They are placed in makeshift coffin-like boxes made of plexi-glass so they can be viewed from all sides. Thousands of huge insects such as roaches, beetles and caterpillars are dumped upon the subject. The entire incident is videotaped for documentation.
Nothing could be more demoralizing than the belief that these creatures could cause you serious bodily harm or even death. Subjects have been bitten and scratched. Many times some of the recipients of this treatment have been quoted as saying, “The experience was absolute terror. I thought I was going to die.”
In one particular incident hundreds of live snakes were placed in a room with the subject, with the same results. Sometimes live rats were substituted for the snakes.
I personally witnessed some of these treatments. What I saw was disturbing. Victims were handcuffed and held underwater suffering and struggling to get free, while a clock ticked on.
If there were any medical personnel present they were not visibly present. If I was in the custody of any secrets I would have given them up before they turned on the water. Why wait to be tortured.
The subjects were made to endure the most egregious of punishment in the hopes that they would capitulate. The producers of these torturous deeds could many times be seen laughing and cheering on the sidelines asking the subject to endure more.
I found some of these tactics to be depraved, repulsive and absolutely merciless. However, the horrific acts continued week after week until the agents of this torture got there wanton results.
Members of Congress were totally aware of these procedures since 2002 and have made no attempt to stop them or even speak out against them. Some may have even laughed at these incidents. The President and members of his cabinet and administration were also fully aware of what was taking place. None of them have even thought of putting an end to this ruthless treatment.
Senator’s Schumer (D-NY), Reid (D-NV), Durbin (D-IL), Congresswoman Pelosi (D-SF) and many others, who are now calling for the prosecution of members of President Bush’s administration for what they call illegal torture, were totally aware of these tactics and over the years had made no attempt to curtail or even expose them. Rep. Pelosi claims she did not know they would actually use water boarding, she only believed that the CIA was informing her of what they would like to use. If you believe her, I have a bridge in New York City I would like to sell you.
Nancy Pelosi has stated on April 23, 2009, that she was unaware “In that or any other briefing…we were not, and I repeat, were not told that water boarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used. What they did tell us is that they had some legislative counsel … opinions that they could be used,” Pelosi said, “members who receive classified intelligence briefings are powerless to act on them – or even discuss them with staff — due to confidentiality requirements.” Answer this Nancy; it was front page news in the New York Times; so much for confidentiality! So the question is Mrs. Pelosi what did you really know and when did you know it. According to the records, it was during a briefing you and the other members of Congress received in 2002.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized Pelosi and other Democratic leaders for backing probes into the use of water boarding – after reportedly failing to raise objections during a briefing on its potential use in 2002.
Jay Alan Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on constitutional law.
He has filed suit to make all the records of the 2002 briefing public. The word on the street is that Nancy is trying to contact Sandy “Burglar” Berger to see if he can be of any assistance.
So the real question is what about the victims of these so called acts of torture?
They are not victims at all. These subjects are not members of any terrorist group or individual combatant against America or its citizens; they are individual Americans who have volunteered for this torture.
Every week millions of Americans tuned in to view the next episode of “Fear Factor,” where participants are voluntarily tortured each week, and they call it entertainment. Fear Factor earned NBC a reported $ 600 million in advertising revenue. However, NBC continues to call for an end to what they call the torture of people who want to cut off my head without a second thought.
So let me see if I have this right. Handcuff someone drop them in a pool of water, shackled to the steering wheel of a car and see who can guess which key is the right one from a key ring of six keys in record time and that’s called entertainment.
People who want to cut off my head and blow up my cities have had water poured over their mouth and nose for a period of approximately 40-seconds, all with medical doctors and other medical personnel present and they call it torture. Even the placing of a single harmless caterpillar in a terrorist’s cell and having him believe it was a deadly species is considered torture.
According to the show’s producers contestants on the show were never in any danger. Neither were the detainees at Guantanamo.
The show’s participants have all volunteered and recognize what they are getting in to. Really, according to one contestant they only knew what the show was about not what the individual “torture” [my description] would be.
Neither were the three people who were water boarded nor the prisoners who had a caterpillar placed in their cell. The terrorists knew if they were captured what they were in for. Maybe the CIA should have asked them to volunteer first.
So let me see if I understand this, you bury someone under hundreds of snakes, roaches, beetles, rats or centipedes, call it entertainment and that is O.K. However, put a single harmless caterpillar in a cell with a suspected terrorists and it is torture.
What if an insect got into a terrorists prison cell on its own? What if the prison was roach infested. Is that O.K.?
They believe that the prison at the US Naval Base Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) is harsh, let’s transfer the detainees to some of our inner city jails, like the “Tombs” in New York City. What if we sent them to Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona where he puts detainees in pink panties and makes them sleep in tents.
So now what has the Obama administration done? They are releasing all of our secret resources in dealing with terrorism to our enemies. They are demoralizing the CIA.
Harold Stassen once said, “Whoever kindles the flames of intolerance is lighting a fire under his own home.”
Michael Solomon is a former NYPD Detective. He is the recipient of 19 awards for Excellent and Meritorious police work. During his tenure in the intelligence division, he was assigned to protect the Shah of Iran, and Madame Chang of Taiwan. He has personally met four U.S. Presidents. He was assigned as the intelligence officer to the U.S. State Department during treaty negations between the United States and Turkey. He holds a Bachelors Degree Magna Cum Laude in Behavioral Sciences, from the New York Institute of Technology and a Masters with Distinction in Public Administration from Long Island University.
