The Big Picture and the Closeup

When the International Committee of the Red Cross reported in February 2004 on our various Iraqi detention centers, they noted that at all of them, there seemed to be a single playbook – the real playbook – of practices focusing on the sexual and religious humiliation of those detainees deemed “high value,” i.e. most likely to yield Actionable Intel.

To make something disappear, have it occur off the books, on someone else’s balance sheet. This approach works equally well if you want to make a war disappear. Use Special Ops forces, or foreign proxies.