What I most like 60 minutes is Andy Rooney; this sarcastic man always cracks me up. I try not to miss the last five minutes of the show, in which Rooney says his comments. Anyway, there was an interview with Willie Brand, who was accused and convicted of assault maiming and manslaughter.
The prisoners in question, who later died in prison, are tow Afghanis, one a taxi driver who was captured outside an American base after in was hit. Brand's commanding officer, Capt. Christopher Beiring, says –and I quote- "they brought death upon themselves as far as I am concerned". Both of these prisoners were kept in isolation, and their arms shackled to the ceiling. "They weren’t in pain" says Capt. Beiring, "they weren’t abused as far as I am concerned, if I was a prisoner, I would think that probably be acceptable". There was another acceptable way of treating prisoners, a knee to the common peroneal nerve in the leg, a very strong strike that the prisoner would collapse in pain and lose muscle control.
Brand says that what he was trained to do, and he was not a violent man. Both of the prisoners were found dead in their cells, hanging from their chains, both autopsy reports were marked "homicide". The army spokesman said they died of natural causes. Capt. Beiring and brand both say that their superior officers knew about this, and it was common knowledge. The RC visited the prison, but they didn’t see anything, or they weren’t able to see anything, mostly because the Americans thought that had no operational reason to know about incidents like those in question, " they didn’t need to know" says Capt. Beiring. A soldier testified that the interrogators were convinced that Dilawar, one of the prisoners who died, was just a taxi driver in the wrong place at the wrong time, but still they continued to interrogate anyway, which eventually lead to his demise. They added that, had he lived, his injuries were so sever, that both of his legs would have been amputated. These soldiers were not acting outside the rules says Brand. When asked if has any sympathy for the tow prisoners, Capt. Beiring said "I sure do. I wish they were born American.
The above was taken from CBS's 60 minutes website.
Now lets try to understand this, this piece clearly states that prisoners were tortured, not just had a piece of cloth put on their heads to scare them as one anonyms person commented when I said that American troops torture people. I don’t want to through all of this again, I know, we know, everybody knows about torture, Abu Gharib, secrest prisons around the globe, holding people against their will, denying prisoners the right on an attorney, or even to inform his family that he had been captured, the right for a fair trial, or any trail for that matter. We all know that, we all heard about it, we all heard people talk about it. I was surprised when I watched that report, but what struck me the most is Capt. Beiring answer when he was asked if he had any compassion to the prisoners, he said "I wish they were born American". What the hell does that mean? Would somebody please tell me what the hell is that suppose to mean? Does it mean that if not American, you are denied any kind of rights? If not American, American can throw in jail, torture you, kill you, and maybe kill your family members, and get away with it? If not America, you are uttermenechen, the Nazi expression for sub-humans? Is that what the rest of the world is for American military? I really wish that I am mistaken, but it sure does seem that I am right. I mean tow people were murdered, and the guy who murdered them was found guilty, but he was sentenced to a rank reduction, that’s it. He should have gotten 16 years, but they only reduced his rank. Would that have happened if the tow men were Americans? I don’t know that answer to that, but wouldn’t you agree with me that I would have been different? This is so infuriating and humiliating to me. That means that if was murdered in prison, I shouldn’t expect anybody to go to jail, I shouldn’t expect anyone to be punished for my death. I may be taking it personal, but seriously, it doesn’t get any more personal than this.
But maybe after all it's my fault; my bad, I am not American after all.
posted by LORD @ 6:14 PM
1 Comments:
After I let the anger go and cleared my head I no longer want the guards and interogators to suffer the same fate as they dish out. After all, there have been various studies that indicate almost anyone can become like them.
I do not, however, want to see them allowed to continue as US citizens. The thought of them living in a community with children makes my skin crawl.
I hope these modern Mengele's are haunted until they die.
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