From: GunnyDe
Subject: [Det955MCL] On Torture, etc...Semper Fi

By now you have all heard about how Senator Durbin of Illinois, who has never even BEEN to Guantanamo Bay, compared our terrorist detention facility there to the Nazi camps, Soviet Gulag, and Killing Fields of Pol Pot. Here are some facts he should be made aware of:

TORTURE!

The first bit of shock the men endure is the removal of all hair from their face and heads. Should one of them be so unfortunate as to have a mole on their scalps, it will typically be sheared completely off. All of their personal possessions, including their clothing, are taken from them and dumped into boxes. All during the day, these men are subjected to levels of stress and discomfort you cannot imagine. Naked men are forced to huddle together in a shower stall for the purpose of breaking their spirits. They are expected to answer any question directed towards them loudly and immediately, and many of them suffer the loss of their voices from time to time.

Although meals are given to them regularly, it is hardly a cause for celebration. The food is adequate for their nutritional needs, but they are not allowed to talk amongst themselves. Any infraction of the rules, real or imagined, is quickly punished. Typically that would entail the whole group being be kicked out of the area and deprived of a meal. Other groups of people who have been there longer are forced to work long hours to serve the food and keep the dining area clean; 18-20 hour days are not uncommon for these unfortunate souls.

Medical care is provided, but they have to endure humiliating questions from the people assigned to look after them in order to seek even the most basic treatments. I personally saw men whose feet were covered in blisters, people limping with stress fractures, and some who were violently ill from the colds that would be spread in close quarters. Those who are found to have wisdom teeth are forced into surgery, and they are never given more than three days to recover.

Then there is the level of physical and mental stress that these men are constantly under. They are forcibly wakened hours before sunrise and worked mercilessly. Hours are spent in physical activities, or in classrooms where they are forced to sit up straight and listen to various forms of indoctrination - and they are severely punished is they doze off. I have witnessed men urinating on themselves after being denied permission to use the toilet, vomiting after being forced to drink large amounts of water at the end of a run of several miles, and collapsing after standing motionless for hours at a time. Complaints of mistreatment are typically met with escalating levels of punishment.

One would think that the tortures I have described are from the horrors of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Gulags, or Cambodia’s Killing Fields. They aren’t.

Perhaps you are thinking of the terrorist detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay that has recently been described as an “American Gulag” by both Amnesty International and a member of the U. S. Senate? You’d be wrong again.

This is taking place today, right here in the United States of America!

Welcome to the Marine Corps Recruit Depots at Parris Island and San Diego.