Torture 101

I'm not certain how US torture is being run in the current crusade to export democracy but I know how it was done during the days of El Salvador war and the Contra war. Let the locals do it.

In Honduras, in support of the freedom loving Contras, the camps were run by a few US guys - big, bald, and buffed god-like "advisers" and "trainers" who usually spent more time in Tegucigalpa enjoying the night life, the Caribbean beach, or surfing the best beaches in Salvador. The gringo advisers advised, especially if representatives from the US flew down for inspection or "fact finding" tours, which wasn't often.

The American special forces and operatives could sit in on interrogations, and participate if sadism was their predilection, but physically forcing information from the captured was usually left to the local boys. This method of camp and seek provided American pols the "how could we know" option and, and if needed, the American military the "we're investigating" defense.

There are always neighboring "locals" eager to join in the "fight for freedom." Poverty recruited all manner of willing hands. Guatemalans, Columbians, Argentinians, Mexicans, Hondurans, Salvadorans. Free hots and a cot, camp hookers, American beer, dollars for dirty work, what's not to love about the spread of freedom?

Knowing that information collected by torture is not reliable, information is not particularly the goal – terror is; resistance can lose it's appeal when eunuchs limp back to the village without their tongue and eyesight. I suspect the US could easily put Saddam's Mukhabarat or other Middle East castrators and cattle prodders on the payroll. There are many men who enjoy their work for the remuneration, not necessarily the politics of it.