Verschärfte Vernehmung
The Face of a Torturer
Johnson likes Lagouranis, she said, because he is gentle.
Greg Djerian on Tony Lagouranis, one of the torturers employed by the US.
“At every point, there was part of me resisting, part of me enjoying,” Lagouranis said. “Using dogs on someone, there was a tingling throughout my body. If you saw the reaction in the prisoner, it’s thrilling.”
In Mosul, he took detainees outside the prison gate to a metal shipping container they called “the disco,” with blaring music and lights. Before and after questioning, military police officers stripped them and checked for injuries, noting cuts and bumps “like a car inspection at a parking garage.” Once a week, an Iraqi councilman and an American colonel visited. “We had to hide the tortured guys,” Lagouranis said.
A few months ago, I caught a ration of shit from a right winger for arguing that not-so-repentant Eric Fair, tormented by guilt from his role as a paid torturer, should kill himself. After all, fair didn’t name names, didn’t point any fingers, and pretty much expected forgiveness just for saying “gee I feel bad now”.
Lagouranis has written a book called “Fear Up Harsh”. I’m sure his tortured soul will be salved by the money he will rake in. I am sure none of the money Lagouranis rakes in will go to anyone that he tortured, including either of the two brothers he subjected to hypothermia:
“Two brothers, they could’ve died because we were inducing hypothermia,” he said. As Lagouranis was leaving Abu Ghraib, he told one of the brothers: ” ‘I’m sorry. I’ll always consider you a friend,’
I am SO sure that Lagouranis will be taking care of this man and his family. SO sure.
More from the Post article:
“It feels like fear. Of what? I’m not sure,” Lagouranis said. “You know what I think it is? You don’t know if you’ll ever regain a sense of self. How could Amy love me? I used to have a strong sense of morals. I was on the side of good. I don’t even understand the sides anymore.”
This is what happens when you willingly sell your soul: up is down, and nothing makes any sense. At the time, Mr. Lagouranis enjoyed his job: it was “thrilling” to torture people, it gave him a “tingling throughout [his] body”. His complaints after the fact are as petulant and puerile as a meth addict mourning the loss of her teeth, or a three-pack a day smoker complaining about his lung cancer. And to those who would say “Lagouranis was in the military”, I would argue back that no one is forced to take certain jobs in the military: no one forced Lagouranis to sign up to be an interrogator or a torturer. He chose that himself, and if he can’t deal with the guilt and torment that follows, it was his own irresponsibility that got him there.
Next to a mattress on the floor where he sleeps hang his dog tags. Beside it, in the closet, lies a thick brown rope. He has tied it into a noose.”
I hope he puts it to good use, but he won’t. Like any other torturer, Lagouranis is a coward at heart. He will take the money from his book, buy himself a therapist and a hefty dose of Xanax or whatever mind-numbing antidepressant is in fashion these days, buy himself a place to disappear in Belize or Mexico, and leave his troubles behind.
It would be better if some enterprising Iraqi were to catch the man, and ship him back to Baghdad. Preferably Sadr City.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
