Quote:
Originally posted by Not Me
No I haven't. I have repeatedly stated that rape and beating someone to death (except in self defense or otherwise justified) are crimes if they occurred.
|
Yes, and your continued insistence that only these things constitute torture only shows your ignorance, idiocy, and self-denial.
So beating someone just halfway to death is okay? Punching someone unconscious is okay?
Are you disputing that these things happened?
Are you disputing that prisoners died in US custody in homicides?
Quote:
In the post that started all this, I was only addressing your claim that the lesser abuses were properly called torture.
What about Private England? What did she do that qualifies as torturing a detainee? She is being held out as the poster child for Abu Ghraib abuses.
|
Certainly what she did is forbidden under the Geneva Convention, which, as I said, specifically forbids acts intended to degrade or humiliate prisoners. Do you dispute that, too?
As to whether it is "torture" -- well, were her acts designed to cause severe mental injury? To "soften up" prisoners for interrogation? If so, then yes, it was torture, as defined by treaties the US has signed. Perhaps you should read them -- especially since yesterday you opined that these acts are not violations of the GC.
Let's put it this way -- how would you respond if American prisoners were treated this way -- chained naked, pulled around on leashes, put in positions designed to cause pain, wired....? Would you consider that yet another example of Arab barbarity? Or do you see this all as good, clean fun, followed by a beer bash and a frat party?
Or let's put it another way. Under your view, the burning and mutilation of four American mercenaries in Fallujah should be seen as "no big deal." After all, they were already dead. It's not like they were getting raped or anything.
Or let's put it another way. If all this is "no big deal", or if all this is "necessary to fight terrorism," why is the Admin prosecuting England and her cohorts? Did Bush imprison a pregnant woman for political expedience?
