Here's an update - on America the blind

Photo: “America the Blind” came from this website, and was produced by fangedfem.

It seems that Canada has put the USA on it’s list of countries that torture.

Yes, our neighbors to the north, and a place where I lived for seven years, has classified some US interrogation techniques as torture – which they surely are – and had declared that the prisoners in the US are at risk of being tortured. This was included in a manual that is intended as part of a training course for Canadian diplomats.

They included Israel, China, Iran and Afghanistan on their list.

The manual lists US interrogation techniques such as forced nudity, isolation, sleep deprivation and the blindfolding of prisoners under "definition of torture".

It also refers to the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held. Critics say it ridicules Ottawa's claims that Omar Khadr is not being mistreated.

Canada had come under criticism of using torture, too. There have been allegations the prisoners that they detained in Afghanistan were tortured. But the Canadians have not opened a major torture center yet, and the allegations of torture have yet to be proven.

Everyone in Canada (that I know) knows about Mr. Arar. He was detained at JFK airport and then sent by the US authorities to Syria, where he was tortured for ten months. Most likely, the airplane company that took him to Jordan (from there he was taken to Syria) is from North Carolina….. and this fact gave rise to the group NC Stop Torture Now. And their last saying is “OUR SOUL IS DYING AT GUANTANAMO.” I would have to agree, although it may be that our soul is already dead.

Apparently Mr. Arar's imprisonment also gave rise to the fact that Canadian diplomats could use some formal training on how to detect whether prisoners had been tortured or not….. and I guess by now that Canada, and the whole world, realizes that the US tortures people, kidnaps people, and a lot of other very nasty evil stuff. So much for that “shining city on a hill” idea! Now we know that is total nonsense. Or just bullshit.

UPDATE: Canada was pressured into taking the US off it's list of countries that torture. This happened because US officials pressured them. Does not change the fact that the US does, in fact, torture...... along with kidnapping, murder and starting wars of aggression.