Beck to purported torturer: "I appreciate your service"
After devoting a portion of the October 6 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show to discussing pending legislation that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of detainees held by the U.S. government, Glenn Beck interviewed a caller who claimed to have worked as an "intelligence officer" and to have "extracted intelligence" from U.S.-held prisoners by torturing them. The caller said his preferred methods of torture included burning the retinas of prisoners' eyes with high-powered halogen lamps and blowing out prisoners' eardrums with high-pressure water and air. He also claimed to have known "a contractor that did drilling on live teeth." After hearing the caller describe these torture techniques, Beck responded, "I've got to tell you, I appreciate your service." During the interview, Beck asked the caller if he ever had trouble sleeping at night. When the caller answered, "No," Beck responded, "Good for you." He later added, "[W]hen all is said and done, I'm glad people like you are on our side."
The caller identified himself only as "Mitch," a name he later admitted was false.
From the October 6 broadcast of The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: And what would you -- like, what kind of tools would you use? What was your method and what worked the best?
"MITCH": Well, I had three or four that worked the best. I mean -- you've had your eyes dilated before?
BECK: Yeah.
"MITCH": Well, with simple masking tape or duct tape, you dilate the eyes, and they you use halogen lamps, and a person is placed in a rigid position where they cannot move. Their eyes are opened and the halogen lamps, you know, they're producing 40,000 watts. It's intense. And that breaks them down. High-pressure water -- I mean, you've heard the term "drinking from a fire hose." I wouldn't do that. That generally wouldn't extract what you want, and usually would drown somebody quickly. But you can use high-water pressure into one ear, and when that first ear drum is broken with, you know, 14 or 15 hundred pounds of water pressure going in, the don't -- they will talk before that second ear drum is broken.
[...]
BECK: Mitch, I've got to tell you I appreciate your service. I don't know your circumstances at all. I, you know, I have to assume that, because we wear the white hats that we're not doing this at the drop of a hat.
[...]
BECK: So in other words -- let me ask you this. So, you know, you always see, like, they'll come in with this, like, briefcase, and they'll open it up and there will be all these tools in there.
"MITCH": No.
BECK: That doesn't happen either?
"MITCH": No. No. I did know a contractor that did drilling on live teeth. You know, well teeth. And you've seen that before in different movies.
[...]
BECK: Did you ever accidentally kill somebody?
"MITCH": No. I made them wish they were dead. You know, when you have -- like I was saying the, the best -- my most successful use of any technique was high-pressure air. You just think of a small [high] velocity hose with 1,200 PSI [pounds per square inch] of air coming through it. I don't know if you've ever heard a hose with that much pressure go off, but once -- your ears immediately bleed. One ear blown completely out, and you don't have to do the other one.
BECK: Wow. Mitch?
"MITCH": It's like your head exploding inside is what we always thought --
BECK: Do you ever have a hard time sleeping at night?
"MITCH": No.
BECK: Good for you. Good for -- I mean, good for you. Is it because you did it for the country?
"MITCH": Yeah. I knew what we -- how important it was.
[...]
BECK: I've got to tell you, Mitch, it's -- you know, you tell one of these stories, you -- I don't know. If you're comfortable telling this kind of -- it's not something that when you first meet -- say, "Hey, by the way, for 30 years I tortured people." I mean, it's kind of an awkward, weird, kind of thing. But I have to tell you, when all is said and done, I'm glad people like you are on our side.
"MITCH": Well, I'm glad I was on my side, too. I -- but, you know...
BECK: [laughter]
"MITCH": But this is something my family doesn't know -- has no idea what I did. My closest friends didn't know.
BECK: They do know now?
"MITCH": No. Not unless they can tell who this is speaking.
BECK: So Mitch is not your real name?
"MITCH": No.
BECK: You've never told your family this stuff?
"MITCH": No.
BECK: What do they think you did all these years?
"MITCH": Worked with intelligence.
[...]
"MITCH": I mean, they ask. I was an intelligence officer. "What did you do?" You know, I extracted intelligence.
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Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.
