Torture Is Not A Tool: From Canwest News Service

2005-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

Sampson reveals details of torture in Saudi hands

Paul Gessell
CanWest News Service
Saturday, November 19, 2005

The brutality started moments after Canadian biochemist William Sampson was arrested outside his home in Saudi Arabia Dec. 17, 2000, and driven to a police station in the city of Riyadh.

"As the car pulled away, the thug to my right pulled my legs apart and the officer in the front passenger seat turned around to face me," Sampson writes in a newly published book describing a 963-day ordeal of torture and solitary confinement. "With a smile on his face, he struck between my legs with the revolver. The pain was electrifying."

This, according to the book, was only the beginning of Sampson's nightmare. Life was to become worse. Much worse. And much more painful. Eventually, in a vain attempt to stop the torture, Sampson begged to confess to his supposed crime -- participation in bombing attacks on other Westerners in Saudi Arabia. The confession was fine-tuned several times and yet, Sampson says, it was still filled with contradictions and lunacy. But the Saudis accepted it, along with his forced confession of being a British spy.

Sampson says the beatings, which lasted for months, focused on the soles of his feet, buttocks and genitals and often lasted for hours at a time while he was suspended in painful positions. He was beaten repeatedly with everything from a rattan cane to an axe-handle taken from his own home. The torturers, he says, took special delight in painfully squeezing or standing on his testicles, often leering at him suggestively.

The horrific details are contained in page after sickening page of Sampson's memoir, Confessions of an Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison, published by McClelland & Stewart.
Shortly after his release, Sampson publicly stated he had been tortured, a claim still denied by the Saudis. What was not discussed then were Sampson's accusations that he had been raped on at least two occasions by his Saudi interrogators, one nicknamed Spiv and the other identified as Capt. Khaled Al Saleh.

"I now understand in the most intimate way why rape or pseudo-sexual violation with blunt instruments is so much part of the torturers' array of
techniques," Sampson writes, after providing some graphic details. "It is an effective means in the immediate term of denigrating the subject and destroying their sense of self and personal integrity. In the long run, the emotional scars of such an act last longer than the physical and can be more devastating."

Sampson is a dual Canadian-British citizen. In Saudi Arabia, he was considered a Canadian and representatives of the Canadian embassy paid him visits.

The Saudi torturers were always in the room, however, and discussions were never frank. Besides, Sampson claims, Canadian diplomats believed he was guilty of the bombings, which were supposedly linked to the illegal traffic of alcohol. He also claims the diplomats seemed uninterested in his treatment by his torturers and complained when some of them were asked by Saudi officials to cut short a picnic in the desert so they could witness Sampson receiving medical treatment for a heart attack.

Sampson especially reviles the man only identified as the first consul at the Canadian embassy, whom he nicknamed Muppet. Well into Sampson's imprisonment, Muppet was replaced by a new Canadian first consul who was "an exact carbon copy" of the first. He is also unnamed in the book. Relations between Sampson and the embassy did not improve.

During their initial encounter, the second Muppet told Sampson his problems were his own fault. (By this point, according to Sampson, he was suffering severe heart problems exacerbated by his torture; he sustained permanent orthopedic, foot and dental damage; his swollen testicles often took on the appearance of "rotten oranges.") Sampson dismissed the Muppet with a loud obscenity. The diplomat scurried off to discuss the situation with the very men Sampson says had been torturing him for months.

"All the embassy officials seemed to get along better with my torturers than they ever did with me."

Sampson, however, was not exactly co-operative. He was often, by his own admission, sarcastic with his torturers, enraging them to hurt him even more. He treated Canadian officials with disdain. In the end, however, his orneriness helped him survive his treatment.

Various Canadian politicians came to visit Sampson in jail. He considered most of those visits pure "propaganda," aimed at trying to give Canadians a false impression he was being helped. The exception was Bloc Quebecois MP Stephane Bergeron, who is thanked in the book.
For a visit by Ottawa-area MP Don Boudria, in September, 2002, Sampson was taken to a hospital so, he said, the Saudis could pretend he was receiving medical treatment. Sampson found himself alone in the hospital room for a few minutes before the meeting and quickly urinated on all the chairs destined for the visitors. This was his protest against what he considered to be a charade.

"With the initial introduction over, Boudria sat and began to address me, and for my part, I could barely contain my amusement at the thought of what he sat himself upon."

Boudria claimed Sampson was "fortunate" to have so many people working for his release.

