Re: [Pen-l] torture chic

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

 raghu wrote:
>> With all due respect Louis, you cannot possibly know that. There is a
>> reason these agencies are called "secret services".

Louis:
> Torture generally goes along with arbitrary arrests, assassinations,
> beatings, etc. In other words, it is part of an overall palette used to
> intimidate a population. This is simply not true of Cuba.

Based on my limited knowledge, I'd agree with Louis (though more
knowledge might change my mind). I examined a couple of reports by
human rights groups that reported "torture" in Cuba, on the theory
that the country is at worst as bad as what its critics say (excluding
the "overseas community" in Miami, who are pretty biased). It seemed
to me it wasn't anything like the kind of torture Bush and his buddies
were pushing. It was more a matter of the kind of "torture" one
suffers from being in prison is a non-affluent country. Not a good
situation, but not torture. Put another way, those labeled "political
prisoners" by the external critics didn't seem to be treated any worse
than the other prisoners.

For argument's sake we should use some specific definition of the
term. A standard one in the US is "torture is treating people worse
than what's allowed by the US Army field manual." Maybe not a good
definition, but it gets us away from fruitless arguments about the
meaning of words.

By the way, does Cuba have the death penalty these days?
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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