The Spirit of Smokesylvania

A very talented aspiring actor recently appeared on U.S. television. Speaking with a decidedly Yiddish accent, the fez-wearing and pancake-madeup Count Smokula told of being from the mythical land of "Smokesylvania".

Without casting any aspersions on the Count, I’m inclined to think of Smokesylvania as Hell–and I’m afraid other life forms may have escaped from the same region into this universe. And they’re not all as nice (or as good at acting) as the Count.

Looking at the recent Iraq "Torturegate" scandal, I’m struck at once by the similarity of method and torture that one sees reported for the Shah of Iran’s infamous Savak, Pinochet’s Chilean "death squads", Palestinian claims of Israeli torture/homosexual torture, and reports of torture in the infamous Soviet Gulags (courtesy of Rappaport, Solts, Berman, Frenkel, Et al.) It must be the Smokesylvanians–their methodology is like the footprint of a wild animal!

As a former bioscience writer, also familiar with texts on pain- and drug-induced hypnosis (PID) I have a theory on why these Smokesylvanians may want to expose people–up to 90% who may be innocent of any offense–to such degrading and mind-damaging treatment. It is to create operatives who, at the utterance of a command, will perform a designated task (such as an assassination) no matter how repugnant it may be. Also, it can be used to create suggestible operatives who can gather covert intelligence for their "handlers".

A prominent figure in U.S. politics and leading supporter of the Israeli state, Sen. John McCain, may be an expert in just how far such conditioning may go. Captured by the North Vietnamese and subjected to numerous tortures, such as being hung for hours by dislocated shoulders, McCain was reportedly induced by his captors to make statements that totally went against his training and upbringing. Not surprisingly, Mc Cain has been active in trying to get to the bottom of the current "Torturegate" scandal, although he has been careful to avoid any links to former Arabic-speaking Israeli intelligence operatives that may have been working for private contractors supervising the torture.

Will the current torture expose derail the Bush re-election campaign? Possibly. But Bush’s handlers are taking no chances and Bush has imposed a series of sanctions on Syria–at exactly the time he should be pursuing closer ties in order to resolve the Iraq quagmire. By the time Kerry (if elected) is sworn in, the "Greater Mid East" region could be on the brink of a more widespread and irreversible conflict.