http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2047110,00.html>
The Guardian Saturday March 31, 2007
Call that humiliation?
No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These
Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch
By Terry Jones (Yes, that Terry Jones. -Q-)
I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our
naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a
disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing
them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that
smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a
black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world
- have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God's sake,
what's wrong with putting a bag over her head? That's what we do with the
Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it's hard to breathe.
Then it's perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate
them to the press because the captives can't be recognised and humiliated in
the way these unfortunate British service people are.
It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk
on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put
duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn't be
able to talk at all. Of course they'd probably find it even harder to
breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn't
be humiliated.
And what's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying
they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of
the civilised world: they should allow their captives the privacy of
solitary confinement. That's one of the many privileges the US grants to its
captives in Guantánamo Bay.
The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn't rush into charging
people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. The
inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they
want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged.
What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives
before the cameras!
What's more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British
prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their
Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting "stress positions",
which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve
their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to
stand on the balls of their feet and then squat so that their thighs are
parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle
failure. It's all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will
confess to anything to get out of it.
And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance
that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have
persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all
conclude that she is "unhappy and stressed".
What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her
"unhappy and stressed". She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks
and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If
captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into
compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals,
they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs
should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can
see exactly what has been going on.
As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be
right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but
clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up
sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to
hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and
western values to the country, as he has in Iraq.
• Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python www.terry-jones.net
The Guardian Saturday March 31, 2007
Call that humiliation?
No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These
Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch
By Terry Jones (Yes, that Terry Jones. -Q-)
I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our
naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a
disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing
them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that
smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a
black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world
- have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God's sake,
what's wrong with putting a bag over her head? That's what we do with the
Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it's hard to breathe.
Then it's perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate
them to the press because the captives can't be recognised and humiliated in
the way these unfortunate British service people are.
It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk
on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put
duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn't be
able to talk at all. Of course they'd probably find it even harder to
breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn't
be humiliated.
And what's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying
they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of
the civilised world: they should allow their captives the privacy of
solitary confinement. That's one of the many privileges the US grants to its
captives in Guantánamo Bay.
The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn't rush into charging
people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. The
inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they
want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged.
What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives
before the cameras!
What's more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British
prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their
Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting "stress positions",
which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve
their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to
stand on the balls of their feet and then squat so that their thighs are
parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle
failure. It's all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will
confess to anything to get out of it.
And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance
that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have
persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all
conclude that she is "unhappy and stressed".
What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her
"unhappy and stressed". She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks
and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If
captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into
compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals,
they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs
should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can
see exactly what has been going on.
As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be
right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but
clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up
sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to
hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and
western values to the country, as he has in Iraq.
• Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python www.terry-jones.net
