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This Guantanamo U.S. Army Guard,sounds robotic, brainwashed.

Is this what you have to do to join the
Military, park your brain at the door?

It's sickening to hear the way your feral listeners (Roger ect.) treated your guest. Most of you listeners live a lief of priveledge. you probably, at most, considered joining the military like our commander and chief.
If you did have military experience you would know that many things operate on a need to know basis. So, as a prison gaurd, Ms. Smith would not need to know, and thus would not know the interogation techniques.

The "torture" that went on at Quantamano is NOTHING compared to what your precious and pure Muslim freedom fighters have done to Christians, both military and civilian. The Quantamano prisoners went through NOTHING that our Special Operations soldiers and SEALs go through at survival and evasion school.

It's incredibly disheartening that the vast majority of educated Americans care more about the fabricated tales of "torture" that terrorists/terrorist supporters claim to have gone through than the actual torture that American and allied soldiers and civilians go through. Not CNN, let alone Olbermann, mention the heinous crimes war crimes the Iraqis and (al qaeda and official government) have commited against them.
Read BRAVO TWO ZERO by Andy McNab. The Iraqi interogators ferociously beat him daily, pulled out his teeth with a wrench, pressed hot metal against his wounds, and forced him to live naked in his own urine and feces, which they made him clean up with his hands and sometimes his mouth.
How come no one is outraged with the treatment of American/allied POWs like McNab, how come no one cares about the heinous deaths the muslims have served to innocent men and women such as Eugene Armstrong?

I served with the U.S. navy in a squadron of aircraft carrier fighter pilots (VA-125). Additionally (and i'm not kidding), my father-in-law was a Oberleutnant in the Luftwaffe.

I have about had it with "just-doing-my-job" and "orders-are-orders" that the military always uses to misdirect, explain, and excuse their despicable acts. Jane Smith's attitude is tiresome, fatuous, and just plain wrong.

The impression I got from Jane Smith is that she thinks that it is SHE - not our soldiers who are actually serving in Iraq, not the soldiers who have been killed, not the families of our dead and wounded soldiers, not the civilian population of Iraq, not the political or military leaders who have to make the decisions, not any Iraqis who may have been unjusted imprisoned - who has suffered the worst in this war, because it is just such a pain in the ass to guard these prisoners, who are rude and call each other "brother" and complain about being imprisoned.

KC admitted, not flawless logic, just pain and anger at the incomplete justice I've seen since 9/11. We seem to have compartmentalized history, as though the prisoners in Gitmo were a result only of Bush policy - but not the causality of previous events that led us to where we are now, fractured, weakening, eventual collapse on the horizon. Because there are some who don't like a politician and would rather drive some political theatre to some meaningless end, while the real enemy is readying themselves for a new attack, while we sneer at each other.

I wonder how Jane Smith would respond to the testimony of Hanna Schmitz in the trial scene of the movie The Reader.

Norman, if you're still reading, I'm still waiting for an explanation on why anyone should care about respecting religious differences based in sexism. Do you refrain from shaking a woman's hand in the event she is possibly menstruating? Do you consider this to be a legitimate practice in this day and age.

#53 Olivia

No, just a joke. Sarah Vowell works for This American Life. She has a similar voice.

#54 read this out loud if you have to- Iraq is not connected to 9/11. How come this concept can't penetrate your dense skull? Prisoners of gitmo were resistance fighters to our occupation because we invaded the wrong country.

#54 9/11 Survivor: True that. It's a fact: people opposed to torture also clap when people jump from buildings. Excellent point, flawless logic.

Let me get this straight.
The military is protecting my rights of free speech.

If the military was not available to go attack Iraq then we would not be stuck in this mess we are in.

"I was only following orders" really does not fly here.

Each person choses to participate in the military.

Being in the military can lead to different jobs after military service is over. Plus you get better insurance.

Question: how much does our society spend on military, personnel, uniforms, housing etc.?

Then how much does our society spend on private sector produced military items ie. weapons, fighters, ships, tanks, humvees, radar etc.?

Then how much does the society spend on National guard and all it entails?

THen how much does our society spend on police and law enforcement?

IKE was correct to warn us in 1960 about the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.

The guest may have been sincere but she sounded like someone who was trying to justify poor judgment.

#58

no...I didn't read the comment carefully but took it at face value.

She mentioned they were now afforded the 'best' medical treatment in the most modern facilities. How do the rest of us who are actual law-abiding citizens without health insurance get on the Gitmo health plan?

Though it is somewhat unfair to expect someone whose entire worldview is framed by the idea of loyalty to see fault in a system where the only check against the abuse of power is the good intentions of the people on the top rather than the rule of law or counter-balancing institutions.

Jane Smith knows that "following orders" isn't an excuse she can use to absolve herself of culpability if she follows an illegal order. It's hammered into enlisted soldiers at boot camp.

I agree with #25.

"Jane Smith"'s serice in the military doesn't give me freedom--the CONSTITUTION does, and the Bushies trampled all over it.

Jeremy Stone has it exactly right. I feel like I'm listening to Kate Winslet's character, Hannah Schmidts from the movie The Reader. Although I thank her for her service, and am grateful to all military personnel for taking the responsibility for doing what they believe protects our freedom, "I was doing my job" simply doesn't do it. German army personnel say they didn't know about the concentration camps, either.

you get a prison guard from guantanamo, perhaps one of the biggest issues of our era, and this is the interview you conduct? she is obviously shilling for the former admin. Brian, you are hopeless.

#5 Sanjay

If that's true what you just did is very, very wrong.

Many of the prisoners in Guantanamo did no more to support terrorism than Jane Smith did to support war crimes.

Oh brother. Good for you G.I. Jane!

My son is in-the military-he's a dog handler and he's very conscious that he took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Torture is a violation of the Constitution.

This woman is a schill

Jane Smith argues that she had no choice to participate in an enterprise to deprive the prisoners of their rights under international law because she was a soldier. It occurs to me that Private Lyndie England failed when she made the same argument. What does your guest think of her conviction?

Did she see people held in solitary confinement? Extended solitary IS torture.... she is complicit and too dim to know it

I love it when military folks say they're "giving" us our freedom. They are the distribute and dispense the rights. Our rights are not inalienable or God-given. They are a gift from the people with the most guns and apparently we should be more grateful or else they will take that gift away.

Where is this woman raised?

Has anyone read the New Yorker article on solitary confinement, and how it effects human behavior?

I wonder if Jane Smith has read that.

She's never been overseas!!!?

Ask "Jane Smith" if she thinks water-boarding is torture.

As for suggesting that "Jane Smith" is a victim of Bush, you might as well say that Nazi guards were victims of Hitler. Nonsense.

If she's going to defend government policies in public, she has an obligation to read the exhaustive documentation of torture and figure out whether it's true or false.

She *is* an idiot.

Smith can complain about having feces thrown at her but the prisoners that are innocent and have no lawyers are more frustrated.

Can the guest comment on the demographics of her fellow guards? Even mix of race,religion, etc? Any muslim guards?

To most of the rest of you, stop acting like 4 year olds and just listen to what she has to say. I'm probably more liberal than most of you but want to hear her POV.

I wish everyone would stop calling these people detainees. They are POW and we should be honest with ourselves and the world.

Basically, people like Jane Smith join the military so they DON'T HAVE to think for themselves, so they will be told what to do. She gladly gives up the right to question authority, and to be given a certain degree of authority imbued by her pay grade.

She's given up her freeedom to protect our freedom?? The logical inconsistencies in this woman's thinking is exactly what the empire needs to maintain its power, human rights be damned.

The level of delusion she must be living under in order to sleep at night is unfathomable.

Isn't the mentality to do your job and not question what you are doing essentially how Hitler commandeered Germany?

I commend this guard for the job she has done.. But she just made the same looney argument made by the Right Fringe that closing Guantanamo equates to terrorists being freed in American streets. Can you ask her how she has come to that conclusion? - Haven't we detained and jailed terrorist before in US jails and have tried them in civilian courts without any problems? - How does this make sense: Closing Guantanamo = Terrorists walking in US towns and citiees?

It's not fair to call this functionary a war criminal. She's a victim of Bush's policy as well.

Another blind, reprehensible apologist. Really sickening. Thanking her "for her service" is equally damnable.

Brian Thank you for being fair with this American hero. Roger should open his home to the prisoners, since he does not fear them.

Sgt,

You being in the Army, does not prevent me from being in a tyranny in this country. You are fighting for an empire.

She "joined the army to give us that freedom." What a disgusting, condescending, nonsense talking point that is. It's clearly been drilled into these people's heads.

How difficult was communication with the prisoners, given language differences & their refusal in some cases to acknowledge the guest because she's a woman?

Thank you for your service Ms. Smith.

The sheer ignorance exuded by "Jane Smith" encapsulates all the problems of American policy with respect to Gitmo over the past years.

We have no reason to believe a word she says. And, frankly, to echo the caller, the pseudonym "Jane Smith" does serve to protect her from prosecution for crimes against humanity.

Guards at Nazi prison camps _were_ prosecuted. So, too, should "Jane Smith". She was part of a criminal machine. Her participation may leave her a minor criminal, but she is a criminal.

Again, she offers nothing more than "I was just taking orders." That defense was expressly rejected at Nuremberg.

Jane Smith = war criminal. Right on Roger!

I have a friend who was an MP at Guantanamo, and we saw her briefly in a news clip a year ago about female guards at GB. We want to find an email address for her to let her know we've been thinking about her. What is the best way to find email addresses of active duty MPs, or at least a snail mail address? Thanks!

this interview is embarrassing. your guest clearly has a very limited understanding of the consequences and meaning of her OWN experience...a caller just referred to her as a "war criminal"...but honestly, i think she simply has NO IDEA...it's impossible to have a meaningful conversation with her, given what is obviously a limited intellectual capacity..

We've prosecuted muslims for giving the same kind of material support to terrorists.

This appears to be a very niave view of the world. Agree with Roger.

"Go back to your country!"

They're not here of their own volition, Ms. Smith.

Good lord.

wow, will Brian ask her a hard quesstion?

Here's some of the torture that she doesn't believe happened.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/03/guantanamo.usa

Captives at Guantánamo Bay were chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor for 18 hours or more, urinating and defecating on themselves, an FBI report has revealed.

The accounts of mistreatment were contained in FBI documents released yesterday (pdf) as part of a lawsuit involving the American Civil Liberties Union, a civil liberties group.

I'm curious as to Jane's political affiliation. How did the torture that went on in Abu Graib affect her perception of what she was walking into?

Oh yeah, I am sure that no one was ever tortured at Guantanamo!! are you kidding me?

Brian, what was that about "breaking the egg"??

Does she think it was right for the Army to abuse their religion by forcing them to interact with a woman?

Gabrielle - I think the answer to that question requires a bit more mental capacity than the guest is capable of.

This is atrocious. I cannot listen to this.

So "Jane Smith" offers the "they were just taking orders" and "nobody I knew did anything wrong" -- exactly the same line taken by Germans regarding the horrors of Nazi Germany.

I know who Jane Smith is -- it's Sarah Vowell!

It's "spoken" not "talken."

How did the guest become a guard. Can she walk us through the interview/hiring process. What experience did you need to become a guard. Did you join the Army to become a guard or were you assigned to the duties.

What reason do we have to believe that "Jane Smith" wasn't part of the problem at Gitmo -- part of the crimes against humanity committed by the United States?

can your guest discuss the radicalization of falsely accused non-radicals inside of the guantanamo prison complex and what to do about their mental state now.