Unfortunately, Fox News isn't the only cable network putting torture apologists on the air, but they're on the hot seat today because they've been indulging in it since the minute the report was released.
Former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam has his priorities screwed up, because his concern is for the safety of those who tortured or created the conditions for torture, like John Yoo, and the shrinks who were paid $81 million taxpayer dollars to invent ways to inflict cruelty on others.
Some of the things he says in this segment cannot go unanswered. For starters, he focuses on waterboarding, as if none of the other more despicable acts never happened. So when he says, "Waterboarding is not torture," I have a few questions for him, after I respond with the affirmative statement that waterboarding is indeed torture. You bet it is.
Here are my questions, based on this list of disgraceful acts. The first one is multiple choice.
1) Which of the following would be considered "inflicting damage for little or no reason, just to inflict damage or to impose fear"? That's Gilliam's definition of torture. Here are the choices:
- Rectal feeding with no medical reason for it - "At least five CIA detainees were subjected to “rectal rehydration” or rectal feeding without documented medical necessity. …Majid Khan’s “lunch tray” consisting of hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts, and raisins was “pureed” and rectally infused. [Page 4]"
- Sleep deprivation- Listed as one of their "interrogation techniques" on page 32.
- Putting detainees in diapers- Page 32
- Insect use - Page 32
- Mock burials - Page 32
2) Does Gilliam believe it is appropriate to use personnel who have admitted to sexual assault and have anger management issues to "interview" detainees?
“The Committee reviewed CIA records related to several CIA officers and contractors involved in the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, most of whom conducted interrogations. The Committee identified a number of personnel whose backgrounds include notable derogatory information calling into question their eligibility for employment, their access to classified information, and their participation in CIA interrogation activities. In nearly all cases, the derogatory information was known to the CIA prior to the assignment of the CIA officers to the Detention and Interrogation Program. This group of officers included individuals who, among other issues, had engaged in inappropriate detainee interrogations, had workplace anger management issues, and had reportedly admitted to sexual assault.” [Page 59]
3) What does Gilliam think about the "interviewer" who played Russian roulette? Does he think that's not torture, too?
“Among other abuses…had engaged in ‘Russian Roulette’ with a detainee.” [Page 424]
Tomorrow morning Michael Hayden is going to appear on MSNBC's Morning Joe to try and sell viewers on the idea that there was no torture involved in their "interviews." Anyone with half a brain cannot read even summaries of that torture report and not believe those "interviews" were conducted with the intent to "inflict damage for little or no reason and impose fear," which was Gilliam's lame explanation for why waterboarding wasn't torture.
Anyone who calls themselves a patriotic American should be outraged by this report. Outraged. And they should be calling for justice. If Gilliam is so worried about the safety of the perpetrators of the torture, perhaps we should just round them up and try them all, including the Torturer-in-Chief Dick Cheney.
