For more than 16 months since Sept. 11, 2001, we have been implored to never
forget, as if it were a choice. And over that time, during which I've read
countless essays trying to make sense of a world turned upside down — I
judge time now not by what grade I was in but whether it was pre- or
post-9/11 — I have never forgotten the message in one of the first
editorials written after the attacks: "The Case for Rage and Retribution," by TIME's Lance
Morrow.
Said Morrow the day after thousands of innocent people were murdered:
"Anyone who does not loathe the people who did these things, and the
people who cheer them on, is too philosophical for decent company."
And so now we debate the issue of how best to coerce Khalid Shaikh Mohammed,
the captured suspected organizer of the Sept. 11 attacks, into delivering
information that will help the free world break up murderous terrorist
cells. And my suggestion is any fucking way possible.
Does that include torture? If he aids terrorist organizations by withholding information, absolutely. This is not the mailman who got a speeding ticket. This is a monster.
He had his chance to be treated humanely. He gave it up when he turned into
an accomplice to murder over and over and over again. Until the bodies piled
up into the thousands. The legacy of the pain he administered to families
around the world are incalculable.
Time for us to bring the pain now. Not so much for revenge, but for results.
To achieve the only goal I ever hoped for after 9/11: to make sure that shit
never fucking happens again.
If scratching his eyes out accomplishes that task,
let them roll to the wall. If he's executed with a couple less limbs than he
had on 9/11, I'm not gonna cry for him. He helped cut up sons and
daughters into 20,000 body parts that my neighbors had to clean up and will
have nightmares about forever. Send his fucking head to the Pearl family to piss on.
Another quote from Morrow's essay: "The worst times, as we see, separate
the civilized of the world from the uncivilized. This is the moment of
clarity. Let the civilized toughen up, and let the uncivilized take their
chances in the game they started."
Time to pay up, bitch.
Other Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Links:
Father of Murdered Son Calls for Torture
— The father of a young man killed in the Bali bombing says, "If he's
tough enough to blow things up and kill people, let's see if he can
withstand torture. Give him to four or five of the parents (who lost
children in Bali). We'll make him talk."
Detention and
Interrogation Methods in the War on Terror — Says Rafael Epstein,
"After speaking to ten currently serving US national security officials
the Washington Post revealed the CIA's interrogation or "stress and duress"
techniques. Blindfolded and manacled captives are kept standing or kneeling
for hours. They're tied up in awkward, painful positions and they're
deprived of sleep, held in tiny rooms for days at a time. Those rooms are
flooded with light or painfully loud noise. Some are beaten when they're
initially arrested, thrown into the walls while blindfolded."
Terror Suspect to Be Treated Humanely — Sure, why
not? What's he done wrong? Of course, "humanely" is arbitrary.
Is it OK to Torture Terrorists? — Rod Liddle of The
Guardian chimes in on the issue.
Amnesty International: Sept. 11 Suspect Must Not Be
Tortured — They want him tried under international law. I want to
stop al-Qaeda from blowing up bodies whenever it damn well feels like it.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Posted by lucy at March 6, 2003 12:39 AM