Re: [Pen-l] torture chic

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

One army physician was court-martialed because he refused to teach a
class to Green Berets. The class _soujnded_ innocent (something like
first-aid techniques), but its actual purpose was to teach torture
techniques. Torture was _regularly_ practiced by _U.S._ commissioned
officers in Vietnam, not just by "GIs," and quite offten when it _was_
"outsourced" it was to tortureres _trained_ (and often directed) by
responsible U.S. agents (Army officers, CIA agents, etc.).

There is a fine poem by a "G.I." describing an intelligence OFFICER
throwing two men out of a helicopter. The first a farmer, thrown out to
impress the other one, a "Viet Cong," who was then thrown out when he
refused to talk.

Torture is always a standard operating proceeding against both
combatants and civilians in any civil war or war of national liberation.
It was in Vietnam. Torture has been official policy in practice for a
long time; the Bush Administration just made it more formal and public.

Carrol



Bill O'Connor wrote:
> 
> Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> 
> > On Apr 22, 2009, at 5:17 PM, Jim Devine wrote:
> >
> >> Carrol Cox wrote:
> >>> It is absurd to attach special blame to the Bush Administration.
> >>
> >> I'm not sure.
> >
> > Wasn't their innovation to have Americans directly doing the work they
> > used to contract out to client states, paramilitaries, death squads,
> > etc.?
> 
> Interesting point.  I'm sure there were plenty of G.I.s throwing
> guerrillas out of helicopters during the cold war, they did outsource
> most of it to death squads of one type or another.  The weird thing is,
> these mercenary companies, Blackwater, etc., have been hiring veterans
> of the same death squads, and there have been some attempts lately to
> scapegoat the mercenaries with the prisoner abuses.
> 
> It's a funny old world...
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