#torture

I got hold of a copy of the video that showed how Saddam Hussein had actually confirmed himself in power. This snuff-movie opens with a plenary session of the Ba'ath Party central committee: perhaps a hundred men. Suddenly the doors are locked and Saddam, in the chair, announces a special session. Into the room is dragged an obviously broken man, who begins to emit a robotic confession of treason and subversion, that he sobs has been instigated by Syrian and other agents. As the (literally) extorted confession unfolds, names begin to be named. Once a fellow-conspirator is identified, guards come to his seat and haul him from the room. The reclining Saddam, meanwhile, lights a large cigar and contentedly scans his dossiers. The sickness of fear in the room is such that men begin to crack up and weep, rising to their feet to shout hysterical praise, even love, for the leader. Inexorably, though, the cull continues, and faces and bodies go slack as their owners are pinioned and led away. When it is over, about half the committee members are left, moaning with relief and heaving with ardent love for the boss. (In an accompanying sequel, which I have not seen, they were apparently required to go into the yard outside and shoot the other half, thus sealing the pact with Saddam. I am not sure that even Beria or Himmler would have had the nerve and ingenuity and cruelty to come up with that.) ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#ba-athism #ba-athist-iraq #beria #conspiracy #cull

When you have to get into the character each morning, give it your voice, your face, it was torture. ↗

— Victoria Abril

#each #face #get #give #into

War is organized murder and torture against our brothers. ↗

— Alfred Adler

#brothers #murder #organized #our #torture

What girls do to each other is beyond description. No chinese torture comes close. ↗

— Tori Amos

#chinese #close #comes #description #each

We have received credible reports that show a clear and consistent pattern: entire villages are looted, burned down and sometimes bombed. Large numbers of civilians have been killed and scores of women and children have been abducted, raped and tortured. ↗

— Jan Egeland

#bombed #burned #children #civilians #clear

I know, it's true. I've played these tortured teenagers. I can't wait to shed that image. ↗

— Claire Danes

#image #know #played #shed #teenagers

If you wanted to torture me, you'd tie me down and force me to watch our first five videos. ↗

— Jon Bon Jovi

#first #five #force #me #our

Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why. ↗

— James Joyce

#devised #english #ever #explains #ingenious

If I had undertaken the practical direction of military operations, and anything went amiss, I feared that my conscience would torture me, as guilty of the fall of my country, as I had not been familiar with military tactics. ↗

— Lajos Kossuth

#anything #been #conscience #country #direction

He uttered a curse that startled her with its foulness, and gripped her head between his hands, forcing her to stare at him. His voice was savage. "For twelve years I have been in constant torment, wanting you in my arms and believing it would never be possible. I want you for a thousand reasons other than your legs, and...no, damn it, I want you for no reason at all, other than the fact that you're you. I want to shove myself deep inside you and stay for hours...days...weeks. I want morning and noon and nightfall with you. I want your tears, your smiles, your kisses...the smell of your hair, the taste of your skin, the touch of your breath on my face. I want to see you in the final hour of my life...to lie in your arms as I take my last breath. ↗

— Lisa Kleypas

#love #reunited-lovers #romance #torment #tortured-soul