I don't know what else to say. And the right-wing accuses liberals of being criminal sympathizers!
What we have here is a republican with a bully pulpit showing his support for unconstitutional actions that also are illegal under domestic and international law.
Anyone want to claim the right-wing has the moral high ground anymore?
"What we have here is a republican with a bully pulpit,,,,", blueblood
Excuse me, what we have here is another idiot radio talk show host trying to be cute and oh so clever. You cheapen and demean your whole condemnation of Beck when you show your partisanship.
"what we have here is another idiot radio talk show host trying to be cute and oh so clever."
He isn't a republican? Are you sure?
Not defending the comments, but......That doesn't sound like Glenn Beck. At times it does a tiny bit. I'm wondering if it was recorded and never aired?
Wow, unbelievable what they will allow on the air nowadays. So where's the FCC? They're busy monitoring Howard Stern for fart jokes.
It's a real testament to Beck's intelligence and decency that he not only takes this caller seriously, but praises him for the screwed up stuff he says. This is the kind of subject matter that needs to come from a guest who's reputation is widely known or at least had his background checked, not from any stupid idiot calling in a claiming to be a former this and that.
That thought occurred to me as well -- that perhaps "Mitch" is not what he claimed to be and was simply making stuff up because he knew it was the sort of thing that Beck would salivate over...
Here is where I first wrote about this when I brought the tip to Media Matters.
Yes, it was Glenn Beck. They really did air this segment on 910 KNEW in San Francisco. No, I didn't think that "Mitch" was a credible guest. I was appalled that Glenn Beck treated him as if he were credible and showered him with admiration.
Unfortunately, I think that "Mitch" has either done some of this stuff or thought hard about it. The techniques he mentions don't strike me as the sort of thing a normal prankster would think of. If you only have Hollywood to draw on, you would assume that a torturer's tools involve blades, hot metal and electrodes, not eye drops and duct tape. The techniques that "Mitch" mentioned are fairly well thought out, and designed to produce a lot of pain while avoiding visible damage.
On the other hand, I am less confident that "Mitch" is a professional intelligence agent, even an inactive one. It seems to me that a professional agent would be well-trained in secrecy, and going on a radio show, even with a false name, is not very secretive. I have a nasty suspicion that "Mitch" might have done some of these things "on his own time," as it were--not an agent, but an ordinary sadist and psychopath.
Which is much better than one operating with the permission of the state, but still a horrible person. I utterly disagree with Beck. I do not want this man on my side, or watching my back, or anywhere within a hundred miles of me.
Irene
Yeah, to be honest, I had that thought too... some of the rat-bastards accused of torturing people in Afghanistan weren't professionals. Goddam amateur hour with the military contractors, if the news stories I was reading were to be believed.
I suppose it *might* have been plausible that Mitch has some involvement with people were doing (and one hopes are no longer doing) that kind of work for those people. I'd rather not believe it unless I'm forced. However, that said... claiming to be a military intelligence professional didn't sound credible at all to me.
The ones I've met don't talk like that.
"Some of the rat-bastards accused of torturing people in Afghanistan weren't professionals." -- s9
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Heck, at least three of them appear to have been little more than vigilante thugs who had no official authorization to be there in the first place. A Mr. "Jack" Idema and two other Americans were arrested in Afghanistan and convicted by an Afghani court for operating a makeshift prison inside their house in Kabul in which eight men were held prisoner. Mr. Idema claimed to be working for the U.S. government, but the supposed evidence for these claims is somewhat shaky -- [link to en.wikipedia.org] -- and the U.S. government rejects his claims. Here's a webpage which contains several snippets from different media sources about this story -- [link to www.pownetwork.org]
The statements made within this conversation are some of the worst I have ever heard uttered by another human being if true. My profession has put me in to contact with sociopaths, rapist, and other violent persons and his actions would place him squarely among these people if they are to be believed. To praise actions such as this is unbelievable and disgusting.
Mr Beck needs professional help...IMMEDIATLY
Hey Glenn - How about this exchange on a "best of" cd? Maybe you can play the clip on your Christmas tour. Or maybe it's the kind of thing you can play again and again over a Thanksgiving dinner - make your kids proud! You are indeed a real American.
