Thanks for posting this fascinating history. If the writer, though, is suggesting that this could invite tit for tat, he lost me. Terrorism is encouraged by weakness, not outrage.
The Ancients seem to have somehow missed the more serious forms of torture such as “Panties on Head” or “Loud Clap of Hands” or even the “Shout Loudly at You.” How could that be?
Hmmmmm ..... the NYT is trying to sell Papers ?
using change we can believe in ?
I read the NYT Headline . . . knew some details...but didn’t read the entire story...drew the wrong conclusion.
I imitated a BHO drone/voter.
But the Conclusion is Catepillars are NOT TORTURE. but DON”T TELL THE ENEMY or he will use it as information....(is that what the article said ?)
Send the Gitmos to Washington DC... Just one look at Pelosi should get them talking. Then they can ban her for torture.
Gory GGG here
I read the entire article and still don’t know what the point is. Are insects scary? Yes, some of them.
I freak out over spiders, although I come into contact with them constantly (I am a gardener and love the outdoors). I just don’t think about them, even though I know they are nearby when I dig into the ground, etc.
As I type this I have a BIG raised spot on my arm where my brother pulled a tick off me a few days ago (left the head inserted, and I tried to tell him not to do that, to place a hot match head on it so it pulls its head out).
I certainly hate mosquitos (who wouldn’t).
But catepillars? Are these terrorists such pansies they are afraid of catepillars?
Like I said, I didn’t see the point of the article. Yes, we “tortured,” more like inconvienenced, some really evil terrorists. These people have tortured and killed a lot of people. I wouldn’t have any problem hurting evil people like this.
We’ll never win another war if we have to worry about hurting someone or their feelings. We are doomed, unable to defend ourselves.
Heck, even a dog will defend herself and her pups!!!
Wikipedia on scaphism, not quite what NYT says it is:
Scaphism, also known as the boats, was an ancient Persian method of execution designed to inflict torturous death. The name comes from the Greek word skaphe, meaning “scooped (or hollowed) out”.
The naked person was firmly fastened within a back-to-back pair of narrow rowing boats (or a hollowed-out tree trunk), with the head, hands, and feet protruding. The condemned was forced to ingest milk and honey to the point of developing severe diarrhea, and more honey would be rubbed on his body so as to attract insects to the exposed appendages. They would then be left to float on a stagnant pond or be exposed to the sun. The defenseless individual’s feces accumulated within the container, attracting more insects, which would eat and breed within his or her exposed and increasingly gangrenous flesh. The feeding would be repeated each day in some cases to prolong the torture, so that dehydration or starvation did not provide them with the release of death. Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock. Delirium would typically set in after a few days.
In other recorded versions, the insects did not eat the person; biting and stinging insects such as wasps, which were attracted by honey on the body, acted as the torture.
Death by scaphism was painful, humiliating, and protracted. Plutarch writes in his biography of Artaxerxes that Mithridates, sentenced to die in this manner for killing Cyrus the Younger, survived 17 days before dying.[1]
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From what I read, we allowed the suspect to see a caterpillar? or did we let the thing crawl on the suspect?
Unless it’s a hagmoth or a saddleback caterpillar I don’t see a problem.
The point of this article is beyond me.
That's not much of an argument when our enemy's main strategy is psychological torture, ie terrorism, as opposed to our use of various forms of discomfort, that cause no permanent injury or scarring, for the purpose of gaining life saving intelligence.
Personally I think we should use those South American bullet ants instead of caterpillars. Even those don't cause permanent injury.
Well, if we take that premise at face value and acknowledge the deterrence effect of worrying about what the other guy will do, THEY ARE ALREADY TORTURING US! BY THIS LOGIC, WE ARE DUTY BOUND TO TORTURE BACK lest they feel free to continue to torture with total impunity.
