I wrote an email about torture last night.

[demgurl]

I was finally fed up. I have been joining groups and writing letters. I have even been calling my representatives. Last night i read the article, from the BBC, about how man had his penis cut over and over. I sat and cried and then I knew I had to share this information.

I have tried not to push this stuff on family and friends because I have wanted to respect the fact that they may not feel as I do. Last night I did not care any more. I have been cut off from others before and it most likely will happen again. The subject line read : "'One of them made cuts is my penis.'They must have done this 20 or 30 times".

I wanted to get their attention and I wanted it now. I wanted them to get outraged and I wanted them to do something.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I was so hurt and overwhelmed by one response I received. I guess, to be fair, I should share my exact email so I do not get responses from people wondering exactly what I wrote. Here is my email:

This is what is being done in America's name. This is a small part of
what they are doing and here is the article if you dare read it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1540552,00.html

Remember, you can close this email and go to bed. You will be safe and do not have to worry about anything. You will get fed tomorrow. You will have a roof over your head. You do not have to worry about
this happening to any of your family members.

This type of thing is not an isolated incident. If you doubt that the
google 'rendition' and 'US'. Yes, we are shipping out people so they may legally be tortured. That is being done in our name. Do not buy into the fact that it is all torture of adults to get information. I put forth to you:

"I saw ____ fucking a kid..." (from Taguba report on Abu Ghraib
torture)

You can find that report at The Washington Post : http://media
washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/abughraib/151108.pdf
"I saw ______ fucking a kid. His age would be about 15 - 18 years. The kids was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn't covered and I saw _____ who was wearing the military uniform putting his dick in the little kid's ass......the female soldier was taking pictures. "

Does this offend you? It was hard for me to write because I am so
offended but we are not like Barbara Bush. We are not so shallow that we feel we need not soil our beautiful minds with thoughts of torture being done in our name. We are America. We are fireworks, apple pie and Superman all rolled into one. We are the force that protects people from such atrocities. We are the ones who invade to prevent such happenings.

We should not be the ones doing the torture. We should not be the ones killing people because they are tortured so harshly. We are a country of values and torture is not one of those values. Killing is not one of those values. Forced sodomy is not one of those values.

But it is no good to read this and then just pull your sheets up over
your head and go to bed. You can not forget that this is happening in
our name. It is your responsibility to do something about this. You are America and you stop people from committing such atrocities. You can call your congressman/woman and tell them this has got to stop. You can write to several newspapers. Or, at the very least, it is incumbent upon you to forward this to others.

I am not saying we should not question people or that we should not
arrest them. We should be doing everything possible to keep us safe. I am not comfortable with the US being equated with a country that
tortures.

Do not delete this just because you are uncomfortable with the subject. I, too, am uncomfortable but if you do not do something about it then you are complicit in these acts. We all have to speak out and do something. If it was happening to your family, wouldn't you want someone to speak out for you?

That is the end and where I signed my name. That was the email in it's entirety. I awoke this morning to one of my relative's replies in my email box. It was scathing and the middle of it included his name by I have marked that out as to protect the guilty:

DO NOT ...SEND YOU SICKY E-MAILS WITH VULGAR LANGUAGE TO US ANYMORE
TAKE US OFF YOUR SICKY LIST...XXXX XXXXXX...THIS IS NOT A JOKE...
I DO NOT NEED MY FAMILY ..MY CHILDREN ..SEEING THIS TRASH..I AM NOT
INTRESTED IN YOUR VIEWS..IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR ..
GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND RUN FOR OFFICE..TAKE US OFF YOUR LIST...............

That is the entire email from start to finish. Spelling mistakes and all caps copied and pasted as he sent it! I wrote back a very nice email telling him I felt it was sick as well and I hoped he would go ahead and direct his anger where it should be directed - at the government.

I was aghast at someone blaming me and calling my emails trash and my language vulgar. This is language used in BBC and WaPo. I could not believe someone so viciously attacked me, the messenger.

I am sorry but this has bothered me all day and I just had to vent. Chimp permitting torture does not surprise me because I expect no more from such a pathetic excuse for a human being. I do expect more from my fellow citizens though.

demgurl

[libertypirate]

1. The truth is going to hurt

you can bet on that. Those who kept themselves blind to the truth will hurt the most when they learn it.

Good for you... You should never have to say sorry for insisting upon the truth it is your right and your duty. Those of us who have family fighting appreciate you and what you have done.

Thank you

LP

[demgurl]

4. LP ...

Thank you for your kind words. If you do have family fighting, I pray for them and hope for their safe return.

I was quite aware of what the US was doing but the truth even hurts me. I can not imagine what it will do to those who believe it was only fraternity pranks. What a rude awakening.

demgurl

[Quakerfriend]

2. Wow! I like what you wrote.

- Especially the part about being "complicit" if they do not act!

I have not had the guts to do one of these emails, tho I am getting closer every day...Thx for the inspiration!

You got their attention. That's what matters! The response you got is bound to happen- just shows THEIR ignorance, sad to say.

[demgurl]

5. Quaker....

All of us have our breaking points and we need to each decide what ours is. When I sat there crying I just figured this news needed to get out no matter what the cost. If someone is cold enough to not care then I am not sure I ever really should have been on talking terms with that person anyway. People who do not care about this have lost touch with their humanity.

