Copy cat chronicles

The torture underway in Iran right now mirrors some of the methods perfected by Cheney and company... Of course, the Iranians go a little further - there is a good chance that they would execute the person afterwards...

With the distressing news of so many democracy activists being rounded up by the Iranian regime, the specter of torture for false confessions emerges. The confessions "prove" that the demonstrations were entirely a function of a foreign plot. And, more to the point, the torture techniques include those adopted and championed by the neocon right in the US. Among the Cheney techniques that are used by the Khemenai regime are sleep deprivation, forced nudity, beatings, solitary confinement, and stress positions. The torture also exceeds Cheney techniques in many cases: beating with cables, which was barred by Cheney in favor of beatings that did not leave such scars or "walling". The Tehran regime does not have a record of waterboarding. Khamenei's regime, like Cheney's program, denies outright that they torture anyone.

Comment on Iran

Andrew Sullivan may be doing a great job of ‘live blogging’ the so called green revolution happening in Iran right now, but it should be borne in mind that both Mousavi and Ahmadinejad are members of the ruling elite explicitly sanctioned and officially approved by the grand mullahs who really rule Iran. Unless the mullahs led by Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamene’i are deposed, I am not sure how much Mousavi can really accomplish. Of course, one of the products of having a little more liberal Mir-Hossein Mousavi is that the usual saber rattling towards Israel is bound to reduce unlike Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who makes it part of his daily schedule.