Gitmo Guard Details Torture

On the BBC last night, Chris Arendt, a former military guard at one of the Guantánamo camps, detailed the routine torture of prisoners that occured there, including the “Frequent Flyer” program designed to prevent prisoners from sleeping for periods of up to thirty days. The practices he identifies are not disputed by the Bush Administration, although the label he affixes to them–“torture”—is. These practices are described as “torture” by the United States when done by other governments, but when they’re carried out by the United States they’re an “authorized human intelligence gathering technique.” They’re also a prosecutable felony.