Shameful Shays

I’ve been meaning to write something about the comments made by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) about Abu Ghraib, wherein he deemed what happened there “not torture” but “outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from (Maryland) who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture.”

But about all I can come up with is: You know, Mr. Shakes tried breaking a chemical light and pouring its phosphoric liquid on me once, but I just didn’t find it kinky.

Seeking to minimize what happened at Abu Ghraib by reducing it to something that could be found in any old bourgeois sex repertoire so that it couldn’t possibly be torture, even if were simultaneously “outrageous,” has to be one of the most convoluted contortions of logic I’ve ever seen. Anyway, Digby and Wolcott deal with it splendidly, as always.

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