Mother of U.S. Marine Waterboarded by Our Military Hits Latest Torture Excuse -- and Cheney

As the usual rationalizations for U.S. torture (it works, it's not so bad, we didn't do it anyway) have come under increasing attack in recent days, a relatively new defense has emerged, from GOP members of congress, columnist Charles Krauthammer, Fox News' Jim Angle, and many others: Waterboarding can't be torture because we used it on "thousands" of our own troops as part of their training!

Of course, some have questioned the degree of waterboarding (was it the lite version?) and, of course, none of the military personnel were subjected to it 83 times. But the argument remains out there.

This week, I received a letter from a woman from Florida, mother of a young Marine, who has corresponded with me before about her military background and her son joining up, at Editor & Publisher. Her latest letter was extremely disturbing and also extremely relevant to the latest torture excuse. Here is it is, with her name omitted for obvious reasons.

Dear Mr. Mitchell, I have been so profoundly upset for the last few days that I can hardly express it, so I decided to write to you again. My son is ok physically, thank God, but what was done to him by his own leaders sickens me beyond belief. My son was in a field that required that he attend SERE [Survival Evasion Resistance Escape] school. He was trained as a member of a flight crew that could potentially go behind enemy lines, so SERE was required. I'm a veteran, I thought I had an idea of what was ahead for him, so I gave him a maternal pep talk and told him that it would be very hard but these people were on his side and were trying to prepare him for all possibilities and this would help make him prepared and tough. I didn't know how naïve my encouragement was.  I thought they would teach him how to escape, and how to survive. I had no idea that it would be a sadistic exercise in dehumanizing and terrifying him. He was 19 at the time. I am sickened by this, and outraged. My 19 year old son was water boarded, among other despicable things, and I had encouraged him to succeed at SERE. They did more to him that he has yet to explain to me, one thing that went on long enough for him to start hallucinating and to think he was dying.... Now we all have found that the two men who came up with this program were using my son and everyone else who went through SERE as guinea pigs for their sick, sadistic torture program. Then they sold their torture program to the sadists in the Bush Administration and became overpaid military contractors who spread this poison throughout our military. My son is not reenlisting. He is getting out soon. He has been depressed for a long time now and can't wait to get out. This is why I'm writing to you: Yesterday on TV I saw some Republican mouthpiece, some ex-Cheney aide, who has never worn a uniform and has NO idea what the hell he is talking about, say that we never tortured anyone because we did it to our own troops and they volunteered to serve; therefore it isn't torture. His statement was allowed to stand unchallenged. My son did NOT volunteer to be tortured. He was NOT told what would be done to him at SERE. He was told he would be taught to survive. Instead he was tortured, humiliated, degraded, shamed, and told to keep quiet about it. How in God's name would that prepare any of our troops to survive capture? It won't. It will only make them break quicker in the hopes of not having to go through more torture. Who will speak up for my son and the others like him who joined the military to serve and who were subjected to sadistic torture, not by the enemy, but by the war criminals ostensibly on our side?  These people, Cheney and his talking heads, everyone of them chicken hawks who avoided serving, should NOT be allowed to use torturing our troops as rationalization for their crimes. There is NO excuse for this. People need to go to jail for this, and I don't mean the Lyndie Englunds  and other low-ranking troops who were led into this. I mean the people who ordered it at the top. The people who are still trying to justify their crimes and are now having their mouthpieces use my son and others who were tortured as their cover. And for what? So the sadists who came up with this, and they are sadists, can keep themselves out of trouble? They all stood by silently, including Cheney, while lower-ranking troops went to prison for the evil they ordered done. Now they want to use my son's torture as their rationalization? No! This must NOT be allowed to stand unchallenged. I can't stand feeling so helpless. I WANT A VOICE. I want to confront those evil people who are still selling this torture as if it were our only defense against terrorists, and who now are attempting to use our troops to defend their indefensible, morally corrupt, war crimes. My son was not given a choice, he was not made aware of what would be done to him, he was ordered not to talk about it. He was tortured - by sadists, for bigger sadists. Who will stand up to those responsible for this?

* Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Why Obama Won." His previous book on Iraq and the media was "So Wrong for So Long." Email: [e-mail]. At Twitter: GregMitch

 

Comments

[fisher65]

why isnt this plastered on all the news papers! and the news! enough said, God bless you all

[americanwoman1]

Here Here.

