Jenny sez, "Despite a warning from his superiors, FBI Special Agent Bassem Youssef answered questions at a January 12 session of the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting. In 2002, Youssef blew the whistle to the director of the FBI and Congress that discriminatory practices within the Bureau were undermining the effectiveness of America's counterterrorism efforts. In this video, Youssef and his attorney discuss the case, talk about the abuse of National Security Letters following the passage of the Patriot Act, and speak of Abu Ghraib as an example of the U.S. failure to understand Middle Eastern culture."
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"...Abu Ghraib as an example of the U.S. failure to understand Middle Eastern culture."
That's a bit rich - Oops, it turns out Middle Eastern people prefer not to be tortured. Who knew?
That's not a cultureal misunderstanding.
I have no idea what he's referring to when he says that "Abu Ghraib [i]s an example of the U.S. failure to understand Middle Eastern culture," but then again, neither do you. Do you think that maybe-- just maybe-- he's referring to something more than the torture?
Right you are - when people say "Abu Ghraib", without specifically indicating what particular aspect of Abu Ghraib they mean, we should not assume they mean the one and only aspect of Abu Ghraib that got massive press coverage.
Sometimes, a place name implicitly means one particular incident for which that place is almost exclusively known. If you want to refer to something else, you have to spell it out. Abu Ghraib, Little Big Horn, Chernobyl - these are such places.
If I said "Pearl Harbour was a case of failed communication, not a deliberate abuse of military strength", would you assume that by "Pearl Harbour" I mean the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese air force?
If you then went on to dispute the alleged intention of the Japanese to declare war in advance of the attack, and I tore into you for interpreting my statement as refering to the Japanese attack, would you not say I was being disingenous?
"You cannot have any idea what I'm referring to. Why ever would you assume I wasn't talking about the incident in 1826 when US Navy Lieutenant John Percival bullied the local government into repealing an alcohol prohibition so his sailors could have a drunken shore leave?"
Come on.
? I thought everything about Abu Ghraib prison was supposed to be an affront to local culture. Wasn't the idea to break, degrade and debase the captives by attacking every aspect of what to them was a daily normal life? After destroying their minds and spirits, the afterthought of mutilating their flesh with dogs teeth and whips was just a little gravy for the guards.
There was a story on Mainichi about a month ago about police torturing a Japanese man by making him walk on pieces of paper with his relatives' names written on them. I won't mention what I use paper with my relatives' names for, but clearly cultural differences have a huge impact on what constitutes duress.
I think insulting someone's family is pretty mild when you look at at what Japanese police and prisons get up to. Even so, a Japanese abused by other Japanese in a Japanese setting suffers less than anyone who finds themselves in the clutches of malevolent aliens.
"Why no, I assumed you were talking about the incident at My Lai when an elderly woman fell over, and was helped to her feet by a GI."
This is a really important story. This whistleblower, acting in a most patriotic manner by bringing horrible illegal acts to light, continues to be punished severely for his good acts by an FBI that tells him he cannot give his speeches.
By "answering questions" at these events, rather than "giving his speech", Youssef is putting himself in serious danger, professionally, legally and physically.
Our country is looking more and more like East Germany in the 1970s every day.
I'm surprised he didn't say more about the FBI demands for patron records which are being served under the auspices of the Patriot Act. Demands which, upon being served, cannot be spoken about by the librarian to anyone, including the patron whose viewing record was seized.
I would think this would be a really big deal issue seeing as he's speaking at an ALA conference, but perhaps it wasn't included in the short video segment.
If by East Germany you mean that in about 40 years people will still be trying to uncover classified data and probably 90% of what was done in the people's name will never be uncovered by the people...
Oh, and no one will ever be prosecuted. Well maybe they'll give the low level street hoppers some strict sentences.
You don't have to listen to whistleblowers to get an idea of what goes on, just watch the first season of The Wire to understand how a bureaucracy really works and how people who are supposed to be helping us care more about protecting themselves.
Barksdale went to jail for violating bail. He'll be out in 5 years. Weebay's in for life.
Audio of the event (much more than the video excerpt covers) is here:
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=340
And more complete video is here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washevents/midwinterwo/midwinter.cfm#FBI%20Whistleblower