Let me know if you ever write one, I can sure be support! It is time we all stood up and took back our country.

I hope the reaction I got was the awakening of one person. Perhaps in the middle of the night he will see fit to google and he may expand his mind much more on his own. I guess that is why I am a Dem, I want to see the best in people.

[ironman202]

3. I have a few relatives like that too.

Mostly I don't talk to them about it, but if they bring up some lunatic statement about the war or how great Bush is, I calmly and thoroughly refute their falacies with the facts, and tell them not to make such statements around me and expect me to not point them out as the right wing ingnoramuses that they are. Then I smile, and return to whatever I had been doing before. The truth is, you're going to have to write them off, unless they learn not to bring it up. As far as exposing children to unpleasantness, I would have said the President brought up the unpleasantness. Take it up with him.

[demgurl]

6. ironman....

I got stuck with quite the family when I married in. This person married in as well. The email was meant for his spouse but I had forgotten how he had the same email. See, he does not trust his wife enough to have her own email. He instructed her to close out her email and they would share the email addy - you know, so he could always have access to everything she received.

Also, the kids he is so protective of are aged three and under. Do you think they can get access to email and they would be able to read such 'trash' as what I wrote? Never mind that the 'trash' is put out by two reputable news sources. They wrote/published it, I did not!

In my rebuttal email I did bring up it was the government doing all of this and I was but a messenger. I am only to assume that he either has not gotten back to his email yet or he just deleted my rebuttal without reading it.

So many people, so much waste of oxygen.

[DistressedAmerican]

7. I Too Am Disgusted And Active. ANYONE Friend Or Family That Responded

to my activism like tht would be out of my life. You can't pick your family. But, when they are twisted I say cut them off once and for all.

I have no tolerance for anyone that ignores or worse yet simply does not care that people are being tortured in their name. People like that are the reason we are in the mess we are in. They are the enemy that I fight everyday.

They should be defeated and put out to pasture.

[demgurl]

8. Distressed.......

He is pretty much out of our life anyway. We really do not talk to him or interact with him. For some reason he has never liked us and I always chalked it up to the fact that he is an ex-con and my husband and I are thought of as the goody two shoes of the family. My husband's siblings have nicknamed him 'the golden boy'. They are all jealous of him and hate that he stands up for what is right. Most of them are co-dependent.

These types of people are now the enemy. I condemn anyone who condones torture. You condone it if you do not take actions to stop it. How can cutting up someone's penis be OK with anyone? I just do not get it.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Demgurl, it's DUers like you who remind me not to give up on the USA.

When I read over and over again different accounts of torture and maltreatment of Iraqis and Afghan civilians by the US troops or security services I do sometimes get a WTF feeling like, "Let them all go to hell. Who gives a shit." It's posts like yours that always bring me back to my senses and make me remember that there are many, many good hearted Americans who are every bit as concerned and disgusted by this stuff as I am (maybe even more so) and who are trying to do all that's in their power to change the system. As long as you are not giving up, I have no right to give up on you folks either.

I am sure they are probably many more lurkers and members who are non-US citizens and feel the same way.

:hug:

[demgurl]

10. Thank you, Johnny.

You must be from my old home country of Canada. I have thought of giving up but this was once such a great country that I keep going through loops. First I get depressed, then I think about leaving, I get fired up and try to fight back, then I read some more and get depressed again.

This place is truly what keeps me going. Knowing there are things out there worth fighting for gives you cause to fight. If I did not know there were so many good people in this country then I may have left by now.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. What I think

you should've told this person who wrote you back that he's being apart of this. He might not be apart of it directly but it's being done in his name. I hope you know you've inspired me to write my Congressman. Even though he's a high profile republican I don't care. I'm going to write to him and keep writing to him until he does something about the torture.

[demgurl]

12. Freedom.....

I think anything we can all do is just wonderful. Here was my reply to him:

I wish I did have a chance to run for office but since I am a stay at home mother I do not have that option. I am, however, going to a peace rally in Washington in September. Since I am at home I am doing what I can by sending these out. I also do petitions, I call representatives, I am a member of two different groups in NC. I am as active as my life enables me to be.

As far as the kids seeing it, I should think only Brynn and Logan can understand the written word and if they saw it they may be inspired to do something against what I agree is our sick government.

I am not the sick one. My emails are not sick. Our government has a virus and we need to cure it. I have always been nothing but respectful to you and I expect the same in return. I have never treated you with disrespect. I have treated you with respect and have tried on numerous occasions to extend the hand of friendship to you. We are family and I do expect the same from you.

For your information, I was offended by the information in the email as well. I am offended by what our government would do in our name but you can not blame me since I did not send something for penis enlargement or to help you if you only dribble. I give out the truth and if you do not like it, call your congressman.

I will, of course, respect your wishes to not send anything of this nature to your email. Please have Xxxxx forward a personal email address and I will send all such correspondence directly to her. Thanks!

XXXXXXXX


You know, I already said anyone who did not do anything is complicit so he knows what I think. I do have to be a little careful since it is my husband's family and not directly mine. I can throw away as many of my own family members as I like, but not so for my husband's side. I do have to respect him and his family relations.

We all need to write. We need to talk, shout, call, email - anything that will get the attention of others. Our country is in a slumber and it is up to us to awaken them. I hope everyone that reads this does at least one of these things.

demgurl