[lobear00]

The cheney's, and bushes, will never be brought to "justice" for the crimes they have committed. The new administration is hell bent on covering up and white washing the crimes of the cheney/bush administration.

cheney and bush, put together all of their cronies inside the justice department, the courts just for this very reason, it was very well thought out , thru cheney who learned well from all his years in government . They had the mainstream media protecting their backsides all the way and they continue to do so.

The only way to a "just end" for these snakes of the cheney / bush regime is to turn the whole bunch over to the world court and let them be tried on soil other than the United States. Our courts and system of justice have been "Tainted badly".

[dolbydunn]

Since Dick Cheney is now confessing that we torture, humiliate and degrade our own troops during training, perhaps this information should be disclosed to new recruits before they enlist. (No wonder Cheney got 5 deferments during the Viet Nam War for his "other priorities").

How many military recruiters warn the new enlistees that they will be tortured, humiliated and terrorized during their training? I wonder if such "truth in enlisting" would affect the military's recruitment efforts? Obviously it might, I don't see Sean Hannity accepting Keith Olbermann's challenge.

It is an odd form of "justice" that our own troops get to reap what they will sow. However, to be consistent, since the "enemy" may shoot our troops - shouldn't we shoot our own troops, (as a part of their training so that they will be prepared for it)?

For this new phase of "enhanced training" perhaps Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Feith, Wolfowitz, Perle, Gonzales, Yoo, Addington, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly etc. could, for once in their lives, lead by example.

Meanwhile, we could use Dick Cheney's own words to warn recruits of the real hazards of military service. Dick Cheney's admission that we torture our own kids during military training should be made into a public service announcement and run during every commercial break on every TV channel throughout the Memorial Day weekend.

[indy girl]

When my husband got back from his SERE school session he was seriously mentally messed up. They were threatened that they shouldn't tell anyone in their families what had happened to them, but he did tell me some of it. They abused the trainees psychologically until some of them didn't know where they were. They were starved, stripped naked, put in cages, and sprayed with freezing water night and day. Several of his teammates received broken bones as a result of the rough "handling" by their "enemy". At the end of the week they were "rescued" and the trainers raised an America flag and there were trainees laying on the ground, weeping and completely out of control. My ex called it a mind-f_ck. He lost about 15 pounds during this program, and woke up raging for weeks afterward.

[camper65]

Correction - the "they" in "what they got" refers to her "husband" and his classmates, NOT the P.O.W.s!

[schatsie]

I love the letter, the woman spoke from her heart and sensibly, WE NEED A SLOGAN to pound into the Congresses head....Like the mushroom cloud that the Repugs used... I am not sure what it is or how vile it has to be because we need to confront the likes of Rush and CHENEY with this...

Waterboarding is not a new sport, it is DROWNING someone....how many times would you throw a child in the water to make them learn how to swim?

[offred]

I wonder if the SERE program contributes at all to PTSD experienced by our troops.

[indy girl]

Would not surprise me in the slightest. Especially if you start off with soldiers who are less than 100% mentally to begin with--SERE would be more than sufficient to push them over the edge.

Actually, one of my husband's comments was that SERE was designed to make you do ANYTHING you were asked to do for your country, WITHOUT asking any questions. I suppose now that could mean torturing or even executing an enemy, if ordered to do so by your commanding officer?

[StillMadMatt]

I think we outta start a graas roots movement called Torture Parties or T parties if you will. Cheney can be your Leader. But for real ...if Obama does not go after Bush and Cheney he is just as bad as they are. And he maybe he wont get 2012 vote for POTUS from me. I want to believe in the rule of law, but its seemed so onesided.

[JailNeoconVicts]

For what it's worth: I voted enthusiastically for Obama, and on many fronts I think he's doing a great job. But this issue fundamentally defines us as either a decent or a corrupt society. If we are a nation that condones torture, then we have lost any and all moral authority in the world. I've just written whitehouse.gov that if Obama doesn't clearly repudiate these tactics and bring those who disgraced our nation to justice, then I will vote for his opponent in the next election--and I don't care who it is.

[Cyberoptic]

I totally agree with not supporting Obama if he doesn't act strongly on opposing torture. If he does not oppose torture, and simply says, my administration doesn't torture, what is to keep the next Bush clone from simply saying, my administration does torture? If torture is not clearly opposed by clearly establishing the law, is Obama really against torture?

[finishcurve]

60 of the 2000 photos Obama doesn't want released:

http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2006/02/15/1139890768716.html

[CAHertzfe]

We've seen worse. That was nothing. What else ya got?

