Archives for November 2005

Cindy Sheehan troubles me for a variety of reasons some of which I have listed here and here. The AP reports:

“Now those journal entries are in her book, “Not One More Mother’s Child,” to be released Wednesday. The paperback also contains some of her speeches to peace groups earlier this year, letters to politicians and writings since leaving Crawford.

“I never wrote anything more than a note to excuse my kids from school before Casey was killed, so to see something I wrote in print with my name on it is amazing,” Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone from her home in Berkeley, Calif.

Sheehan gained national attention during her 26-day vigil on a Texas roadside near President Bush’s ranch in August. She refused to move until the president met with her or ended his vacation. That moved Arnie Kotler, the founder of a Hawaii publishing company who saw news coverage and read Sheehan’s Internet blog entries from the protest.

“I thought, ‘This is already a book. This is incredible,'” said Kotler of Koa Books, which printed about 20,000 copies. “We got it done as quickly as we could, and the deepest reason is to stop the war.”

Call me a skeptic but I cannot help but wonder what her motivation is because it doesn’t come across as a tribute to her son. I am sure that I would feel differently about someone who didn’t have so many questionable comments and remarks tied to her. But the reality is that I still think that she is an unthinking puppet.

I am terribly sorry for her loss but the reality colors my perception.

I have mixed emotions about using torture as a means to acquire information. I am not convinced about the effectiveness of it and I am not convinced that it should not be an option. I am saddened that we have to have any sort of discussion about it.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the techniques that the CIA is allegedly using.

“WASHINGTON, (AFP) – CIA agents have revealed details of six interrogation tactics approved by top brass for use at secret CIA jails in Asia and Eastern Europe, ABC News reported. The techniques have lead to questionable confessions and the death of one man since March 2002, the network said, after interviewing current and former CIA officials.

Former CIA officer Bob Baer told ABC the techniques amounted to “bad interrogation. I mean, you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture’s bad enough.”

CIA sources speaking on condition of anonymity described six techniques:
“Attention Grab, Attention Slap, Belly Slap, Long Time Standing, Cold Cell, Water Boarding.”

The six “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” as sources called them, were used on a dozen top Al-Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe, ABC said.

In “Belly Slap,” interrogators deliver “a hard open-handed slap to the stomach” intended to cause pain but not internal injury. In “Long Time Standing,” prisoners are forced to stand handcuffed and shackled for more than 40 hours.

In “The Cold Cell” a prisoner is made to stand naked in a cell kept near 10 degrees C (50 degrees F) and is continually doused with cold water.

Water Boarding brings results within seconds, the sources said. A prisoner is tied onto a board with his feet higher than his head, and his face is wrapped in cellophane. When water is poured over him, he begins to gag and begs to confess, sources told ABC.”

Elie asks some good questions in this post.

My short response to this is that I could spend a lot of time editing and polishing my thoughts and prose but I don’t. I don’t hide my warts. My strengths and weaknesses are on display.

But that is a personal choice on my part. I like to have a chance to see my thoughts written down because it allows me to gain a better understanding of my feelings and gives me a chance to evaluate where things are in my life and what kinds of changes I like to make.

Got to run for a bit but I may blog about this again.

With any luck I’ll find a free moment this weekend to go and see it. Review forthcoming.