"Torture Chicks Gone Wild"

The election last year drove me to dig deeper into my heart regarding the role I give politics in my view of the world. I want to "set my mind on things above" and look at my government and the way my country interacts with the world from God's perspective, at least to the extent my little pea-brain can comprehend His ways.

How do I align my self with my leaders? Do I ignore them except as a force for restraining evil? If my government does evil, what should my response be? This last questions drove me to ponder the way our government treats our suspected enemies, or at least has allowed them to be treated....

In chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel we read about how the young jewish man rose to upper echelons of King Darius's court. As he was about to be promoted rule over all 120 persian satraps who ruled the kingdom, they were anxious to get rid of the strange foreigner. When they could "find no corruption in him" nor any negligence, they devised a certain way to undermine him by leveraging the source of strength against him:

"We will never find any basis for charges agains this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God."

It worked of course, and into the lion's den Daniel went. But then YHWH, the true source of Daniel's righteousness, allowed Daniel to spend the night in peace in the midst of the wild animals surrounding him (pagan satraps and lions alike).

What does this have to do with "torture chicks", the course term used by Maureen Dowd in herNYT oped piece to describe some female interrogators that our government uses to pry information from Guatanamo detainees?

According to former army Sgt Erik R. Saar, an Arabic translator who witnessed about 20 Guatanamo interrogations (his book is being reviewed for classified info by the Pentagon prior to publication) our government is using the same strategy that the persian satraps used against Daniel. In the face of the religious devotion used by the detainees to keep from breaking, female civilian contractor's provoked the detainees sexually, touching them inappropriately, and so on.

The Boston Herald quotes from a portions of Saar's book obtained by the Associated Press:

"Beginning in April 2003, ``there hung a short skirt and thong underwear on the hook on the back of the door'' of one interrogation team's office, he writes. ``Later I learned that this outfit was used for interrogations by one of the female civilian contractors ... on a team which conducted interrogations in the middle of the night on Saudi men who were refusing to talk.''

In the case of Hani Hanjour, a suspected 9/11 accomplice, a female interrogator faked menstration and touched Hanjour with a bloody hand so that he would become unclean, unable to be received by his god without first washing. Yet there was not water available to him.

A military spokesman denies any torture saying that all prisoners were treated "humanely" and in a way consistent "with legal obligations prohibiting torture." He's probably technically right, and there is some evidence that the incidents Saar reported resulted in reprimands and "additional training" for those involved.

I only pray that God would shine His light into the heart of our leaders and give them courage to attack darkness when ever and where ever it occurs.

What would happen if we tried loving these men that we fear? Not in some twisted carnal way! Love them! With the love only the Divine Spirit, the Paraclete, can inspire and direct. Might they not respond differently? Perhaps not. Perhaps they will spit in our face, as Hani Hanjour did his tormentor. But experience tells us that some will repent, turn away from darkness and accept the invitation into the Kingdom of light. And in the end, only the Light of Jesus will ultimately expose darkness or reveal innocence.

Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall ever be, world without end! Alleluia! Amen.