[finishcurve]

Hopefully, people less jaded than you will be moved and more will surface.

[JailNeoconVicts]

I hope you have sent this to every member of congress and the administration. They need to be forced to hear this, and not hope it just goes away. If Peru can prosecute and jail their criminal former president, we should be at least as capable of basic civic morality.

[Emerald1943]

My heart goes out to this mother. I also have a son who served in the first Gulf War. He was not required to go through SERE training and I am so thankful that he did not.

But folks, this is the tip of the iceberg. So much more has been done in our names that has not been reported by the MSM. Detainees have been beaten to death in our military-run prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. Children, as young as 11,were taken into Abu Ghraib and were raped and tortured in front of their mothers in an attempt to get the parents to talk. How in the name of all we hold holy can we justify these despicable acts...for any reason??? The MSM has been hung up on waterboarding, but this may be the least of what has been done. I encourage all to do a little research. Google is a wonderful tool for this purpose. Here is a link that I think should be front page!

http://thesidetrack.blogspot.com/2009/05/seymour-hersh-children-sodomized-at-abu.html

[BraveWarrior]

Does anyone wonder why the military brass opposes the release of the torture photos. They claim that it is out of concern for the safety of our troops. This doesn't stop them from exploiting our captive military and sending our troops on multiple, dangerous deployments into combat zones. They never considered, previously, that the torture itself was endangering the safety of our troops. Obama makes a dishonest reference to a 'few bad apples'. You remember the few enlisted men and women who were scapegoated and prosecuted to protect the few bad apples in our military and government. General Karpinski was the only ranking officer punished for carrying out national policy. Perhaps these officers and gentlemen realize that they were in the chain of command-that passed along illegal orders-and might be someday held accountable-as the Nazi high command after WWII. So far in public statements, both Condi and Dick have stated that they were passing on orders authorized by the president. There are so many documents that prove that torture was a policy of the previous administration. Kennedy tried to overcome the control of the military-industrial complex and was assassinated. Johnson bought into the the assurances of the best and the brightest that there was light at the end of the tunnel in Vietnam. It appears that Obama will follow the path that Johnson followed and relinquish control over foreign policy to the militarists. He has turned out to be the Manchurian candidate for the Imperialists.

[GonzoFactor]

The US military top command lied to their troops, the American people, the Presidents, and Congress throughout the Vietnam war. Those of us who paid attention are not surprised by the events of the last seven years. We're just disgusted that history has so repulsively repeated itself.

In both wars, politicians made up huge packs of ideology-based stories to mobilize the support of the bloody gullible. Otherwise reasonable, patriotic individuals believed the garbage, and likely will for the rest of their lives. The troops were often treated disgracefully during their service and neglected after.

Through it all, far too many people blinded themselves to the reality of the wars. They didn't want to admit how miserably the US failed in its stated missions. They hide behind garbage like "we were justified" and ""giving aid and comfort to the enemy" to hide behind. We didn't learn from the abominable lessons of Vietnam. It's doubtful that we'll learn from Iraq.

[NewArtz]

How many mothers raise their sons to be brave, even to join the military, praying from sincere and trusting hearts, that no harm will come to them from the enemy. Does it make it alright that the harm came from us, the people of the United States, who are represented by our government, who abused them to prove that abusing people is alright? It's like torturing an enemy to tell a lie to go to war for that lie. These are things we did. You and I did these things.

[Tom Joad]

This essay touches on a topic that has not received much attention. We have focused on the impact of these methods on its victims. What is the impact of these methods on those who administer them? We know of at least one member of our military services who ended her life rather than participate in these practices. What kind of monsters do we create for those who engage in this for months or years? How desensitized to humanity do they become? How can they re-assimilate into society when their service is complete? Does anyone know?

[mydwyf]

The military creates all kinds of monsters. My father in law dropped bombs on people in two wars
(WWII and Korea, in Korea he was one of the first to use napalm). He was a very disturbed person.

[mmgbizgirl]

Cheney is on a campaign to save his a-s-s.

I believe this mother can be the turning point for a full prosecution of the Bush Administration War Crimes.

Bring your fight to Americans. If the government won't move on it, let's bombard them.

Cheney's smug, above the law smirk is why this country is hated. WE DESERVE BETTER!!!

[ICorpsDoc]

I will stand to be corrected by anyone with better knowledge. But I am not aware of any US military training that the student cannot tap out on. They may/will fail the course. But they can and do quit.

