For Those Of You Inclined To Trust The Cops....

[♦ nivek ♦]

TN cops torture suspect Siler

 

This mp3, copy of the tape Siler's wife had left running when she was chased out of their home by this gang of Law Enforcement Officers is very hard to listen to as they torture Siler...

 

This is what the PATRIOT ACT is more than capable of letting our tax paid for Peace Officers to become..

 

This bullshit is NOT the AmeriKa my Dad and his forebearers lived and died for..

 

kFL

*****************

 

Because They Can: The Logic of the Torture State

by William Norman Grigg

 

“This is your god!”

 

That profane outburst fell from the lips of Pfc. Damien M. Corsetti – aka “Monster,” aka “King of Torture” – as he straddled a helpless Saudi detainee in a Soviet-constructed Afghan prison. Corsetti had just threatened to rape the detainee, and the supposed deity he referred to was the appendage with which he would commit that act. At the time, said appendage was pressed against the prisoner's face.

 

This account was offered by a witness at Corsetti's court martial. That witness testified for the defense. As Eliza Griswold recounts in the current issue of The New Republic, the tribunal “cleared Corsetti of all charges. His lawyer successfully argued ... that the rules for detainee treatment were unclear: `The president of the United States doesn't know what the rules are. The secretary of defense doesn't know what the rules are. But the government expects this Pfc. to know what the rules are?'”

 

So – at the time of Corsetti's trial a year ago, the assumption was that sexual assault was considered a permissible interrogation tactic in the absence of a specific prohibition. He'd used the tactic before while working at Abu Ghraib: With the help of two comrades he forced an Iraqi woman to strip.

 

Why did he do this? Because he could.

 

There was no “rule” against it, after all – apart from the law written on the heart by the Creator, that is. But Corsetti, as we've seen, had his own theology. And because he was permitted by his superiors to ignore the moral law, Corsetti finished his military career with an “honorable” discharge.

 

He has since disappeared from public view. To me it seems likely he found a career in law enforcement, like his fellow torturer Samuel Franklin.

 

Three years ago this July, Franklin, a senior detective with the Campbell County, Tennessee Sheriff's Department, presided over the prolonged torture of a pathetic small-time drug dealer named Lester Eugene Siler, who primarily trafficked in prescription drugs.

 

Franklin's five-man crew included three other full-time law enforcement officers and a part-time process server. This squalid little gang was created with the help of a federal Byrne Grant (a Justice Department subsidy for counter-narcotics programs), and – like most criminal cliques of that sort – they were involved in a vulgar shakedown-and-skimming operation conducted under the color of government authority.

 

 

Eugene Siler and wife

 

Franklin's squad descended on Siler's home on July 8, 2004 on the pretext of serving a warrant for probation violations. Their real objective, however, was to rummage through the home in search of either money or contraband that could be used to justify seizing and forfeiting Siler's assets. The police ordered Siler's wife to take their son and leave; before doing so, however, she turned on a tape recorder, which captured roughly half of what turned into a two-hour torture session.

 

(The audio – if you can stand to listen – is here [mp3]; the transcript can be found here [.pdf].)

 

Detective Franklin, a 17-year veteran of the Campbell County Sheriff's Department, was also the DARE officer at the local school district. Bear that last fact in mind as we examine his conduct.

 

Campbell County's Finest: Detective Franklin and his little shakedown-and-torture squad.

 

“Let me tell you what we're gonna do,” explained Franklin, the moral tutor to Campbell County's youth, as Siler – who had already been beaten once – cringed in terror. “We're gonna put them handcuffs in front of ya. Cut you a little slack. But if you don't start operating [sic], we're gonna put the motherf****rs behind your back, and I'm gonna take this slapjack and I'm gonna start working that head over, you understand?”

 

Officer David Webber elaborated on the plan: “We're gonna know everything about your business today. And you're gonna take us and where you got your money, we're gonna take every dime you have today and if we don't walk out of here with every piece of dope you got and every dime you got, your f*****g a** is not going to make it to the jail.... We're doing this on our own, and you're gonna sign a consent to search form and you're gonna give us permission to be here and you're gonna do it our way, cause we're tired of f*****g with your a**.”

 

Incidentally, the “consent form” the officers sought to torture Siler into signing stated, inter alia: “This written permission is being given ... knowingly and voluntarily to the aforementioned officer of my own free will and without any threats [or] coercion....”

