FBI/torture

Hey John...I applaud your willingness to speak out on tough subjects;
that is needed now more than ever. In regards to the FBI and
interrogation, that article did run in the Denver Post. Sounds like it
was not picked up by other major papers?
And, hasn't the USA operated a school (School of the Americas, I think)
that has taught torture tactics to South American governments, for many
years? Perhaps we don't practice it, but we don't seem to mind helping
others learn how. So, what's the difference? I would also say this: what
has been opened up by Sept 11 is only going to grow and grow. Things are
going to get real weird over the next few years, so honorable folks
better batten down the hatches, and prepare for the worst, as far as
living in a free country goes. If the police are going to have powers to
keep "suspected" terrprists under close watch, that may get a bit
tricky; depends on who is defining the word "suspected." And, that's
just the beginning. As we realize just what we've gotten ourselves into
in Afghanistan, I think the US govt is going to get real frustrated, and
perhaps make some big booboos, which may well have serious
repercussions, especially in the Muslim world. And, if we feel our oil
supplies are in danger (which they surely are as we speak), look out. We
do, indeed, live in interesting times...Hstick

[Neil wrote:]
>Hey John...I applaud your willingness to speak out on tough subjects;
>that is needed now more than ever. In regards to the FBI and
>interrogation, that article did run in the Denver Post. Sounds like it
>was not picked up by other major papers?

No kidding! Do you remember what day, by any chance? I poked around
online versions of the N.Y. Times, and one or two other papers, that
same day (Monday, 10-22), and didn't find it, but to be honest I don't
take the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) except on weekends - maybe
they did run the story.

[Neil:]
>And, hasn't the USA operated a school (School of the Americas, I think)
>that has taught torture tactics to South American governments, for many
>years? Perhaps we don't practice it, but we don't seem to mind helping
>others learn how. So, what's the difference?

You are quite right. They've recently changed the name of the school,
(I don't remember the new name) but apparently without changing what is
taught. And it's not just interrogation techniques; they apparently
impart pointlessly nasty tricks the only purpose of which is to strike
terror into an entire population of people in order to suppress local
resistance to brutal central governments (if accounts are to be
believed, people who are already captured have their tongues cut out,
acid poured over them, etc., etc.). The kind of thing that would very
reasonably make a huge number of people hate the U.S. What is the
expression? "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind."

[Neil:]
>I would also say this: what has been opened up by Sept 11 is only going
>to grow and grow. Things are going to get real weird over the next few
>years, so honorable folks better batten down the hatches, and prepare
>for the worst, as far as living in a free country goes. If the police
>are going to have powers to keep "suspected" terrorists under close
>watch, that may get a bit tricky; depends on who is defining the word
>"suspected." And, that's just the beginning. As we realize just what
>we've gotten ourselves into in Afghanistan, I think the US govt is
>going to get real frustrated, and perhaps make some big booboos, which
>may well have serious repercussions, especially in the Muslim world.
>And, if we feel our oil supplies are in danger (which they surely are
>as we speak), look out. We do, indeed, live in interesting times...
>Hstick

I've been afraid of my own gov't for a long time now, especially since
I began speaking out against the drug war in the late '80's. Things may
definitely get even worse, but there may also be a possible upside to
all this: people no longer have their heads buried quite so deep in the
sand. It's a huge wake-up call for all of us, and even though I've
considered myself pretty well informed, when I listen to someone like
Noam Chomsky, I feel I need to do a lot better. I _know_ I need to do a
lot better. There is great concern that the drug reform movement may be
set back by Sept. 11, but I think it could go either way. For example,
some politicians have recently complained that users of illegal drugs
are supporting terrorism. Well then, put the terrorist drug dealers out
of business by ending prohibition! Duuuuuuh!!

These are interesting times indeed! May we all live through them.

JdL

----- Original Message -----
From: John A. deLaubenfels <jdl@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 12:46 PM
Subject: [metatuning] Re: FBI/torture

> [Neil wrote:]
> >Hey John...I applaud your willingness to speak out on tough subjects;
> >that is needed now more than ever. In regards to the FBI and
> >interrogation, that article did run in the Denver Post. Sounds like it
> >was not picked up by other major papers?
>
> No kidding! Do you remember what day, by any chance? I poked around
> online versions of the N.Y. Times, and one or two other papers, that
> same day (Monday, 10-22), and didn't find it, but to be honest I don't
> take the AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) except on weekends - maybe
> they did run the story.

I first heard about it on the net early last Monday. I saw
an interview on CCN TV on Friday morning.

I'm pretty sure I also saw the story on NYTimes.com sometime during week.

* David Beardsley
* http://biink.com
* http://mp3.com/davidbeardsley