least one occasion, he was forced to stand naked with women soldiers present. Female interrogators seductively touched the prisoner under the authorized use of approaches called "Invasion of Personal Space" and "Futility." On one occasion, a female interrogator straddled the prisoner as he was held down on the floor... He was leashed (a detail omitted in the log but recorded by investigators) and made to "stay, come, and bark to elevate his social status up to a dog." He was told to bark like a happy dog at photographs of 9/11 victims and growl at pictures of terrorists... He was shown pictures of the attacks, and photographs of victims were affixed to his body.
Animal Farm, George Orwell.
"When the system works correctly, psychologists assess 'the character, personality, social interactions and other behavioral characteristics of detainees.' The psychologists . . . do not conduct the interrogations themselves, but instead 'coach and counsel the interrogator in a way that allows him or her to build a relationship with the detainee.'"
So says the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, William Winkenwerder Jr., in an interview with Mark Benjamin last July.
The silver lining, if ever there was one, is that as a result of all of this there will be more and more waking up to the complete charade of party politics and realizing that a true, honest anti-war movement will have to be built from scratch, completely outside of the two-party duopoly.
Comment: Bashar Al-Assad is one of the few leaders in the world who actually cares for his people. This unconfirmed, seemingly manufactured torture business stinks to high heaven! To learn about the real Bashar Al-Assad, see:
The Real Bashar Al-Assad
Video: Charlie Rose interview with Bashar al-Assad (full interview and transcript)
Western journalists are just reporting lies about Syria: Assad has many sunny days ahead of him
Syria: Democracy vs. foreign invasion. Who is Bashar Al Assad?