 

In Bagram, Private Corsetti's appetite for sadistic cruelty gave other interrogators leverage to extract confessions from detainees. Detective Franklin's squad used the same tactic, although it's not clear which of them was the designated “heavy,” or if they traded off playing that role.

 

“That's just the f*****g beginning,” gloated Officer Webber after several beatings left Siler moaning in agony. “This motherf****r right here [gestures to another officer, at this point almost certainly Detective Franklin], he loves seeing blood.... He loves it. He loves seeing blood.... He loves f*****g seeing blood. He'll beat your a** and lick it off ya.”

 

At some point, 24-year-old Rookie Deputy Joshua Monday joined in the merriment, beating and taunting the handcuffed victim.

 

“It's gonna hurt worse,” Detective Franklin snarled at Siler. “It's getting worse.” As the victim persisted in refusing to sign the consent form, Franklin compounded the torture with threats against Siler's family: “If you don't sign, I'm gonna go right back there where your wife's at, and I'm gonna put her a** in jail. I'm calling the Department of Human Services and I'm gonna take your f*****g kids from you today..... I'm gonna slap the hell out of you till you damn bleed, so sign it.”

 

This went on for at least an hour: five grown men taking turns beating and taunting a terrified, illiterate, handcuffed man – a convicted drug peddler on probation, yes, but a human being and an American citizen whose rights are still protected by law.

 

And the torture eventually escalated to death threats:

 

“I'm gonna choke your a**, now sign it!” demanded Shayne Green, the civilian process server.

 

“f you don't sign it, you probably won't walk out of here,” warned Officer Webber.

 

 

“Shoot his f*****g a**,” Green later said in disgust, and at one point Deputy Monday threatened Siler with a gun:

 

 

“I'm gonna kill your f*****g a**! Now you either sign, or I'm gonna shoot ya!... I don't give a f**k. I don't give a f**k if you die.”

 

 

To Officer Webber goes the distinction of suggesting the sexual torture of the recalcitrant suspect:

 

 

“[T]hem batteries right there, I'm fixin to go out there and get some wires and hook 'em up to your f*****g balls. And if you don't think I will, you don't sign that form and watch what happens.”

 

 

After Siler had endured a prolonged beating (and, apparently, sexual torture through electric shock), Detective Franklin suggested releasing him from the handcuffs – “that way if he raises his damn hand to one of us, we have the right to beat the f**k out of him.”

 

 

What a brave guy – the very embodiment of the phrase "Good enough for government work."

 

 

A little later, Deputy Monday suggested that they should murder Siler and frame him for armed assault using a pellet pistol found in his home:

 

 

“Eugene, you're gonna sign this right here or I'm gonna f*****g put a bullet in your damn head, and we're gonna f*****g plant this BB gun.”

 

When that didn't work, the gang dragged Siler off for a few rounds of water-boarding.

 

Surely it wasn't necessary to beat, abuse, molest, and terrorize Siler in order to find a pretext for searching his house. So why did Franklin and his gang do so?

 

Because they could.

 

As I read the transcript, and saw how young Deputy Monday emerged as the most violent and sadistic of the officers, I made a small bet with myself that he was the first one to break when the FBI conducted its investigation of Franklin's squad.

 

I won the bet: Monday broke right away, and began “cooperating” with the inquiry. All five are now in prison.

 

But the only reason this happened is because Siler's wife had secreted a tape recorder where it could gather evidence, and had the presence of mind to turn it on before leaving her husband in the hands of his torturers.

 

How often does this sort of thing take place undetected?

 

Detective Franklin's little gang, remember, was funded by the Federal Government through a Byrne Grant, and the purpose of squads of this sort is to rack up statistics that can be used to get bigger grants. That's why Franklin and his cohorts were so adamant about extorting money from Siler.

 

Siler himself was a small-time crook of little consequence, but I will say this: By his refusal to relent under persistent torture and death threats – as well as threats against his family – he proved himself to be more of a man than any government employee I've ever met.

