Sorry, but this isn’t torture.

Posted on July 15, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |

Let’s make sure we understand this. A 15 year old kid goes off to Afghanistan to die fighting the Americans so he can be rewarded with 70 virgins. Despite throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier and then being shot three times, he doesn’t get the virgins. Instead he had his life given back to him and a trip to Cuba–where he was tortured. Except not really.*

So what was this “torture”? Sleep deprivation. Every three hours he was moved to a different cell. And it doesn’t appear to have had much affect.

Certainly Umar did not appear to have been affected by three weeks on the ‘frequent flyer’ program. He did not yawn or indicate in any way that he was tired throughout the two-hour interview. It seems likely that the natural resilience of a well-fed and healthy 17-year-old are keeping him going.

Three hours of sleep at a time. Is it pleasant? No, but then neither is blowing people up. Is it torture? Pffft, that’s not much different than caring for a nursing baby. There have been times when I would have done a happy dance to have been able to sleep for three hours straight.

*I’m basing the “except not really” on the articles I have read and the portion of video that has been released.

Comments

One Response to “Sorry, but this isn’t torture.”

  1. Right Field on July 15th, 2008 7:36 pm

    And you’re right about this, as well. Sleep deprivation as torture? Please…then most of us are guilty of torturing ourselves, and children (particularly babies) are guilty of torturing their parents.

    Besides, this duide has thus far been treated better than he treated that US soldier…

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