"A piece of furniture"
December 4, 2006 12:42 PM Subscribe
Window Into a Terror Suspect’s Isolation. American citizen and enemy combatant Jose Padilla gets a root canal. [Via Hullabaloo.]
Glenn Greenwald: The ongoing national disgrace of lawless indefinite detentions
posted by homunculus at 12:49 PM on December 4, 2006
posted by homunculus at 12:49 PM on December 4, 2006
In other, easy to miss news: McKenzie man gets 30 years for bomb plotting
posted by homunculus at 1:00 PM on December 4, 2006
posted by homunculus at 1:00 PM on December 4, 2006
That should say 'former enemy combatant' actually, since his status was changed.
If I made this sound comic, I apologize. The article is quite disturbing.
posted by homunculus at 1:26 PM on December 4, 2006
If I made this sound comic, I apologize. The article is quite disturbing.
posted by homunculus at 1:26 PM on December 4, 2006
I get the feeling God just isn't blessing America anymore.
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:12 PM on December 4, 2006
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:12 PM on December 4, 2006
"The sad truth is that most evil
is done by people who never make
up their minds to be good or evil."--Hannah Arendt (it's the anniv of her death today)
posted by amberglow at 3:08 PM on December 4, 2006 [4 favorites]
is done by people who never make
up their minds to be good or evil."--Hannah Arendt (it's the anniv of her death today)
posted by amberglow at 3:08 PM on December 4, 2006 [4 favorites]
Wow. It's like they not only forgot about the bill of rights, but physically shat upon it.
posted by tehloki at 3:18 PM on December 4, 2006
posted by tehloki at 3:18 PM on December 4, 2006
His treatment in the 'Brig' is standard at a SuperMax prison. Bright lights 23 hours a day. No outside windows. No communication with officers, other than food trays. Simply extreme isolation. Very expensive, and unashamedly perverse in its extraordinary cruelty. So we choose, what offends us more? Simple illegality, or legal niceties?
posted by econous at 3:38 PM on December 4, 2006
posted by econous at 3:38 PM on December 4, 2006
I'm just here to even up the post count. Should be 15/15 now.
Carry on.
posted by sourwookie at 5:12 PM on December 4, 2006
Carry on.
posted by sourwookie at 5:12 PM on December 4, 2006
Is the FBI doing its best to combat terrorism? Highest-ranking Arab-American agent says no, sues for discrimination.
posted by homunculus at 5:22 PM on December 4, 2006
posted by homunculus at 5:22 PM on December 4, 2006
Still violently pisses me off every time I think about it. I don’t know how anyone can willfully participate in this. It takes an odd sort of mindset to be a prison guard. I’m not denegrating, just something I don’t get. Like being an offensive (American football) lineman. But then there’s doing this. I can’t imagine anyone enjoys the blurring of the lines between police and military by the executive branch. Reading the Greenwald piece, I know how at least one cop feels (and I couldn’t agree more), but from the (ex)military perspective, I get that odd sorta defensive lineman trying to be a center - you keep wanting to tackle the linebacker instead of protect anything.
Not really something you want inside your own boarders.
So, sorta what amberglow (quoting Arendt) said. But I understand the fact of it, I just don’t get why.
Perhaps simply being alive or avoiding pain is enough for some people. But that can’t be an ethos. Just live to live, no purpose to it but continuing to exist? Hell, just stay home and jack off all the time, why be a guard, prosecutor or any such damn thing?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:38 PM on December 4, 2006
Not really something you want inside your own boarders.
So, sorta what amberglow (quoting Arendt) said. But I understand the fact of it, I just don’t get why.
Perhaps simply being alive or avoiding pain is enough for some people. But that can’t be an ethos. Just live to live, no purpose to it but continuing to exist? Hell, just stay home and jack off all the time, why be a guard, prosecutor or any such damn thing?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:38 PM on December 4, 2006
"i could just cry for all of us for allowing this"
Me too.
posted by wrapper at 6:26 PM on December 4, 2006
Me too.
posted by wrapper at 6:26 PM on December 4, 2006
The guy is completely docile, according to the article, so a lot of their rituals seem pointless.
I realize he wanted to kill many, many people, but can we figure out exactly why people such as he are taking up arms against the "Crusader-Zionist conspiracy" and solve the problem instead of slowly torturing him?
It just seems like we're breeding more anti-American sentiment this way. This man is probably one of the many examples they use at terrorist training camps to justify their reasoning that the US is aggressing a war against Islam.
posted by spiderskull at 7:42 PM on December 4, 2006
I realize he wanted to kill many, many people, but can we figure out exactly why people such as he are taking up arms against the "Crusader-Zionist conspiracy" and solve the problem instead of slowly torturing him?
