“Corrupt, toxic and sociopathic”: Glenn Greenwald unloads on torture...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

This a good interview. It's hard to choose one portion to excerpt; I'd urge anyone with an interest to read the entire article.
--

“Corrupt, toxic and sociopathic”: Glenn Greenwald unloads on torture, CIA and Washington’s rotten soul
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/11/exclusive_corrupt_toxic_and_sociopathic_glenn_greenwald_unloads_on_torture_cia_and_washingtons_rotten_soul/


The reason that story is so horrifying is because it’s the process of dehumanization. It’s literally removing what is human about us. There was a detailed account of what happened in what they called “the Salt Pit” — the prison in Afghanistan, where they literally froze people to death — and [the report] talked about how visitors to that prison observed it was actually more like a dog kennel than it was a prison where human beings were kept. Whenever anyone would walk by, [the prisoners] would literally quiver, they would jump up out of fear, because they had been so conditioned to expect extreme levels of punishment.

Psychological torture is, [it's believed] pretty much by consensus, worse than physical torture if it’s done at an extreme level. John McCain said that for him, by far, the worst part of captivity in North Vietnam was the isolation and the psychological torment — not the physical torture to which he was subjected quite extensively. There are studies about how people go insane if they’re kept in solitary confinement in American prisons in a way that doesn’t happen if the soles of your feet are beaten or you’re forced into stress-positions. And so much of this [program] was about dehumanization. It had nothing to do with interrogation; it was about exploitation and control. It was about the assertion of power.

And that’s what makes it so evil. Detainees are, by definition, helpless; they’re captive. So to completely brutalize them and remove their humanity is really worse than anything you could do to someone physically, including killing them. It’s basically like being dead while alive.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Okay Johnny Boy,

why did you yammer on and on how this is a great policy and the World would be a better place. McCain just go away please.

[Blue_Tires]

2. Of course Greenwald has been eerily silent

about the hundreds of thousands of Chechens tortured and killed by his Russian allies in recent years...

Sadly, the Russians aren't very meticulous record-keepers like the USSR of yore, so he'll have to put on his investigative reporter pants and dig deep...

And since journalists have been assassinated for bringing this story to the public, I hope ol' Glenn has some brass ones that clank should he want to step down from Mount Olympus and get his hands dirty...

I know, I know -- Everyone hates it when I point out Glenn Greenwald's hypocritical ivory-tower mindset and selective outrage...I don't enjoy doing it like I don't enjoy taking out the trash, but I have to because it is necessary and because I'm a for-hire Pentagon troll sent to crush dissent or something...So spare me the usual back-and-forth silliness, and let's just pretend we already had it...

[whatchamacallit]

3. Your repeated, duplicitous attempts at deflection

with a "where was your outrage when..." straw man is pathetic. It excuses nothing.

[Blue_Tires]

4. I've been called many things

But one thing I am not is "duplicitous"...I have spelled out repeatedly on DU why I do what I do, and never hidden my motivation from fellow DUers...

And thanks for using a straw man in some half-assed attempt to refute a non-straw man...I didn't make any apology for, nor do I defend torture -- I'm saying a rat bastard piece of shit like Glenn Greenwald has no moral high ground to stand on...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

5. But this is about the US torturing people. It's not about Chechnya

I get that you hate Glenn Greenwald; many people do. Did you have any comment about what Greenwald said in this interview?

[Blue_Tires]

7. Yes -- I have a comment...

Dramatics aside there's nothing technically wrong with what he said; I just wish Greenwald would discover someday that not every evil deed in the world is attributable to the U.S. or U.S.-backed foreign governments, and became more consistent in his criticisms...When the only time he speaks out is on stories with the U.S. as the "bad guy", it makes me ask questions on what he's trying to accomplish...

[Bluenorthwest]

8. So you agree with him here. You should have just said so instead of being so backhanded and

duplicitous about it. Say what you mean. Making arch insinuations about people is a right wing tactic. Doing so when you have no disagreement with what has actually been said is clearly about another agenda, and it makes me wonder what you are trying to accomplish and why.

At most, you seem to be wishing this piece was not about the current big news but about something else which is softer to the torturers. Your complaint lies with those in the US government who tortured 'some folks' not with those who are critical of that torture, don't you think?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

9. I do see your point, but I don't really agree.

There are lots of bad people doing bad stuff in the world. While they're all worthy of scorn, the US is the country that I live in, and it's the only country I have even an infinitesimal chance of influencing. The US also holds itself up as a beacon to the rest of the world, and lately, this has made me feel sick because it's so hypocritical. So for my part, I'm much more critical of the US than of any other country, because I'm a citizen of the US, and because of the glaring hypocrisy that we're displaying on the world stage.

[Union Scribe]

6. "So spare me"

Spare us.

[Katashi_itto]

11. Hyperventilate much?

[woo me with science]

10. K&R