 

Revelations about Siler's torture at the hands of federally funded drug cops lit up the blogosphere a couple of years ago. It's worth reviewing that atrocity today in light of the fact that a couple of weeks ago the Feds and their local franchisees conducted “Operation Byrne Drugs II,” a 36-state shakedown in which all of the familiar spots were raided, the usual suspects were rounded up, small but superficially impressive amounts of drugs and drug profits were drawn out of the vast and eternally self-replenishing ocean that is the underground drug economy, and self-congratulatory press releases were issued by everyone involved in the exercise.

 

Does anybody doubt that somewhere, someone involved in “Operation Byrne Drugs II” – acting in the serene confidence that his acts enjoyed the blessing of the State, and would never be made public – beat, tortured, and otherwise terrorized some inconsequential figure, just because he could?

 

 

May 10, 2007

 

William Norman Grigg [send him mail] writes the Pro Libertate blog.

 

Copyright © 2007 William Norman Grigg

 

William Norman Grigg Archives

Links referenced within this article

 

William Norman Grigg

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/mailto:WNGrigg@msn.com

DIGG THIS

http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=htt...p;title=Because They Can: The Logic of the Torture State&topic=political_opinion

the current issue of

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070507&s=griswold050707

The New Republic

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070507&s=griswold050707

He'd used the tactic before while working at Abu Ghraib: With the help of two comrades he forced an Iraqi woman to strip

http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/un/2005...agramdeaths.htm

the prolonged torture of a pathetic small-time drug dealer named Lester Eugene Siler

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/022505tntorture.cfm

here

http://wms.scripps.com/knoxville/siler/siler.mp3

here

http://www.thelibertypapers.org/files/silertranscript.pdf

I won the bet

http://www.truthinjustice.org/TN-torture.htm

a couple of weeks ago the Feds and their local franchisees conducted “Operation Byrne Drugs II,”

http://mywebtimes.com/ottnews/archives/ott...y.php?id=297092

send him mail

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/mailto:WNGrigg@msn.com

Pro Libertate blog

http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/

William Norman Grigg Archives

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-arch.html

 

Find this article at:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w12.html

[Japedo]

Outrageous!!!!!!

 

Soon though, the victims of said abuse will be arrested like this guy in NH was a few days ago.

 

Dover man arrested for taping his DWI investigation in Rochester

 

In Such police states, Only the government is allowed to watch, No one however is allowed to watch the government employees, it's apparently now a crime to do so here. It's pure and utter bullshit. I'm not defending the DD by any stretch of the word, but he should at least be able to record his own arrest with out criminal charges for doing such.

 

This is exactly reasons I absolutely don't trust the government, those with power almost always tend to abuse it.

[Grandpa Harley]

And people want to think I am over the top when I say what I say about cops and politicians on this board....NOW YOU UNDERSTAND!!! I don't cut cops or politicians ONE FUCKING INCH! My whole aim, if I have any dealings with cops is to keep them on eggshells about the law, my rights, and where they stand. I will wear their ass out every damned time!....I HATE COPS LIKE THAT!!! :angry:

 

It's usually about shooting them... which is a great way for Mr Scrotum to meet Mr Nightstick repeatedly, if they bother to take one alive...

[Vixentrox]

Hopefull they will be ass raped repeatedly while in jail....if they go to jail. They'll probably get off on a technicality.

[Grandpa Harley]

And people want to think I am over the top when I say what I say about cops and politicians on this board....NOW YOU UNDERSTAND!!! I don't cut cops or politicians ONE FUCKING INCH! My whole aim, if I have any dealings with cops is to keep them on eggshells about the law, my rights, and where they stand. I will wear their ass out every damned time!....I HATE COPS LIKE THAT!!! :angry:

 

It's usually about shooting them... which is a great way for Mr Scrotum to meet Mr Nightstick repeatedly, if they bother to take one alive...

 

FYI, I know how to scare the shit out of cops. In the town I used to live in in Tennessee, the cops were actually afraid of me. I got a ticket and I fought it and used so many legal tactics and kept the whole thing going for over a year. The cop was subjected to many complaints by me. Even though he was exonerated by a friendly review board of his fellow police, I got the point across. When I finally did get through with the court proceedings, I told the man in charge of training the cops, if I am ever issued a Bullshit ticket like that again, I will sue. He was visibly shaken because I saw him look like Kirk Cameron after the debate with the Rational Response folks. I have a friend who works for the city and he learned that the police chief had a meeting and told all the cops to leave (Me) alone unless I am blatantly breaking the law.. he said I have been nothing but one major legal pain in the ass and they don't want to deal with it again and that cop that gave me the ticket, they moved his beat away from my area of town. They all were shook. There was one other time I got stopped and they just gave me a warning and treated me very very nicely and just let it go....

