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What is this taht [sic] I can see,
Cold icy hands taking hold of me,
For Death has come, you all can see.
Hell has open it,s [sic] gate to trick me.
Oh, Death! Oh, Death! can’t you spare
Me, over for another year!
I’ll stuff your jaws till you can’t talk
I’ll blind your leg’s till you can’t walk
I’ll tie your hands till you can’t make a stand. Dennis Rader’s BTK poem, sent to KAKE 10 TV
The president has as you know now determined that the Geneva Convention does not apply to the conflict with al Qaeda whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere. Donald Rumsfeld
‘Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply. If the United States is to survive, longstanding American concepts of ‘fair play’ must be reconsidered. It may become necessary that the American people be made acquainted with, understand and support this fundamentally repugnant philosophy.’ Counter-Intelligence s1e4: Necrophilous, General Jimmy Doolittle, 2013
Throughout the Cold War the School of the Americas functioned as the primary training group for the teaching of terrorism. ibid.
‘But what counter-insurgency really comes down to is the protection of the capitalists back in America, their property and their privileges.’ ibid. Philip Agee
Millions of people, mostly peasants, were killed by American proxy forces in Latin America during the Cold War. ibid.
‘Torture is not designed to acquire intelligence. It is designed to create fear in others.’ ibid. Peter Linebaugh, historian
Fallujah: In addition to heavy artillery and 2000-pound bombs, American troops deployed the chemical weapon white phosphorous, which burns through human flesh like acid. ibid.
What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roared in dismal hell. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet III ii 43-44, Juliet to Nurse
O happy torment, when my torturer
Doth teach me answers for deliverance! William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice III ii 37-38, Bassiano to Portia
Virgil complains and he is severely tortured: for several days he is locked in a sweat-box with an insurance salesman. Take the Money and Run 1969 starring Woody Allen & Janet Margolin & Marcel Hillaire & Jacquelyn Hyde & Lonny Chapman & Jan Merlin & James Anderson & Howard Sotm & Mark Gordon & Micil Murphy et al, director Woody Allen
The House just passed President Bush’s Bill to redefine the treatment of detainees and the Senate is expected to do the same thing tomorrow. Buried deep inside this legislation is a provision that will pardon President Bush and all the members of his administration of any possible crimes connected with the torture and mistreatment of detainees dated all the way back to September 11th 2001. CNN News Report
Despite being a US citizen Jose Padilla has been held indefinitely in a Naval brig in North Carolina. He has never been charged. And hasn’t seen a lawyer. CNN News
[Jose] Padilla alleged that he was subjected to prolonged isolation; deprivation of light; exposure to prolonged periods of light and darkness, including being ‘periodically subjected to absolute light or darkness for periods in excess of twenty-four hours’; extreme variations in temperature; sleep adjustment; threats of severe physical abuse; death threats; administration of psychotropic drugs; shackling and manacling for hours at a time; use of ‘stress’ positions; noxious fumes that caused pain to eyes and nose; loud noises; withholding of any mattress, pillow, sheet, or blanket; forced grooming; suspensions of showers; removal of religious items; constant surveillance; incommunicado detention, including denial of all contact with family and legal counsel for a 21-month period; interference with religious observance; and denial of medical care for ‘serious and potentially life-threatening ailments, including chest pain and difficulty breathing, as well as for treatment of the chronic, extreme pain caused by being forced to endure stress positions’. United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, May 2012
I thought that the whole world was involved in abuse. And as a very young child I had hoped there was some place in the world where people didn’t abuse their children. Cathy O’Brien, lecture Trance Formation Over America
After my father came back from Boston, Massachusetts, I was subjected to extensive systematic abuses. The sexual abuse that I had endured was extending into ritual abuse and more tortures. The ritual abuse that I experienced within our local Catholic church was very deliberate for the purposes of mind control. ibid.
Every time where the mind control is prevalent there is always abuse, and it’s usually sexual abuse of the children. ibid.
The Christians believed that when they went to Hell they would be tortured. But not just tortured so as to inflict maximum pain, but tortured in a way that was appropriate for the sin that they committed. Jeff Wise, author Extreme Fear
I judged it so much the more necessary to extract the real truth with the assistance of torture from two female slaves who were deemed Deaconesses. Pliny the Younger
Christian visions of hell depict a place of unspeakable torture. Gates of Hell, 2010
Torture would be seen in almost every depiction of Hell that came afterwards [the Greek], including the Christians. ibid.
In one Islamic text Muhammad warns sinners about snakes whose venom burns for forty years, and flames sixty-nine times hotter than those on Earth. ibid.
But mysteriously the Bible itself is virtually silent on the subject. ibid.
Even today the Christian Hell evokes vivid images of vicious punishment. ibid.
But it was Christianity that described the balance between sin and punishment in the most excruciating detail. And one Christian in particular was responsible. Dante’s epic description of Hell – The Inferno – offers an extremely lurid vision of its punishments. ibid.
In The Inferno Dante imagined a purpose-built torture chamber awaiting the wicked. ibid.
Who exacts the penalty? ibid.
For years the press labelled them the torture gang. The Richardsons by Fred Dinenage, 2012
Can I be honest with you? I am bad fucking news. I’m not your friend. I’m not gonna help you. I’m gonna break you. Any questions? Zero Dark Thirty 2012 starring Jessica Chastain & Jason Clarke & Joel Edgerton & Jennifer Ehle & Mark Strong & Kyle Chandler & Edgar Ramirez & James Gandolfini & Chris Pratt et al, director Kathryn Bigelow, Dan to Abu Faraj al-Libbi
He wired my Frankie’s bollocks up to an electric kettle and turned it on. Big Fat Gypsy Gangster: Bulla the Movie 2011 starring Ricky Grover & Omid Djalili & Tulisa Contostavlos & Steven Berkoff & Peter Capaldi & Rufus Hound & Rochelle Wiseman & Laila Morse et al, director Ricky Grover
I met him one night in the gay village. And I dealt with him. I dealt with him severely, I really hurt him ... the best quality torture you could do. A Very British Gangster 2007 starring Dominic Noonan et al, director Donal MacIntyre
That’s how you beat people who torture you – learn to love. Rolling Thunder 1977 starring Tommy Lee Jones & William Devane & Linda Haynes & James Best & Dabney Coleman & Lisa Blake Richards & Luke Askew & James Victor et al, director John Flynn, hero
It was pretty tough. First you didn’t think you could take it. Then you did ... It was dark and hot. You live mostly by sounds ... Water dripping in the hall ... Then you just wait for the boot to come. The Fallen Sparrow 1943 starring John Garfield & Maureen O'Hara & Walter Slezak & Patricia Morison & Martha O'Driscoll & Bruce Edwards & John Banner & John Miljan & Hugh Beaumont et al, director Richard Wallace, spy describing torture