"I am a British citizen," a furious Sampson replied. "I will not be dealt with by representatives of an ersatz mongrel state."

Boudria promised to see what he could do about "handing my case over to the British."

Although Sampson had a wide circle of Western friends in Saudi Arabia, he had no wife or girlfriend. The Saudis claimed that meant he was homosexual. Yet they also tried to force him to confess to sleeping with the wives of some of his friends. The torturers also "accused" him incorrectly of being Jewish, believing that only Jewish and Muslim men were circumcised. And they knew he wasn't Muslim.

In the latter months of Sampson's imprisonment, he says he waged a "dirty protest." He refused to bathe or wear clothes. He smeared feces on his body and on the walls of his cell. He refused comforts such as soap and a toothbrush. His torturers were loath to deal with him because of the smell and because of their religious views that nudity is sinful and disgusting. He screamed at them. Eventually, Sampson says, the torturers became afraid of him.

Following complicated diplomatic discussions involving several countries, Sampson was released, along with some other Westerners imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. He was flown to Britain, arriving Aug. 8, 2003.

The Canadian government, he says, reneged on a promise to provide him with full medical coverage to deal with the many physical and psychological ills caused by his imprisonment.

The book ends with Sampson thanking all those who helped secure his release and the friends, family and medical personnel who helped him recover afterwards. Lastly, he thanks his torturers.
"Through your lack of humanity, you helped me find my own."
(Ottawa Citizen)

Associated Press Story: Thank Rep. Murtha

2005-11-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

House GOP Seeks Quick Veto of Iraq Pullout
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - House Republicans maneuvered for swift rejection Friday of any notion of immediately pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, sparking a nasty, sometimes personal debate over the war and a Democratic lawmaker's own call for withdrawal.

Furious Democrats accused the GOP of orchestrating a political stunt, leaving little time for debate and changing the meaning of a withdrawal resolution offered by Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania.

For those reasons, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent word to rank-and-file Democrats to vote — with the Republicans — against immediate withdrawal of American troops.
Speaker Dennis , R-Ill., said of the nonbinding resolution, "We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan. We will not retreat."

Democrats went to the floor to denounce the vote, being staged before Congress left Washington for a two week break. And they gave Murtha a standing ovation as he entered the chamber Friday during the Iraq debate and took his customary corner seat.

Burger Bill, Delicious Irony: Excerpts From Rick Allen Article

2005-11-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

From "Extra Helpings with Rick Allen "

Burger Bill Gets New Life:

The Cheeseburger Bill is back.

Initially, this bit of federal legislature was introduced into
Congress early in 2003 by U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, an Orlando Republican who
happens to represent much of eastern Marion County.

Titled the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act," if
it ultimately becomes law the Cheeseburger Bill - as it's dubbed - will
shield
restaurants, food distributors and food manufacturers from
obesity-related
lawsuits....

A companion "Commonsense Consumption" measure by Sen. Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky, is pending in Senate committee.

Ironically, Keller, 41, wasn't on the House floor to help fend off
weakening amendments or even vote for his own legislation. He's spent his days
since last Friday on the cardiac care floor at Orlando Regional Medical
Center.

Delicious,
-a.b.

Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat, Idiot: Alternative Talk Radio

2005-11-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

For those of us who live in rural areas and red states, talk radio prospects are depressing at best. Air America Radio, made famous by Al Franken, is available with 70 traditional broadcast affiliates if you are lucky enough to live in one of those areas. For the rest of us, there is the Internet and satellite radio. Satellite radio, commercial free and convenient, is relatively expensive. All the shows are available streaming at AirAmericaRadio.com. Then there are podcasts, which are commercial free. I suggest iTunes. You don't need an iPod, iTunes is free and runs on Windows and Mac. Podcasts are free and you can easily subscribe at the iTunes music store or at AirAmericaRadio.com. I have had trouble with the Al Franken podcasts at the Apple site, so I have been downloading them directly from the Air America site. The advantage of iTunes is that it will download the latest show automatically. You can transfer the podcasts to your MP3 player or listen to them on your PC.

For fans of the Morning Sedition show with Mark Maron and Mark Reilly, visit SaveMorningSedition.com. There is a petition to keep Mark Maron.

Peace,
-a.b.

George W. Bush Doesn't Care About Any People

Torture Is Not A Tool: From Canwest News Service

Associated Press Story: Thank Rep. Murtha

Burger Bill, Delicious Irony: Excerpts From Rick Allen Article

Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat, Idiot: Alternative Talk Radio