No more Gitmo

Day before yesterday on the television program 60 minutes, the President elect Barack Hussein Obama came forward and made a fairly bold statement in public:

I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture, and I’m going to make sure that we don’t torture.

After being a helpless observer for the last eight years and in particular, after watching the systematic excision of liberties as depicted in the movie ‘Torturing Democracy’, I must say that it is a sign of change when the only person who has the power to close Guantanamo actually makes a statement that he is going to do so.

Depiction of Strappado by Bessonov Nicolay titled ‘Interrogation’, Oil on canvas, 1992.

Strappado is a form of torture that began with the Medieval Inquisition. In one version, the hands of the accused were tied behind his back and the rope looped over a brace in the ceiling of the chamber or attached to a pulley. Then the subject was raised until he was hanging from his arms. This might cause the shoulders to pull out of their sockets. Sometimes, the torturers added a series of drops, jerking the subject up and down. Weights could be added to the ankles and feet to make the hanging even more painful. It is alleged that this form of torture was also routinely used at Gitmo.