The desire to protect the student is paramount. For the students.For the instructors sake. And for the schools sake.

DI's and instructors have seen their careers ruined and more than a few have gone to the brig for years for not doing a good job at protecting the student or recruit.

And if the Marine instructor gets a little too sloppy there is always the Navy Corpsman to contend with. And they can be over protective mother hens when it comes to protecting a student.

But what do I know? I only have first hand experience to form my opinion with.

[Lemmy]

Great post. Thank you.

[thoughtmuse]

If you want to be accepted as some kind of authority, then put some kind of verifiable material ( or make somethin up) in your profile bio.

Since you seem to be posing as some kind of doctor, I just want to ask: do military doctors receive less rigorous training in written communication than those who take up private practice? Or does the military just end up with doctors who graduated in the lower 50% of their class?

[ICorpsDoc]

"If you want to be accepted as some kind of authority,"

I am just a person with real time experience. And I am posing as nothing. And could care less how I am accepted.

Any VN era Marine will know at a glance what my rate was and where I worked. What you think about me makes no difference in the world. And I am not putting my real name here so I can be checked out by you.

But if you are so interested you can buy the book. In that book you will find my name and an idea of the kind of work I did. Now happy reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Never-Without-Heroes-Lawrence-Vetter/dp/0804108072.

Yours sure was a borderline nasty response though. Not unlike what I get on the more right wing forums when I post. So I should be used to it by now.

[ICorpsDoc]

And if you decline to buy the book you can read about what I did here.....for free. Enjoy.

http://www.alphareconassociation.org/patrols67.htm

[ICorpsDoc]

Poor Mom. Her boy went through standard training that has been around for decades. And one in which literally 1000's of young men and young women have gone through without significant issues. trust me if there had been significant issues that training would have been under the gun years ago.

And at some point he saw things and thought he was going to die. BTDT. It happens. Under stress, without food or water, finding yourself spent and scared. It happens.

Then you move on and preform the job you were hired to do. Just as her son did.

No trip to the hospital for him. No psych ward. No I can't take this any more discharge from the Corps. Something he could have gotten without to much trouble. He finished the training then went and did his job.

Now he is depressed and does not want to reenlist. BTDT. LOL....that happens a lot.

But I see 0 connection between this tough training and his depression now. In fact I know quite a few folks who have claimed over the years that they were depressed and hated their civilian job. None of them had ever gone through SERE and most were never in the military.

I think her hate for the war, real torture, the past admin, comes through real clear. That SERE had anything to do with all of this is not clear at all.

A poorly written letter that does not connect any dots at all.

[bobwalters]

Your two posts establish precisely what's wrong with the entire military mind-set, and what's served for over a century to undermine not only our democratic republic, but also our civil society. Yours is the mind-set that says anything goes, so long as it serves "the mission" regardless of what the "mission" happens to be, and whether or not it is moral, worthwhile or even legal. "Mine is not to question why -- mine is but to do or die..." The entire military mind-set is immoral, de-humanizing and sick -- check out what Gen. Smedley Butler had to say about it -- and yes, I served in the Army. Furthermore, for all the costs -- both human and monetary -- militarism NEVER serves an honorable purpose unless it is clearly in DEFENSE against an aggressor.

[bobwalters]

Reply Part 2: NOTHING about the illegal war in Iraq serves an honorable purpose -- it is, and always was about US corporate control of Middle Eastern oil, projecting a credible military threat against any other nation that would seek the oil, and serving the geopolitical and territorial ambitions of Israel. It had NOTHING to do with the propaganda rationales foisted on the public and Congress, nor did it have anything to do with 9/11 except that was used as a propaganda predicate. The war/occupation of Afghanistan, now extending into Pakistan, is no more honorable. It is, after all, the culmination of an imperialist push by an oil consortium led by Unocal, pre-9/11, to secure the capability to build and maintain a trans-Afghan pipeline to Central Asian locales where oil and gas are located. That's why our CIA armed, trained and directed mujahedeen to evict the Soviets. Its relationship to 9/11 and al Qa'ida is extremely tenuous, at best.

[ICorpsDoc]

This may come as a shock to you but I never said a word about the war in Iraq in any of my posts. A war I neither support, think was run correctly, or serves any useful purpose.

But don't let that stop you from arguing points I never made or attacking views I do not hold..

[Reighben Labilles]

God bless citizens like her who have the guts to speak out against very powerful and cruel people. I hope her story gets out there and convinces more people to rally against torture. She must not be silenced.