The line between fantasy and reality has blurred for the pro-torture crowd. They can’t tell the difference between real-life and “24”. Just like the “Father Knows Best” version of the 50’s, the war that they fight in their heads from their corner offices and lazyboy chairs is not real.
There is a powerful fantasy running rampant in right wing circles. You can see it on the right wing blogs and hear it in the voices of the war hawks. It is a fantasy about strength, heroism, power, exceptionality, dominance, virility, and the notion that “You don’t fuck with the US of A”.
I am not a screenwriter, but I have tried to articulate this fantasy as I understand it. I have tried to be true to the genre, in an attempt to better grasp what goes on in the dreams of right wing radio hosts and those who follow them.
Scene: A concrete room, furnished with a table and one chair. Undisclosed location. Unflattering light. A grubby young Arab-looking man sits, cuffed hands resting on the table. Two guards stand behind him. Camera moves out the door, down the concrete hallway, past more army guards with rifles, until we come to OUR HERO, deep in conversation with the Major.
Read the script below:
Major: His name’s Hassan. We’ve had him in custody for three months, but he hasn’t said anything useful so far. He was captured in Ramadi, the only survivor of a raid on a house being used as cover by the insurgents.
Hero: What’s his story?
Major: He says that we’ve made a mistake, that he was just visiting his brother.
Hero: It’s always their brother, right?
Major: Heh, yeah. Well, along with him we found six shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, a pile of old soviet rifles, and the makings for enough roadside bombs to blow up ten convoys. His brother was killed in the raid.
Hero: Why all the special attention for this one piece of shit?
Major: He was in the yard with the rest of `em until last week. But we uncovered something that leads us to believe he may know more than he lets on.
Pulls out a picture
This is about two years old. This guy on the right is a confirmed associate of al Zarqawi, and this guy on the left? You guessed it, our prisoner Hassan. That’s Hassan’s house they are standing in front of.
Hero: So little brother may be the bigger fish after all!
Major: But we’ve got a problem. There are rumors that the guy on the right is planning some sort of attack on a US position. The chatter has been getting hotter, and there is the feeling that it is coming soon. (pause) There’s the possibility that it’s planned for July 4th.
Hero: What better day for a terrorist strike, huh? Makes sense to me. Major, if he knows something, I’ll get it out of him.
Our hero starts to stride purposefully down the hallway. Major stops him.
Major: Now, be careful. We’ve been getting a lot of heat from Washington about treating these guys with kid gloves. He may not look it, but I bet he’s got lawyers lined up back in the states that’ll court-martial you just for spitting on him.
Hero: Major, if I can save the life of even one soldier, I’ll take whatever those guys in suits want to dish out.
Our hero pushes into the room with the prisoner.
Hero: So, Hassan, you speak English?
Prisoner: A little.
Hero: So you understand me when I say that you are gonna tell me everything you know about this man. throws picture on table
Prisoner: I have nothing to tell. He was a friend of my brother.
Hero: You look mighty happy to be standing next to him.
Prisoner: I’ve already said everything I know.
Hero (pulls a copy of the Koran out of his back pocket, puts it on the table). Does the Koran tell you to lie?
Prisoner: No.
Hero: Does Allah tell you to kill innocent women and children?
Prisoner: No.
Hero: Does Allah tell you to kill US soldiers?
Prisoner: The United States has created war with Iraq. Soldiers die in a war.
Hero: So I guess those soldiers just blow themselves up, huh?
Prisoner: The USA will never defeat the Iraqi people!
Hero: Oh yeah? Well, tell that to all the free Iraqi’s who voted in the elections! Tell that to the innocent families torn apart under Saddam Hussein(throws table aside) Look, buddy, I don’t think you know who you are dealing with. As far as you’re concerned, I am the USA! And I know that you have more information than you’re telling us. So, either you give me what I want, or things get ugly.
Prisoner: I will tell you nothing, American dog!
Hero looks at the army guards: Give me five minutes alone. Just five.
The guards look at each other, look at our hero, nod, and leave the room. The prisoner starts to get a scared look in his eye. The camera zooms in on the steely gaze of our hero.
Prisoner: Allah will be victorious!
Hero: Well, I guess your definition of victory is different from mine.
The camera moves out of the room and all we see is the closed door, and the guards on either side. We hear the yelling: starting out defiant, but changing to crying and pleading, and finally to sobbing submission. The door opens. Our Hero exits, with a satisfied yet hardened look on his face nodding to the guards.
Hero: You’d better clean him up before the Red Cross gets here. They always faint at the sight of blood.
The guards go back into the room, and our Hero strides down the hall, where he meets the major.
Hero: I’ve got the information. Let’s gather a strike team in Ramadi and move – we’ve only got two weeks to stop this thing.
Cut to a week later.
The Major is talking to our hero on the phone.
Major: Thanks to your interrogation of that prisoner, we’ve uncovered the Syrian contacts for the terrorist cell he was working with. We’ve found a hard drive with plans for the US coalition headquarters in Basra, along with a pile of forged documents and ID’s. If you hadn’t managed to break that piece of shit, a lot of our men and women in uniform would be facing trouble next week. We can’t thank you enough.
Hero: I’m just happy to serve my country, Major. And if I have to kick some terrorist’s ass every now and then, well, that’s just a perk of the job.
End Scene.
Why was I moved to write this?
I have been trying to understand why so many people believe that “just a little bit” of torture is OK. I’ve been trying to get inside the minds of people who are so willing to hold the other end of the leash. Why do they seem so eager to cause pain?
Of course, in real life, history has shown that information extracted under torture is LESS RELIABLE than information extracted through accepted interrogation techniques. If you want to know the truth about a given situation, torture is not the way to get it.
I want to note that this “save the world through torture” fantasy seems to have taken hold amongst those who have never actually served in combat. To them, war is a far-off adventure, a place where boys become men and noble pacts are made among brothers. Iraq becomes the backyard GI Joe Playset, full of adventure, heroism, close calls and manly tears. Those who have served know better. They know that by torturing our enemies, we put our own troops in danger. Not only is it morally wrong, it is also concretely dangerous and makes the war even harder to win.
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