torture video

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>From: "Devine, James" <jdevine at lmu.edu>
>To: "Pen-l (E-mail)" <pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu>
>Subject: [PEN-L:20570] torture video
>Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 14:10:36 -0800
>
>L.A. TIMES 12/8/01/RESPONSE TO TERROR
>American Taliban Refused to Answer CIA Agents' Questions, Video Shows
>
>By NORMAN KEMPSTER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
>WASHINGTON -- Despite a kick in the stomach and the threat of death, John
>Walker Lindh, the captured American Taliban fighter, refused to say a word
>to two CIA interrogators, including Johnny "Mike" Spann--who just hours
>later became the first U.S. combat fatality in Afghanistan.
>
>In a dramatic, seven-minute videotape shot Nov. 25 by an amateur Afghan
>cameraman, Spann and another agent identified only as Dave are shown trying
>to question Lindh, warning him that the only way he can save his life is to
>cooperate.
>
>A few hours later, Spann himself was killed by Taliban and Al Qaeda
>prisoners who rose up against their Northern Alliance captors at a prison
>near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The tape was made during
>the morning interrogation of some of the hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda
>captives. Spann, 32, a former Marine officer, is shown singling out Lindh
>from a row of prisoners.
>
>"Hey, you," Spann said, according to a transcript posted on Newsweek
>magazine's Web site. "Right here with your head down. Look at me. I know you
>speak English. Look at me. Where did you get the British military sweater?"
>
>When Lindh did not answer, Spann walked away, leaving the prisoner with
>several Northern Alliance soldiers who tightened the ropes binding his
>elbows behind him. One kicked him in the stomach.
>
>Lindh was then forced to sit cross-legged on a blanket in the prison
>courtyard, his arms still tied. Spann squatted on the blanket and tried
>again: "Where are you from? . . . You believe in what you're doing here that
>much, you're willing to be killed here? How were you recruited to come here?
>Who brought you here?"
>
>When Lindh remained silent, Spann snapped his fingers in front of Lindh's
>face. Still no response.
>
>The agent identified as Dave then approached Spann and Lindh. Standing where
>the prisoner could easily hear their conversation, Dave told Spann: "The
>problem is, he's got to decide if he wants to live or die and die here.
>We're just going to leave him and he's going to . . . sit in prison for the
>rest of his . . . short life. It's his decision. We can only help the guys
>who want to talk to us."
>
>After that, Spann and Dave seemed to lose interest in Lindh, who was pulled
>to his feet by a Northern Alliance guard and taken back to a group of
>prisoners.
>
>The tape ends at that point. A few hours later, Taliban and Al Qaeda
>prisoners began throwing hand grenades and seizing guards' rifles. By the
>time the insurrection was put down, most of the prisoners were dead. Lindh
>survived and is now in U.S. military custody.
>
>In an unusual deal, ABC News and CBS News teamed up to buy exclusive
>broadcast rights to the videotape....
>
>for more see
>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000097517dec08.story
>
>COMMENTS: The above story not only shows the depravity of the US news media,
>but also an advantage of the division of labor, one that Adam Smith didn't
>mention. On the one hand, the CIA folks question Lindh. On the other hand,
>the Northern Alliance folks kick him, etc. (Lindh later talked, I've heard.)
>Though seen in the perspective of history the latter isn't going to make it
>into the Torture Hall of Fame (perhaps because Lindh is a US citizen), it
>shows the typical _modus operandi_ of the US. The hands-on work is left to
>the local proxies, while the big-picture stuff is hogged by the US agents,
>who don't get their hands dirty. Braverman emphasized the role of the
>separation of conception from execution...
>
>Jim Devine jdevine at lmu.edu &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine