Domestic Terror: A State of Intense Fear Related to Household or Family

Here are two current events that, when juxtaposed, caught my interest. Changing social norms is getting harder, not easier.

“In revealing the decision points that led him to choose waterboarding as an interrogation technique, Bush says, ‘CIA experts drew up a list of interrogation techniques . . . At my direction, Department of Justice and CIA lawyers conducted a careful legal review. The enhanced interrogation program complied with the Constitution and all applicable laws, including those that ban torture.’”

“‘There were two that I felt went too far, even if they were legal. I directed the CIA not to use them. Another technique was waterboarding, a process of simulated drowning. No doubt the procedure was tough, but medical experts assured the CIA that it did no lasting harm.’”
--Former President George W. Bush in an interview with CNN

“22-year-old Trevor Case has been sitting in a Nebraska jail since late last month for allegedly waterboarding his girlfriend. After accusing Danielle Stallworth of cheating on him, according to police reports, Case tied Stallworth to the couch, stuffed socks into her mouth, bound her wrists with belts and hair ties, placed a shirt over her face, and poured a pitcher of water over her head so she would believe she was drowning.”

“Case’s decision to waterboard a girlfriend he thought cheated on him should come as no surprise. In fact, it offers a glimpse into a US torture culture that relies on salvific violence, misogyny, and legal hypocrisy.”
--Sarah Sentilles, Religion Dispatches Magazine

No further comment.

Rev. Dr. Marie M. Fortune
FaithTrust Institute
www.faithtrustinstitute.org