Military Interrogator: "I Tortured People"-Blames Bush-"Total Crap-That Its Different Kind Of War"

[kpete]

Tony Lagouranis interrogated prisoners in Iraq. He says "I tortured people."

"I tortured people," said Lagouranis, 37, who was a military intelligence specialist in Iraq from January 2004 until January 2005. "You have to twist your mind up so much to justify doing that."

............

At Abu Ghraib and sometimes at the facilities in Mosul, north Babil province and other places where Lagouranis worked, the Americans were shot at and attacked with mortar fire. "Then I get a prisoner who may have done it," he said. "What are you going to do? You just want to get back at somebody, so you bring this dog in. 'Finally, I got you.' "

"At every point, there was part of me resisting, part of me enjoying," Lagouranis said. "Using dogs on someone, there was a tingling throughout my body. If you saw the reaction in the prisoner, it's thrilling."

.........................

Lagouranis blames the Bush administration: "They say this is a different kind of war. Different rules for terrorists. Total crap."




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060301121.html?hpid=topnews

[NewJeffCT]

1. Will they swiftboat this guy?

Or, single him out as one of a few bad apples?

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Bad Apples = Compassionate CONservative

So much "Compassion" for other human beings...our tax dollars at work for the betterment of mankind and the winning of hearts and minds. No wonder the guys in China are pissed at our dogs!

[Cults4Bush]

2. its hard being the fifth rec sometimes :( nt.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Sounds like Sahib from Lost.

[The Stranger]

5. How about an ol' time DU "Support the Troops" thread rally?

We used to have those here regularly.

Wait . . . what?

[havocmom]

7. When good guys go bad in a war zone, ya might wanna consider...

they are victims of the criminals who sent them just as much as the locals are.

There but for grace go you or I.

Who knows what any might do if put under the same stresses? The fault is not with the people in an impossible situation. All humans have their breaking point. The fault is with the CIC who allowed cheney and the corporations to put human beings in the situation for no reason other than profit.

I am not condoning torture and abuse. But consider that in an insane and primal long-term situation, it is questionable that people will maintain the exercise their normal values. It the situation is not of their making, who is to blame when people become victims of the situation?

[Cults4Bush]

9. I agree except for soldiers being as much a victim as locals.

There is just not any comparison. I understand why many think that and soem even think our troops are more of a victim... but really, its just not the same at all.

[havocmom]

11. Ah, so they can pack up and go back to their homes?

Sorry, I see them as victims too. Damned few signed up for the madness they are forced to deal with. Many signed up, but not for a criminal invasion against and innocent people. Yet, once they were committed to the war zone, they have to deal. And most people don't deal with madness well.

[gratuitous]

12. I'd like to think that's what I would do

Of course, being a little more experienced in matters than the average 18- or 19-year-old, it's unlikely that I would put myself in that position at this stage in my life. But to walk away from an illegal occupation and accept the consequences for that is real, live heroism, not the dime-store knock-off stuff that's been sold to us for the last four years.

[Cults4Bush]

19. I wasnt attacking your position at all.

I wasnt saying they werent victims and I am accutely aware of why and how most are being cajoled into signing up. I took a slight exception to them being victims on a par with the Iraqi peoples. They were victims of our countries brutal policies long before our soldiers were an dthey will be long after the last of our soldiers is home if they ever get to come home.

[The Stranger]

18. No, the prohibition against murder and torture are non-negotiable.

It would be easier to ask to be removed from service than to torture and commit atrocities.

[Toots]

6. Why isn't this guy in jail where he can feel all tingly?

:shrug:

[Recursion]

8. You'd rather he didn't admit it?

Check out this guy's whole story some time before you go into "lock him up" mode.

[gulfcoastliberal]

14. Why isn't Bushco? And the high-ranking officers who approve this situation?

What a joke.

[originalpckelly]

17. "I was following orders."

Well soldier, sometimes your orders are war crimes, this would be one of those situations. I cannot even stand to hear the self pity oozing from this little creep. Oh boo fucking hoo, "I tortured someone now I don't feel good about it!"

Maybe he should be given immunity, just like other criminals are so that we can nail the higher ups, but that doesn't mean he didn't do something criminal.

[elocs]

10. The season finale of ER had a moving segment about torture in Iraq.

There was a soldier brought into the ER who suffered from PTSD and he spoke fluent Arabic and was an interpreter for the "interrogators" in Iraq. There was a part where he was breaking down in the ER and crying out in Arabic. When asked what he was saying he told that he had to interpret every word of every interrogation and it was a man begging them not to hurt him anymore because he had done nothing wrong. The soldier told the interrogators that he had heard many, many of these cries and that the man was undoubtedly innocent. They would not listen to him and told him to continue interpreting.

Right now I am wearing a watch which has a compass in the wristband. I have heard of men being picked up in Iraq and thrown into prison by us (U.S.) because they had a compass on their watch. That is because they found a terrorist who had a watch like that, so obviously everybody who has a compass in their wristwatch must be a terrorist. All being done in our name.

[bdamomma]

13. this all being done in our name is right, something must be done.

[HamdenRice]

15. This guy is going to be visited by some very angry ghosts on his deathbed

I had a very strange experience once. I was in South Africa, and a good friend was suddenly stricken with Bell's Palsy (don't worry, not life threatening). He was put in an open ward in a Johannesburg hospital.

When I visited him several times over the course of several days, there was another patient across the aisle and several beds down. He was delirious and constantly babbling in Zulu or Xhosa, and was very jumpy while lying down as though people were prodding him. Although unconscious, he was clearly extremely frightened and miserable.

Finally I asked my friend what the delirious patient was saying. My friend said that the guy never woke up but never shut up. He was dying of some chronic illness. From listening to him over the course of several days, my friend learned that the delirious guy had been some sort of gangster (or maybe it was that he was a policeman) and had killed, beaten and tortured many people and that he was seeing the spirits of all his victims crowding around his bed, poking at him, taunting him, accusing him and telling him about what was waiting for him in hell.

Total creepfest.

This soldier may not experience this now, but I sure hope he is never delirious in some hospital bed.

[Jonathan50]

16. It is remarkably easy to get most human beings to torture another.

There are really not that many who are able to resist the pressure.

Read these two sites and be exceedingly glad that you have not been asked to do something for which you will later despise yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment