[Vision2020] Ex-Soldier Playwright Spotlights Abu Ghraib

[Craine Kit]

What part of "Enough of the RAGHEAD business" didn't you understand?'

I don't give a dying duck what supposed point you are trying to make.  
Your bigotted bullying is unacceptably uncivil behavior.

If you are attempting to engage in a dialog, knock off the insults.  
Make a mature, adult argument and perhaps we could have a dialog.  
Otherwise, shut up.

Kit Craine

On Feb 17, 2007, at 9:09 AM, Tony wrote:

> Ummm, OK Kit, I hope this posting does not disappoint you.  What  
> precisely is "flaming" someone?  And I'm curious as to your cryptic  
> advise that I know who I am talking to before responding.  Is Kit  
> Craine a pen name?  Are you a covert operative for the Soviet  
> block?  In Witness Protection perhaps?
>
> As for the specific points in my post, such as why Casteel did not  
> fit in at West Point and why he allowed himself to be manipulated  
> by a prisoner, you were mute.  Was it your intention to ignore the  
> substance of my message in favor of venting, or did you have a  
> substantive response?
>
> Curious,  -Tony
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craine Kit" <kcraine at verizon.net>
> To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 11:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Ex-Soldier Playwright Spotlights Abu Ghraib
>
>
>> Tony,
>>
>> Enough with the RAGHEAD business. It adds nothing to the discussion.
>> It does show you to be a bigot and a bully who uses a stereotype to
>> avoid thinking. That attitude does NOT contribute to a meaningful
>> dialog. If you want to attack others on this forum, do it in private.
>>
>> Kit Craine
>>
>> P.S. When you flame me for this post, know who you are talking to.
>>
>> On Feb 16, 2007, at 7:48 PM, Tony wrote:
>>
>>> Tom, why did Casteel not fit in at west point?
>>>
>>> And why did he not tell his raghead prisoner that we were NOT there
>>> to kill,
>>> but to pursue those who murdered 3 thousand of our fellow citizens
>>> on 911?
>>>
>>> Sounds like that raghead found himself an easy mark in Casteel,
>>> whose faith
>>> in his cause and country was never there to begin with.
>>>
>>> Later pal,   -Tony
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>>> To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>>> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 1:42 PM
>>> Subject: [Vision2020] Ex-Soldier Playwright Spotlights Abu Ghraib
>>>
>>>
>>>>> From the Army Times at www.ArmyTimes.com -
>>>>
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Ex-soldier playwright spotlights Abu Ghraib
>>>>
>>>> By Todd Dvorak - The Associated Press
>>>> Posted : Friday Feb 16, 2007 8:45:27 EST
>>>>
>>>> IOWA CITY, Iowa - Joshua Casteel spent eight months at Iraq's
>>>> infamous Abu
>>>> Ghraib prison, interrogating teenage boys, grandfathers, taxi
>>>> drivers,
>>>> religious leaders and an occasional self-professed jihadist.
>>>>
>>>> Since leaving Iraq, then later the Army in May 2005, Casteel has
>>>> struggled
>>>> to make sense of his experience, coming to terms with what he
>>>> considers
>>>> questionable techniques used by fellow interrogators. From his
>>>> effort to
>>>> deal with post-traumatic stress and ensuing spasms of guilt has
>>>> come a
>>>> play
>>>> that opens this weekend at the University of Iowa.
>>>>
>>>> "Returns" is Casteel's first play, an autobiographical journey  
>>>> with a
>>>> smattering of anti-war sentiment.
>>>>
>>>> "It's more personal than political," said Casteel, a 27-year-old
>>>> student
>>>> in
>>>> the playwright division of the Writers' Workshop at the  
>>>> University of
>>>> Iowa.
>>>> "I wanted to tell the stories of the people I interrogated - the
>>>> story of
>>>> ... those who committed torture and what happened to them and
>>>> their search
>>>> for forgiveness."
>>>>
>>>> The play begins when Casteel arrives in Iraq, eight months after
>>>> photographs
>>>> surfaced showing the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The
>>>> scandal
>>>> has led to the convictions of 11 enlisted soldiers for cruelty and
>>>> mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.
>>>>
>>>>> From there, the play unfolds in vignettes that skip across time  
>>>>> and
>>>> continents. Some are set in the prison with Casteel, playing the
>>>> lead role
>>>> of James, questioning Ahmed, a prisoner dressed in an orange
>>>> jumpsuit who
>>>> is
>>>> accused of attending terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
>>>>
>>>> Others are set after James and his small circle of military
>>>> friends have
>>>> returned home. At times, the cast fondly recalls the laughs and  
>>>> light
>>>> moments shared in war. Other scenes are more troubling, such as the
>>>> recurring theme of Mark, a fictional interrogator who engaged in
>>>> torture
>>>> and
>>>> seeks forgiveness from James, who is reluctant to give it.
>>>>
>>>> Casteel said his own battles with post-traumatic stress and his
>>>> struggles
>>>> to
>>>> savor the quiet moments in his postwar life account for the play's
>>>> form.
>>>>
>>>> "The hardest thing for me when I got back was just being still,"
>>>> Casteel
>>>> said. "It was hard for me to write for long periods of time and
>>>> focus,
>>>> which
>>>> is why I wrote this in vignettes and short periods of action."
>>>>
>>>> A native of Cedar Rapids, Casteel grew up an evangelical
>>>> Christian, spent
>>>> summers at Christian Bible camps and was president of his high
>>>> school's
>>>> Young Republicans club. As a junior in high school, he enlisted in
>>>> the
>>>> Army
>>>> Reserve and after graduation enrolled in the U.S. Military Academy,
>>>> quitting
>>>> after five months at West Point.
>>>>
>>>> "I felt too claustrophobic and stifled there, too different," he
>>>> said.
>>>>
>>>> But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Casteel re- 
>>>> enlisted,
>>>> opting
>>>> for the Army's intensive Arabic language and interrogation
>>>> training. He
>>>> deployed to Baghdad in 2004, postponing an invitation to enroll in
>>>> the
>>>> seminary.
>>>>
>>>> At the time of his arrival, the prison was already operating under
>>>> reforms
>>>> prompted by the scandal. Yet Casteel said friends assigned to  
>>>> special
>>>> forces
>>>> and mobile interrogation units, operating outside the prison, used
>>>> tools
>>>> that conflicted with international law. In the play, Casteel
>>>> incorporates
>>>> techniques to induce hypothermia as well as loud music, bright
>>>> lights,
>>>> kicking and punching.
>>>>
>>>> After eight months in Abu Ghraib and a series of interrogations
>>>> with a
>>>> 22-year-old jihadist prisoner, Casteel had had enough.
>>>>
>>>> "We began to discuss war and violence," Casteel said. "I asked him
>>>> why he
>>>> came to kill, and he asked me why I did? At that point, I knew I
>>>> could go
>>>> no
>>>> further, unless I wanted to get into a debate about which one of
>>>> us had
>>>> the
>>>> more just cause."
>>>>
>>>> Casteel filed for conscientious objector status in February 2005  
>>>> and
>>>> received an honorable discharge three months later.
>>>>
>>>> Since then, he has given talks about the war. Last year, he
>>>> performed part
>>>> of "Returns" at a fundraiser for Human Rights Watch in Great
>>>> Britain at
>>>> the
>>>> invitation of David Gothard, associated director of the Abbey
>>>> Theatre,
>>>> Ireland's national theater. Gothard, a guest professor at the
>>>> University
>>>> of
>>>> Iowa this semester, is the director of "Returns."
>>>>
>>>> "I think this is going to be a major play," Gothard said. "I think
>>>> it's a
>>>> brilliant example of someone who realizes halfway through what
>>>> he's doing
>>>> in
>>>> war, stops everything and begins writing on the raw edge of the
>>>> situation
>>>> we're in."
>>>>
>>>> The play is also scheduled to be performed Monday at Columbia
>>>> College in
>>>> Chicago.
>>>>
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>>>>
>>>> Tom Hansen
>>>> Moscow, Idaho
>>>>
>>>> "It's hard for me, living in this beautiful White House, to give
>>>> you a
>>>> firsthand assessment. I haven't been there. You have. I haven't."
>>>>
>>>> -- George W. Bush, when asked by ABC reporter Martha Raddatz if
>>>> there is a
>>>> civil war in Iraq
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
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