I was angry before

but now I can only rage in cold fire.

currently on cnn's front page of their website: "report fuels guantanamo criticism"

time magazine, in all of their discerning wisdom, conducted additional investigation of guantanamo bay's treatment of detainees in the aftermath of newsweek's [bordering-on] fradulent accusations just a couple short weeks ago. they were shocked at our troops' conduct, with the most damning criticism falling on the treatment of mohammed al-qahtani, allegedly the "20th hijacker" in the attacks (as opposed to the term tragedy now being used in major media outlets - on a side note, I read orwell's "politics and the english langauge" recently; entirely applicable to this nonsense) of september 11th. their investigation revealed the worst conduct to be:

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According to the logbook, which covers al-Qahtani's interrogations from November 2002 to January 2003, the Time article reports that daily interviews began at 4 a.m. and sometimes continued until midnight.
The interrogation techniques included refusing al-Qahtani a bathroom break and forcing him to urinate in his pants.
Afterward, interrogators began their sessions with al-Qahtani at midnight and awakened him with dripping water or Christina Aguilera music if he dozed off, the magazine article reported.
The magazine said the techniques approved by Rumsfeld included "standing for prolonged periods, isolation for as long as 30 days, removal of clothing, forced shaving of facial hair" and hanging "pictures of scantily clad women around his neck."
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this conduct was presented in a most intense fashion deserving of the highest scrutiny. additional comments were provided by one representative chuck hagel, who in full brilliance was quoted as saying, "If in fact we are treating prisoners this way, it's not only wrong, it's dangerous and very dumb and very shortsighted." additionally, the great defender of liberty - senator dianne feinstein - told the american public that "I don't know why we didn't learn from Bagram," she added, referring to a U.S. base in Afghanistan. "I don't know why we didn't learn from Abu Ghraib [prison in Iraq], but here we are in Guantanamo with many of the same things surfacing."

I'd like to officially present a moment of silence for the incredible mistreatment this man received in the course of his incarceration.

...

...

fucking idiots. worse things happen in nearly all toned-down fraternity "hazings" at schools where hazings have been outlawed. and to think this merits the front page on the world's most repsected media website.

[if you think I'm being too harsh on this one, read the commentary and gravity in the article.]

surely our troops that have been captured by the likes of folks like al-qhatani and endured [actual] torture events (i.e. electro-genital torture, extreme physical abuse including broken bones apparent on video tape, and of course the final beheading to end the happy affair) would be pleased to "endure" treatment that pales to their first day of boot camp.

the folks in this article are the same people [including the media that fuels their coverage] who, if given the opportunity, would have spent the final months of world war two discussing the bombing of dresden and nothing else. after the war would have been concluded, similar events would have been the only acceptable subjects for conversation about the war. the only tolerated framework to discuss the war would have included dresden, nagasaki, and hiroshima. and the japanese internment. [oh wait]

sort of how a twenty-three item list regarding casus belli in iraq devolved to wmds.
sort of how a sustained military conflict in afghanistan and iraq became nothing more than a means for rumsfeld and bush to impose abu ghraib and gitmo on unrepresented, oppressed muslims.

fucking idiots.

I take it back - I was angry at first, and then I calmed down. the anger is most definitely back.