Wild World

Look inside, look inside your tiny mind
and look a bit harder
cause we’re so uninspired
so sick and tired
of all the hatred you harbor
--Fuck You Very Much, Lily Allen

I ain't like that no more
--The Unforgiven (1992)

But let judgment run down as waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream
--Amos 5:24
_______________

If President Obama wishes to strike a conciliatory and forgiving pose, he would do well to remember his scripture.

In our democracy, judgment rolls down from a judiciary adhering to the rule of law. The president's job is not to impede the workings of our tripartite system. We've had enough unitary executive, thanks.

In the spirit of the recently released torture memos, Ranger will discuss "Communist Interrogation and Indoctrination" from a 1966 Special Warfare Center publication [U.S. Army Intelligence School, Department of Combat Intelligence #9808.]

Interesting title page disclaimer: "This article [73 pages] was reproduced with the permission of the American Medical Association and the authors." Interesting because of the complicity we have recently read about on the part of medical personnel in the Enhanced Interrogation [EIT] process.

This document on Communist terror tactics was one of the sources of inspiration for the architects of the EIT in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©).

"In the US, it is said that a man is 'arrested' when the police seize him, detain him, or otherwise deprive him of his freedom; and US law requires that the police obtain a 'warrant' or comply with certain other legal procedures before carrying out an arrest. . . . In the Soviet Union, the KGB may 'detain' a man on suspicion and interrogate him 'to see if he is a criminal.'

"For more than 20 years it has been the practice of the Russian State police to seize their suspects in the middle of the night. The 'midnight knock on the door' has become a standard episode in the fiction about Russia" . . .

And now, in the U.S., too! When the U.S. arrests Iraqis and Afghanis, it usually happens at night.

"A third method, said to be preferred when there is no warrant, is to seize the victim suddenly as he walks down the street."

The extraordinary renditions (= street snatches) in Italy followed this old Soviet standby. The KGB would be proud. There is a reason Mr. Bush could see into Putin's soul.

"According to Soviet administrative principle, a man who is arrested by the state police is not 'imprisoned.' He is merely 'detained.' In theory, he is detained in a quiet, healthy atmosphere where he has an opportunity to meditate upon his crimes, and a chance to talk them over freely and at length with police officers, without being prejudiced by friends, associates, or lawyers, who might induce him to distort the truth."

Isn't this entertaining?! Who would have thought after Uncle Ronnie's Wall speech we would import the nasty Soviet techniques into our own Central Intelligence Agency? If the KGB's actions were evil in '66, then why are the CIA's copycat activities not illegal in 2009?

"The KGB hardly ever uses manacles or chains, and rarely resorts to physical beatings. The actual physical beating is, of course, repugnant to overt Communist principles, and is contrary to KGB regulations, also. The ostensible reason for these regulations is that they are contrary to Communist principles. The practical reason for them is that the KGB looks upon direct physical brutality as an ineffective method of obtaining compliance of the prisoner. . . . In general, [brutality] creates only resentment, hostility, further defiance, and unreliable statements."

In following their manual, we forgot to notice their caveats. It appears the U.S. just picked out the nasty bits to use as a matter of policy, ignoring the disclaimers that these things just might not work. In fact, worse than being duds, they might backfire.

"Throughout the entire interrogation period, the prisoner is under some form of medical observation. Prison physicians are familiar with all the effects produced under KGB procedures, and evidently they are skilled at judging just how far the various procedures can be carried out without killing or permanently damaging the prisoner. . . . The unintended death of a prisoner during the interrogation procedure is regarded as a serious error on the part of the prison officials."

Yeah , and we're not foolin' here -- unintended murder = serious error! It's not like any heads are gonna roll, but definitely an error. Akin to not buckling up when you take your driving test. Big error.

This technique was adapted from U.S.'s Survival, Resistance, Evasion and Escape (SERE) training that taught resistance to Communist interrogation and indoctrination efforts. The fact that U.S. medical personnel would participate willingly in such perversions of the medical code exceeds our ability to comment.

"In typical Communist legalistic fashion, the NKVD rationalized its use of torture and pressures in the interrogation of prisoners of war. When it desired to use such methods against a prisoner or to obtain from him a propaganda statement or 'confession' it simply declared the prisoner a 'war-crimes suspect' and informed him that, therefore, he was not subject to international rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war."

This is so cute -- "in typical Communist legalistic fashion." Right-o.

The U.S. denied that PWOT detainees were legitimate combatants and proceeded to hang every nomenclature conceivable around their necks to enable the U.S. to ignore the Geneva Conventions. That is just so typical America, 21st century.

Our nation spent a generation or more fighting Communism, and now we have appropriated their techniques. What a wild world.