01:29 pm
Torture Memos: The Music Video
To be clear up front, this is not for your amusement. But you should watch it anyway:
Kudos to this guy for using his art to expose the banality of evil. Go to this page and give him the hits and props he deserves.
Here are the lyrics:
the detainee is lying on a gurney
that’s inclined at an angle: 10 to 15 degrees
a cloth is placed over the detainee’s face
cold water is poured on the cloththe wet cloth creates
a barrier through which
it is difficult or in some cases not possible
for the detainee to breatheif the detainee
makes an effort to defeat the technique
by twisting his head to the side and breathing
out the corner of his mouth
the interrogator may cup his hands around
the detainees nose and mouth
in which case it would not be posible for him to breathe!As we explained
in the Section 2340A Memorandum,
“pain and suffering”
(as used in Section 2340)
is best understood as a single concept,
not distinct concepts
of “pain” as distinguished from “suffering”…The waterboard, which inflicts no pain or actual harm whatsoever,does not, in our view inflict “severe pain or suffering”. Even if one were to parse the statute more finely to treat “suffering” as a distinct concept, the waterboard could not be said to inflict severe sufering. The waterboard is simply a controlled acute episode, lacking the connotation of a protracted period of time generally given to suffering.
“The section 2340A memorandum to which he refers is this one. Its main justification is to find a way to explain how the Administration, in torturing, was not breaking a law explicitly banning torture.
When we reach the point that a bureaucrat can issue a memo justifying the breaking of a law explicitly banning a given act, we’re damn close to lawlessness.