"smacky-face"

[Gerald Cohen]

   I didn't ever expect to find cutesy talk in connection with
macho-type activity, but an example turns up in the Wall Street
Journal, March 4, 2003,
Section B, p. 9, column 3: (continued from p. B1, col. 2-5; title: "How Do
U.S. Interrogators Make A Captured Terrorist Talk?"):

    '...In other words, as long as the pain and suffering aren't
"severe," it's permissible to use physical force and to cause
"discomfort," as some U.S. interrogators euphemistically put it.
Among the techniques:  making captives wear black hoods, forcing them
to stand in painful "stress positions" for a long time and subjecting
them to interrogation sessions lasting as long as 20 hours.

     'U.S. officials overseeing interrogations of captures al Qaeda
forces at Bagram and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba can even
authorize "a little bit of smacky-face," a U.S. intelligence official
says.  "Some al Qaeda just need some extra encouragement," the
official says." ...'


Gerald Cohen