 

Sometimes it just takes alittle meniacle response and be like a legal porcupine with skunk scent and they don't really want to mess with you....

 

Oh...and Gramps...what you are describing is illegal in this country...I know it is not in the UK...

 

1) You 'know' something? No it's not 'legal' in the Free World.

 

2) The rest, well you're typing it so I pretty well can tell you're lying. There I said it... LY-ING the macho posturing of someone who never grew up. Everyone is the hero of their own stories, but DAY-UM bwah... you talk some SHIT!!!!

[D Laurier]

Its been 20 years since I trusted a pig.

 

20 years of personal experience has taught me, that the only good pig is a dead pig.

[Grandpa Harley]

It's the 1968 show...

[Warrior_of_god]

I know that up here (MA at least) there is a general distrust of cops among highschool and college age kids. I dont know why really. Anyone else see this in their neck of the woods?

[Japedo]

I know that up here (MA at least) there is a general distrust of cops among highschool and college age kids. I dont know why really. Anyone else see this in their neck of the woods?

 

 

[Warrior_of_god]

Aside from the obvious I mean, lol.

[Jubilant]

Its been 20 years since I trusted a pig.

 

20 years of personal experience has taught me, that the only good pig is a dead pig.

 

I'll drink to that......

 

Damn, I'm glad that my brother and best friends husband, who are cops aren't around where you guys are...they've only saved women and children from abusive husbands, nabbed child molesters, robbers, etc. yeah, they're much better off *dead*.

 

Generalizations at there finest guys. Not all cops are bad cops, I'd say the majority really do want to help rather than hurt people.

[Grandpa Harley]

Its been 20 years since I trusted a pig.

 

20 years of personal experience has taught me, that the only good pig is a dead pig.

 

I'll drink to that......

 

Damn, I'm glad that my brother and best friends husbands, who are cops aren't around where you guys are...they've only saved women and children from abusive husbands, nabbed child molesters, robbers, etc. yeah, they're much better off *dead*.

 

Generalizations at there finest guys. Not all cops are bad cops, I'd say the majority really do want to help rather than hurt people.

 

I'd not be concerned... it's macho 'I'm more libertarian and edgy than any one' bullshit posturing. Loud silly children...

[Jubilant]

I'd not be concerned... it's macho 'I'm more libertarian and edgy than any one' bullshit posturing. Loud silly children...

 

You're right, just upsets me a bit. I know that some police persons are corrupt and abuse their power but I just think that generalizing such as "the only good cop is a dead one" is extreme. Some of these people see horrific crimes (my brother and best friends husbands personally have witnessed) against humans that none of us could begin to understand. They're out their busting their asses trying to help people and because some bad seeds enter into the mix, its as though some people overlook the good that the rest are doing.

[Japedo]

I'd not be concerned... it's macho 'I'm more libertarian and edgy than any one' bullshit posturing. Loud silly children...

 

 

GP, you wouldn't be broad-brushing all Libertarians together would you? I'd also like to point out that anarchists and Libertarians aren't the same.

[Grandpa Harley]

Thing is... it seems to be the bench mark of 'manhood' round here...

[Japedo]

Thing is... it seems to be the bench mark of 'manhood' round here...

 

What does? Who defines the men around here anyways?

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: My comment was ment more as tongue n cheek and not to hurt anyones manhood on a personal level.

[Grandpa Harley]

Thing is... it seems to be the bench mark of 'manhood' round here...

 

What does? Who defines the men around here anyways?

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: My comment was ment more as tongue n cheek and not to hurt anyones manhood on a personal level.

 

Macho bullshit about just how 'nasty' they are to cross...

[Japedo]

Macho bullshit about just how 'nasty' they are to cross...

 

Don't you mark that up as more of a personality thing and less an Ideology thing? No matter, Some view me as nice, others view me as a pussycat with 9 inch claws. Best we can do is accept people how they are and choose to ignore or engage them.

[Jubilant]

Macho bullshit about just how 'nasty' they are to cross...

 

Don't you mark that up as more of a personality thing and less an Ideology thing? No matter, Some view me as nice, others view me as a pussycat with 9 inch claws. Best we can do is accept people how they are and choose to ignore or engage them.