Maybe 'God' told 'Mitch' to torture these victims in the way that he purported in such fine detail. To the point where ‘Mitch’ sounded like he was getting off on his glorifying of his sickening and inhumane savagery. Beck thanked him on his radio show, for doing these terrible things. I’m surprised Beck didn’t say he deserved a medal, for being a true American, and a fine patriot of the United States.
Maybe he could make a personal appearance on Beck's radio show. And demonstrate for the listeners his torture techniques. Maybe 'Mitch' could rip Beck's tongue out, to check if Beck could still speak and peddle his right-wing crap.
Maybe 'Mitch' needs to be institutionalised, for his own good, before he grabs a victim off the street, to practice on.
God bless America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave!!!
I am tortured everytime I listen to Beck!
I live in an area where one of the few radio shows in that time slot is Glen Beck. So I have had a chance to listen to him on many occasions. My overall impression is he's not really relevant or well informed or very bright. But he does seem to try harder to shock. Usually by saying the most mean or closedminded thing his producers can dream up. I heard most of his talk with the purported intelligence officer and found it disturbing. On many levels. IMO intelligence gathering is valuable to national security and a necessary tool in this gathering is interogation of prisioners of war or conflict. However, Glen seemed to be really enjoying hearing about this mans exploits. Again, IMO - Glen Beck is a very sick man. By his own admission. Seems Glen has Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. Last week or perhaps the week before Glen had some doctor examine him and this doctor made a diagnosis. Seems the doctor suggests medication. I sincerly hope these meds help Glen heal his sick mind, but I doubt there is a pill for his stupidity.
Again, the FCC soft on violence and illegal acts (Glenn,etc.), big on attacking people discussing body parts (Stern). Oh, hypocrisy thy name is FCC or should I say hypocracy as it seems to be the policy of the current administration and its cronies.
One would be wise to question whether "Mitch" actually did the things he claimed to do. Is it possible "Mitch" tortured people, in the manner described? Certainly. It's also possible that he made the whole thing up, or embellished actual experiance just to impress the host. Anyone can call in to a show like Glenn Beck's or Rush Limbaugh for that matter (shock and rail), and claim to have do something like that.
It's appalling that "Mitch" finds it humorous (if he made it up-another wingnut "joke"). If he actually did the things described, he should be imprisoned.
I dare ONE Bush supporter to say that Beck did not put our troops in greater danger with this segment.
I unfortunately have had the displeasure of listening to Beck a number of times. I cannot explain this--kind of like picking a scab--you know you should stop and it hurts but you want to pick at it one more time. This guy is truly vile. I get him out of WPHT in Philadelphia whose line up is laden with the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, Michael Smerconish (yech!), and O'Reilly's festering turd of a radio show. Just for good measure they feature three hours of Matt Drudge on Sunday nights. I expected them to be a Clear Channel station. They are not. Clear Channel is unfortunately only part of a much larger problem. Those who complain of a left "liberal" bias in the media don't know what "left" is. So now we have Beck apparently condoning torture. No surprise to me. Listen to his show one time. It won't come as a surprise to you either. The corporate owned so called "mainstream" media is now deep into Wingnutoland. A few short weeks ago Pat Robertson extols the virtues of the assassination of Hugo Chavez--president of Venezuela. Does this represent "balance" in the media. Chavez is pissed of course; but has some humor left about it. He thinks "free psychiatric treatment", might be appropriate; but adds that "Robertson may be a lost cause". I am even less optimistic about it...I think our media may be a lost cause. But thank you Media Matters for at least holding a few "feet to the fire". An expression everyone. I do not condone torture.
This is a common phenomenon I've seen with pundits on the right. It gives them some vicarious thrill, I guess, to say these things. It's the same with the glorification of the military. In most cases, the pundit has never worn the uniform; and many are 'Gen-Xers' (Beck is on the fringe, born 1964) who didn't live through Vietnam. Beck, if you read his biography, has some real issues from his childhood.