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"We always tried to do different things: we would put some of them standing on their heads to sleep, hang others upside down with their legs tied together. We would stretch the arms out of others and nail them to posts like crucifixions.

"Sometimes we would throw bread to them to make them crawl. Then I would write the report to our commanding officer so he could see how innovative we had been."

This is just like what happened in Nazi Germany.

Anyone forced to carry out atrocities like that will quickly become increasingly inhuman. They did not start with crucifixions, that is the natural progression. They did not start out as willing torturers, but that is what they quickly became.

This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany, right down to the "creativity" involved in torturing people.

Americans are probably more immune to this because of the way we were raised--we were raised to recognize that this potential exists within all of us. People who are not aware can be sucked in.

I do not know if this is a true story, but it is sadly believable.

Even if this particular story is not true, I'm sure similar things or even worse things have happened. To repress a people to such an extent, you need to use total brutality to keep them in line.

I was talking to a "pacifist" today at campus and I showed him stuff on what the Taliban does to "criminals" and women. It's no different than what the SS was doing 60 years. I watched his mind change before my eyes.