-from Dana Milbank and WAPO: Reports on a Human Rights briefing on torture which includes comments by people who have actually gone through waterboarding in past wars. Bush described as having successfully bridged the 21st century with the 15th century with regards to weapons used to fight wars. The 15th century, of course, is when the Spanish Inquisition refined the different ways people could be treated to ensure some kind of confession, including waterboarding.
(BTW, from the SI link, "...The methods of torture most used by the Inquisition were garrucha, toca and the potro. The application of the garrucha, also known as the strappado, consisted of suspending the criminal from the ceiling by a pulley with weights tied to the ankles, with a series of lifts and drops, during which arms and legs suffered violent pulls and were sometimes dislocated.[28]. The toca, also called tortura del agua, consisted of introducing a cloth into the mouth of the victim, and forcing them to ingest water spilled from a jar so that they had impression of drowning.[29] The potro, the rack, was the instrument of torture used most frequently...." and "...Some of the torture methods attributed to the Spanish Inquisition were never used. For example, the "Iron Maiden" never existed in Spain, and was a post-Reformation invention of Germany. Thumbscrews on display in an English museum as Spanish were recently argued to be of English origin...." Good to know.)
Let me see now, projecting us into the future some 500 years, what shall we call this episode in American history? The Bush Inquisition? The Lost Decade? The Stupid-I-Forgot-Who-We-Were Years?
Enough of that. It's lovely out there once again. Sun is shining, temperatures in the mild range. Another beautiful day. Breakfast at the Cabin this morning with Jim and Wilma and a lot of Catholics in after their morning Mass. Jim and Wilma and a host of other Loogooteeites heading to Muncie and Anderson later today. Girls volleyball team going for the gold. Go Lions! (Lionesses? Lionettes?)
Friday, November 2, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
"Lady Lions"
Also... re waterboarding... I remember seeing a movie about the Salem witch trials in which the women were tortured into "confessing" by strapping them to a board that was suspended over water, much like a diving board. The woman's head would be lowered into the water until you were holding your own breath, just watching the movie. After an inordinate length of time, she would be raised and asked if she wanted to confess. Well, yeah, I guess so!
Post a Comment