Testimony

What famous rock marks the site where the Pilgrims landed?

INTERROGATOR 1
Well, I don’t know why they call it that--
Black Site?—that’s a term liberals use.
You wonder whose side they’re on. I mean,
this is America, right? These people, these
Arabs, and what have you, are terrorists. 
They’re our enemies. My point is, you want 
them disoriented, isolated. That means no 
contact with the outside world. As far as 
their family is concerned this is a just missing 
person, he’s just gone. Vanished into thin air.

What was the primary reason the Plymouth Colony was established?  

DETAINEE #092
At this airport, they tore off all my 
     clothing. One of them shoved a finger into 
     my rectum. They photographed me 
     naked. Then they put a diaper on me 
     and plugged my ears with cotton, 
     placed headphones and a hood 
     over my head, and securely taped 
     the hood. They chained my hands, 
     waist, and feet. I was blind, deaf, 
     and could barely walk. I was in 
     severe pain and felt deeply humiliated 
     and weak. Once inside the plane, 
     I was forced to lie on my back on the 
     floor, and then strapped down around 
     my legs and waist. This was very 
     painful. I could not shift my position 
     as I could barely move because of the 
     straps. I have a back injury from before 
     my detention, and I asked to be allowed 
     to change positions to alleviate the pain 
     but the guards did nothing. I even 
     tried using English, pleading ‘Help me, 
help me please!’ but no one did anything.   

Why were the American colonists upset over the practice of 
taxation without representation?

INTERROGATOR 2
As for legal rep—well, these are—they’re 
enemy combatants, and who needs a lawyer 
if you don’t exist? What I’m saying is, 
it’s—well, it’s all about fear, you see. 
If they’re not afraid, if they’re not shitting 
their pants, if they ever get the feeling 
that no harm will come to them, then 
what reason do they have to cooperate? 

What was the British response to the Boston Tea Party?

DETAINEE 602
Throughout this period, I was interrogated 
     and tortured repeatedly, including many 
     times via electric shocks until I lost 
     consciousness. I suffered very often beatings 
     (including with a leather whip) and the use 
     of stress positions and other forms of 
     torture  (including tying me to a frame 
     and stretching me). I could hear screams of 
     others being tortured, and their 
     pleas for mercy. I can still hear the voice 
     of one of them asking them to stop, saying 
blood was coming out of his mouth.

What is considered the main idea of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense?

INTERROGATOR 5
Day five of the aggressive interrogation 
phase commenced at 1031 hours. Per 
the current strategy, subject’s sleep 
continues to be disrupted throughout
the night. 1032 hours, we hooded the 
subject, removed him from the box 
and shackled him to the wall. He 
continues to deny knowledge of any 
current or future ops against the United 
States. To this, he was given an insult 
slap and told to quit stalling. He 
was told to lie down on the water board. 
He began to plead that he had nothing 
new to give. The interrogators cut him 
off and told him to lie down. His 
breathing became more rapid as he
was strapped to the board. Subject 
began to cry and again pleaded his denials. 

Which American Patriot gained notoriety with a speech that 
ended with the line, “. . .give me liberty or give me death!”

DETAINEE 303
On this occasion my head was in a 
     more downward backward position, 
     and they strapped me very tightly 
     down with belts. A black cloth placed 
     over my face and water poured on 
     the cloth so I couldn’t breathe. After 
     a few moments, the cloth was removed, 
     then the same thing over again, 
     repeating over an hour. I thought 
     I was drowning, I thought I was going 
     to die. The pressure of the straps caused 
     severe pain. I vomited. I felt my urine 
     letting go. And since I was naked, 
     I knew they could see my urine come 
     out. I think they like having a woman 
present because it increases the humiliation.

Who famously crossed the Delaware River during the American Revolution?

INTERROGATOR 3
Well, God forbid they should get too
comfortable. You don’t want them 
falling asleep. So, yeah, the room is ice 
cold and music piped in loud, like a 
jackhammer. But strictly American 
music, you know. Our music. Like I say, 
we’re not there to pamper them, 
it’s not a vacation retreat.

Which president authored the Declaration of Independence?

DETAINEE 056
For a month after my arrival I was chained 
     naked to a wall or to the floor and allowed 
     to defecate into a diaper. But then you 
     wait and wait, and finally, you realize 
     no one is coming to change the diaper. 
     There is also a bucket on the floor, but 
     no one comes to unlock the shackles. Or 
     maybe he forgets; and you can’t reach the 
     bucket, either, so finally, you can’t wait 
     any longer, and you. . .so I. . .wet or 
     defecate. . .yourself. And you can’t wash 
     or clean up. I was subjected to water 
     dousing, ice cold water, I lost count how 
     many times; sexual assault, 110 hours of 
     sleep deprivation. The sexual assault was 
     what is called rectal rehydration, large 
     tubes used to pump pureed foods 
through the anus.  

What rights embodied in the Constitution make America the envy of the world? 

INTERROGATOR 7
Suffocation by water, exposure to cold,
prolonged nudity, prolonged stress 
standing, sleep deprivation, confinement 
in a box, prolonged shackling, deprivation 
of food, beating and kicking, torment with
insects, mock execution, threatening with
a gun, with power drill, and threats of ill 
treatment. All legal, of course. We don’t do 
anything without a doctor’s approval. Plus, 
you’d be surprised how often valuable 
information comes to light by these methods. 

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the U.S. from which country?

GUARD (REDACTED)
Subject Gul Rahman was subjected to 
several days of sleep deprivation, 
water dousing and “hard takedowns.”
Eventually, he had his hands and feet 
shackled together with a short chain,
and was then shackled to the ring on 
the floor of his cell. This position forced 
Rahman, who was naked below the 
waist, to sit on a cold concrete floor 
and prevented from standing up. 
He was found dead in the morning.  

What is the national bird of the United States?


Source:  The International Committee of the Red Cross, The Rendition Project, and Amnesty International.

Torture, euphemistically referred to as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” was carried out at extrajudicial centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Thailand, and Guantanamo, Cuba. The legal basis for it was provided by law scholar John Yoo at U.C. Berkeley, and approved by Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General under George W. Bush. In December 2005, Doug Cassel, a law professor from Notre Dame, asked Yoo, “If the President deems that he’s got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person’s child, there is no law that can stop him?” to which Yoo replied, “No treaty.” 

Torture was suspended under Barack Obama, but he went on to use drone strikes to kill some 3,800 people, including American citizens, without trial.
Writing for the Eagleton Political Journal, Rutgers University, Robert Wargaski notes that Obama carried out more than ten times the number of drone strikes than his predecessor, and reportedly told his advisors that he was “surprisingly good at killing people.” Of his drone killing prowess, Obama occasionally made light quips and jokes, at which journalists and others laughed or seemed to find in some way entertaining. Repeating the mantra that “we must look forward, not backward,” Obama granted immunity against charges of war crimes to anyone in the Bush administration who had anything to do with torture, including Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney—who recently joined the Democratic Party. Moreover, Obama aggressively opposed and silenced any legitimate criminal investigations into the torture regime. Thus with the stroke of a pen, a slate besmirched with the names of hundreds who were tortured, including over a hundred detainees who died under U.S custody, was wiped clean.

In spite of both Presidents Obama and Biden vowing to close the military prison at Guantanamo, it remains open to this day. Some of its detainees have been held there for over two decades without facing any charges. Many were tortured. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s son, Eric, declared waterboarding as “no different than what happens in frat houses every day.”