A few days ago I listened to a great BBC report called Torture by Music. It tells us the story of Ruhal Ahmed – a British citizen who spent two years in Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre – in addition to other detainees and guards, both at GITMO and around the world.
I remember a class I took on US foreign policy while at university, where one lecture was devoted to torture and how it has been used as an interrogation technique in the ‘war on terror’. This is also something I’ve continued studying through the project on rendition I’m currently working on as an intern. My teacher told us about various torturing methods: sleep deprivation, waterboarding, forced positions, extremely loud music, and so on. I remember him saying: Forced positions…Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? How can that be torture? Then he made us all stand up, and slightly bend our knees. It doesn’t take many seconds until you realize that being forced to stand like this for hours on end can be excruciatingly painful. Of course, a minor class exercise like this won’t make us understand how it’s like. But I think it made many of us realize that torture doesn’t have to be ripping out fingernails or beating someone (though this occurs as well) – torture has become “smarter”, and less visible. Our faces were serious when we walked out of the lecture hall, and I remember us talking about how we had no idea that this had happened (and is happening) during our lifetime, and to such a degree.
Torture by music may not sound too bad either. We listen to music all the time, what can be so horrible about that? The thing is, when used as torture, the music is extremely loud to the point where your ears are damaged. And you can’t get away from it. You can’t sleep because of it. It’s often deliberately provocative towards your religion or faith. It exhausts you mentally. It’s not like a concert where you can have ear plugs, or move further away from the speakers if you feel like it.
The individuals who have been rendered, mainly by US forces, during the ‘war on terror’ have no legal rights. Most of them have not been charged with anything. 171 still remain in Guantanamo. Over 2,000 remain in Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. Some were children when captured, either by US forces or others who sold them for a bounty. Some are imprisoned because their names are similar to someone connected with “terrorism”. Some are guilty of crimes, but that doesn’t exempt them from the right of legal representation. They are entitled to know where they are, why they’re there, and to be treated humanely whilst in prison. The opposite has happened. Meanwhile, no CIA agents or other torturers have been charged with any crimes. Obama says he wants to look forward, into the future – let’s not get caught up in what happened the past decade, he says. Then why do you still imprison people without any legal rights, while letting others go free? You who preach about democracy and freedom should use your power better. By not persecuting those guilty of torture, you’re saying that it’s acceptable as a tool of war. But such acts have no place in a democratic state – not on your soil, or in any detention centres or “black sites” you control around the world.
In a nutshell 
Ditte innlegget fekk mej til å tenke på uttrykket “Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity”. Tenk å prøve å bekjempe vold med vold og frykt med frykt. Og so alltid dissa tomme orda om at dei skal sette en stoppar for vonde ting, og at kjærligheit og respekt e det viktigaste, men so SKJER det aldri noke. Bra det finst sånne som dej i verda, Anita, som bryr sej, og gjer og meina noke!
//Hihi, takk! ;-) Ha faktisk tatt mej en tur til London i vår om ej ha tida, noke ej desverre ikkje he.. Satsa på det blir noke av den “jenteturen” til London med mamma og tante Linda som vi snakka litt om! Ha vore kjempekoslig! Neste vår, kanskje?
Ja, akkurat – det uttrykket passa veldig bra! Berre det at vi forstår at slike metodar er feil vei å gå gjer ein forskjell, trur ej. Takk for fine ord!
Og ej håpe det blir jentetur til London, ja – det må vi få til. Ej såg du har funne dej litt Toto-plater heime, forresten. Ka dei heite dei du he? Slik at det ikkje blir dobbelt opp viss ej finn noke her :)
Platene ej kjøpte i Ålesund heite IV, Fahrenheit og Turn Back. No mangla ej vel f.eks TOTO, Hydra og Isolation. Der finst kanskje fleire, men ditta e dei ej veit om :-)