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by saiya-jin 1829 days ago
Torture is/was definitely part of even standard military training ie prior to Vietnam deployment for common soldiers. Electric wires on genitalia for example. I would expect that if one dictator sends their spec-ops personnel for US training, the goal is not to improve their techniques of ironing beds or polishing boots, rather more practical topics useful to that dictator.

I can easily see how an additional training in torture, logistics etc. could have helped perpetrators organize and perform the act. Although they would probably managed to kill him even without it in some way or the other.

One of the things I would hate if living in US - not such a great feeling knowing some part of your taxes goes into directly supporting things like this, whether you like it or not...
1 comments
throwaway210222 1829 days ago
Sure, but I just cannot for the life of figure me out, how adults (the Saudi operatives) needed to go on the American course to work out that they can kill someone an chop him up with a really sharp knife.

You only need to have one barbeque at your home to work that out.

If training → crimes, then surely we should be more worried about training Saudi butchers and chefs?

The real and IMO only reason the crime occurred as it did is that the Saudi's guessed correctly that the US (and others) would let them get away with it.

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beerandt 1828 days ago
I just assumed they never intended to kill him, at least not there or right away, but that their "handling" or torture triggered some health condition, and cutting him and bailing were just plan B.

Which if true, isn't a ringing endorsement for the quality of torture training they received.

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pvaldes 1829 days ago
> how the Saudi operatives needed to go on the American course to work out that they can kill someone an chop him up with a knife.

Is the post-killing truth part what matters. Everybody can kill, but killing in broad daylight in front of the entire planet and without consequences needs some planning and complicity. They didn't a great job hiding it the last time, so it seems that the little rascals need reinforcement private classes.

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