It just seems like we're breeding more anti-American sentiment this way. This man is probably one of the many examples they use at terrorist training camps to justify their reasoning that the US is aggressing a war against Islam.
posted by spiderskull at 7:42 PM on December 4, 2006
"I realize he wanted to kill many, many people, but ..."
among other points, it has never been shown that he wanted to do anything at all.
so, in that respect, he is no different from you or i.
what freedom are we defending? when will the jack boots come pounding down your hall at 3 am? aren't you proud to have defeated the 'evil empire' and created a 'peace dividend'?
i am ashamed to carry a US passport, although the rest of the world has, so far, been understanding.
posted by altman at 12:55 AM on December 5, 2006
among other points, it has never been shown that he wanted to do anything at all.
so, in that respect, he is no different from you or i.
what freedom are we defending? when will the jack boots come pounding down your hall at 3 am? aren't you proud to have defeated the 'evil empire' and created a 'peace dividend'?
i am ashamed to carry a US passport, although the rest of the world has, so far, been understanding.
posted by altman at 12:55 AM on December 5, 2006
and don't forget--there are thousands of people still somewhere being held by us--not in Gitmo.
posted by amberglow at 9:38 AM on December 5, 2006
posted by amberglow at 9:38 AM on December 5, 2006
A reading from George Orwell's classic novel, Furniture.
posted by homunculus at 9:57 AM on December 5, 2006
posted by homunculus at 9:57 AM on December 5, 2006
How many inmates are being held in the Bush gulag at Stare Kiejkuty, Poland?
If the answer is "thousands," then the question becomes: Are they being tortured, too? And if the answer is "zero," then the question becomes: Where did they go? ...
posted by amberglow at 9:58 AM on December 5, 2006
If the answer is "thousands," then the question becomes: Are they being tortured, too? And if the answer is "zero," then the question becomes: Where did they go? ...
posted by amberglow at 9:58 AM on December 5, 2006
What the hell is the point of the goggles and the sound-proof earmuffs?
To make him appear dangerous and evil before justice has its say.
posted by j-urb at 10:44 AM on December 5, 2006
To make him appear dangerous and evil before justice has its say.
posted by j-urb at 10:44 AM on December 5, 2006
What part of "appear" don't you understand? On a subconsious level we all have biases. Showing someone who is wearing goggles and sound-proof earmuffs implies that this person is dangerous. You mock this idea in saying that "He's so dangerous, he can kill us by seeing and hearing" but if he can't in fact harm us by seeing and hearing then why does he have these apparatuses attached to him? What I am suggesting is that the government wanted a photo opt, not that he actually is dangerous. I think we both agree that it is ludicrous and insulting.
posted by j-urb at 2:00 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by j-urb at 2:00 PM on December 5, 2006
The government likes to do these kinds of things, remember the effort that was made to demonize Saddam when he was captured? I'm not saying that anyone is good or bad, but rather that unflattering images have been disseminated to the public to sway opinion before that very public has any facts. I think we all know that images carry some power.
posted by j-urb at 2:05 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by j-urb at 2:05 PM on December 5, 2006
"Perhaps there is a fear that he will communicate in code by blinking."
posted by homunculus at 4:26 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by homunculus at 4:26 PM on December 5, 2006
... at this point, Padilla has been destroyed. His case will be written into textbooks in a decade's time, and hopefully students will learn from it. Practically speaking, any hope Jose Padilla had for due process (Fifth Amendment), a fair and speedy trial or adequate legal representation (Sixth Amendment), or freedom from cruel or unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment) disappeared a long time ago. Whatever the outcome of his situation is--and I do hope that ultimately the man regains his freedom, given that the government has not charged him with anything they supposedly retained him for--effectively the only hope left is that we'll learn something from having literally used all the power of the government to ruin a man without so much as charging him with a crime.
Padilla, if anyone needs reminding, is an American citizen. He has not been convicted of anything.
...
posted by amberglow at 5:28 PM on December 5, 2006
Padilla, if anyone needs reminding, is an American citizen. He has not been convicted of anything.
...
posted by amberglow at 5:28 PM on December 5, 2006
wtf is wrong with the people in this country?
...the most vile, stinking, contemptible, debased, and humiliating fact about the whole episode is that yesterday, when Padilla's condition was reported on AOL, 75% of AOL's poll responders voted FOR the government's treatment of Padilla. ...
posted by amberglow at 5:41 PM on December 6, 2006
...the most vile, stinking, contemptible, debased, and humiliating fact about the whole episode is that yesterday, when Padilla's condition was reported on AOL, 75% of AOL's poll responders voted FOR the government's treatment of Padilla. ...
posted by amberglow at 5:41 PM on December 6, 2006
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Block Padilla's Questioning of Pentagon
posted by homunculus at 10:12 PM on December 8, 2006
posted by homunculus at 10:12 PM on December 8, 2006
In other terrorism news: charges dropped in "liquid terror" plane plot.
posted by homunculus at 12:59 PM on December 13, 2006
posted by homunculus at 12:59 PM on December 13, 2006
The terrorist you've never heard of: Unlike alleged al-Qaida terrorist Jose Padilla, right-wing "dirty bomber" Demetrius Crocker was investigated and prosecuted the old-fashioned constitutional way.
posted by homunculus at 9:51 PM on December 17, 2006
posted by homunculus at 9:51 PM on December 17, 2006
Routine and systematic torture is at the heart of America's war on terror: In the fight against cruelty, barbarism and extremism, America has embraced the very evils it claims to confront
posted by homunculus at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2006
posted by homunculus at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2006
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expensive, too
posted by matteo at 12:47 PM on December 4, 2006