Perhaps Faiza has indeed located our very own 21st century Torture Celebrity, “the man who was in the famous photo from AboGraib [sic] prison, the man with hood, wearing black blanket, standing on a box, with electrical wires connected to his hands.”
Whether he is “that man” or not, this is a man. And this is what happened to him while he was in our hands. While GWB &co – not to mention our friends in Congress – may continue to stick their fingers in their ears and shout “lalalalalala! I can’t hear you!” his testimony is here, and it must he heard.
NB, I have read Faiza’s blog for years, and this woman is certainly no “Iraqi extremist.” Were I able to compress her diaries of the past years into a digest I would send it to every member of Congress. And if I was a writer or an artist I would devote my time to making something of my own with the imperative of Augustine’s “tolle; lege!” [Take! Read!”]–but perhaps, with a steady trickle of such testimonies, we may one day spur enough souls into action.
It is not the first time we have done thus, and without doubt it is not the last. But surely, as human beings, it is our duty to the world, to whatever faiths we profess, and to our own hope for a better humanity, that we make this STOP.
Blog: A Family in Baghdad
Post: The testimony of former Iraqi prisoner in Abo Graib
Link: http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/2007_02_11_archive.html#7714668826410173358
The Human Face of Torture that perhaps could be used as a resource. Most of the focus has been on the victims of torture, although if a relevant vignette by a former torturer comes to light, I’ll post that as well. Hopefully those stories will shine that light of truth that is so desperately needed.
I’d also strongly recommend Never In Our Names – a community blog focused on torture and human rights.
Another blog, which thus far has little content, is Torture Survivors Converse With One Another. The first – and so far only – essay is by a survivor of torture, Sister Dianna.
Thanks for the links–I guess (there’s an impulse to hide from all of this!). These testimonies do need to be collected, because a reckoning will have to come. The symptoms are emerging in the US itself–it is not hard to be surprised upon hearing of how we dehumanize and mistreat our own injured troops; the US is developing a flourishing culture of neglect and abuse.
That reckoning is still a way off, though. The latest Washington Post trumpets another “Victory for the Bush Administration” in their tagline for “Federal appeals court rules Guantanamo detainees do not have the right to challenge imprisonments.” Oh, what a lovely triumph.