 

Thats true! And...you know to what I'm referring when I say that I ignored much of my day today. ;-)

 

Hmmm...I view you as nice but also know your claw capabilities. :-)

[woodsmoke]

I'd not be concerned... it's macho 'I'm more libertarian and edgy than any one' bullshit posturing. Loud silly children...

 

You're right, just upsets me a bit. I know that some police persons are corrupt and abuse their power but I just think that generalizing such as "the only good cop is a dead one" is extreme. Some of these people see horrific crimes (my brother and best friends husbands personally have witnessed) against humans that none of us could begin to understand. They're out their busting their asses trying to help people and because some bad seeds enter into the mix, its as though some people overlook the good that the rest are doing.

 

I don't think cops are inherently evil, but I do think the power goes to their heads. Nor do I think that's limited to a few "bad seeds." I've known (former) cops I normally think the world of and trust completely who've admitted to abusing their power in certain situations, despite knowing it was wrong, simply because they could. It's usually some minor thing that triggers it; they've been having a bad day, some deep-seeded and mostly suppressed prejudice works its way to the surface, the person they're dealing with seems to be being intentionally difficult (which sucks, to be sure, but not particularly liking someone is no excuse), etc.

 

They're not willfully corrupt. They're good people, and most of them (as you said) are doing what they do out of a desire to help others. Without exception, however, every single one of them has stated the surest way to gain a thorough understanding of the phrase "power corrupts" is to get a bit of power and watch it inevitably happen to yourself.

[Grandpa Harley]

Macho bullshit about just how 'nasty' they are to cross...

 

Don't you mark that up as more of a personality thing and less an Ideology thing? No matter, Some view me as nice, others view me as a pussycat with 9 inch claws. Best we can do is accept people how they are and choose to ignore or engage them.

 

I view it as a maturity thing and after a while it just gets tiresome... it's like dealing with teenage boys

[Grandpa Harley]

I'd not be concerned... it's macho 'I'm more libertarian and edgy than any one' bullshit posturing. Loud silly children...

 

You're right, just upsets me a bit. I know that some police persons are corrupt and abuse their power but I just think that generalizing such as "the only good cop is a dead one" is extreme. Some of these people see horrific crimes (my brother and best friends husbands personally have witnessed) against humans that none of us could begin to understand. They're out their busting their asses trying to help people and because some bad seeds enter into the mix, its as though some people overlook the good that the rest are doing.

 

I don't think cops are inherently evil, but I do think the power goes to their heads. Nor do I think that's limited to a few "bad seeds." I've known (former) cops I normally think the world of and trust completely who've admitted to abusing their power in certain situations, despite knowing it was wrong, simply because they could. It's usually some minor thing that triggers it; they've been having a bad day, some deep-seeded and mostly suppressed prejudice works its way to the surface, the person they're dealing with seems to be being intentionally difficult (which sucks, to be sure, but not particularly liking someone is no excuse), etc.

 

They're not willfully corrupt. They're good people, and most of them (as you said) are doing what they do out of a desire to help others. Without exception, however, every single one of them has stated the surest way to gain a thorough understanding of the phrase "power corrupts" is to get a bit of power and watch it inevitably happen to yourself.

 

The Stanford Experiment showed that...

[Jubilant]

If you know some good ones....be glad, I have not been so lucky. I figure it is safer not to trust them.

 

My dh has been pulled over numerous time for speeding and has never once, had run-ins like you and your friends.

[Grandpa Harley]

If you know some good ones....be glad, I have not been so lucky. I figure it is safer not to trust them.

 

My dh has been pulled over numerous time for speeding and has never once, had run-ins like you and your friends.

 

He probably doesn't piss them off...

[Jubilant]

If you know some good ones....be glad, I have not been so lucky. I figure it is safer not to trust them.

 

My dh has been pulled over numerous time for speeding and has never once, had run-ins like you and your friends.

 

He probably doesn't piss them off...

 

No, he doesn't and he is all *man*. :-) Once when pulled in Louisiana it was a "Get out of the car, boy" (no, not racist because we're white and so was the cop) my children and I freaked out because we thought he was going to jail. Thankfully, we just got a ticket and were on our merry way. He deserved it going 20mph over the speed limit.