473. EM wave torture (3/18/07)
On 1/24/2000, I arrived at Seal Ream, a town famous with its history site - Ankor wah. A young man picked me up at the bus station and sent me to a Guest House by the motorcycle. It was a common way for transportation in Cambodia.
On 1/25, I came across with him at the reception hall. He offered me a "One day tour" for next day. The bargain included an extra tour. He would ride me to visit Ankor Wah later that day (1/25), because after four o'clock, according to him, the authority wouldn't check the ticket. So I only need to buy one day's permission on 1/26. And I could spent the whole day on other interesting temples. There were about a dozen of them. He showed me the tourist map.
I accepted the deal. About four o'clock, he rid me to the Ankor Wah. He dropped me at the entrance, said I could find him at a tea house nearby. So I went into the temple alone. It was late afternoon, tourists were leaving. I am the only one going the opposite way. I visited the temple with a tourist book. At last I got to the top of Ankor Wah.
It was dusk. I sat on a stone, watching the beautiful sunset, I felt homesick. It was ten months since I drifted in South-east Asia. Though Ankoh Wah was a famous history site, I came here not as a tourist but a refugee to escape the persecution from the Feds. How absurd, a so said democratic country was a so dark country.
Just then I felt a noise, like something moving inside my ear. I felt a little dizzy and sick. I turned around, saw two western men about ten feet away behind me. One held a film camera which was pretty a big one, the other one carried a wooden box which I thought was for battery. The camera seemed aiming at sunset but I knew it was at me. We were on same direction and I was in the middle. I immediately left the Ankoh Wah, left the beautiful sight view which I enjoyed so much.
Next morning I visited other temples until to the Ta Prohm. It was as interesting as Ankor Wah. The temple was kept in its original condition when it was discovered. The giant trees grew up on the temple ruins. Its root stretched in the gap of the big stones. The mood was so ancient and mysterious that some film took it as background. Then I saw that two camera men again. I had to left Ta Prohm earlier to avoid an EM wave torture.
It was before noon. The young man suddenly said the tour was finished. Most temples he introduced the day before hadn't been visited yet. He denied he had made a promise. I couldn't force him to continue. Then why did he gave me two rides that could be done in one day? The road to Ankor Wah was on the same journey to other temples. It was overlapped.
I then knew he must be from secret police of Cambodian. Ankor Wah is a hot travel spot. There used to be a lot of tourists there. To avoid other tourist disturbing the EM wave shooting, the secret police planned a bargain deal at dusk. They almost succeeded if I was not aware of their secret weapon. They did succeed in one thing. That evening on top of Ankor Wah, there were only three people: Me, a potential victim and two men of Feds - special handler of EM wave ray.
On 1/28, I was in Phnom Penh. I joined a local tour. I visited killing field, then to a concentration camp -Tuol Sleng - where Khmer Raug (Spelling? Cambodia communist Party) killed several thousand prisoners there. I watched the jail cell, victims' pictures and then, to a room where torture tool displayed. I met with the two camera men for the third time. They already have set up their camera there, aimed at the display torture tool. If the target stood down to watch, a button would be pushed and a real torture would happen. I passed the exhibition without any delay.
It's a sarcasm that the Feds planned a torture at a site where they accuse others committing the torture crime. When this government claim Saddam torture people, kill civilians, I never took it seriously. Because it did same thing.
A totalitarian country does the torture and kill because the system allows them do it openly. So we know it.
A "democratic" country such like US does same thing but rare people knows because they developed a system to do it covertly. Although there is a constitution to restrain it namely, step by step, the Feds are not satisfy with "do it covertly". They try to make it legally by Patriot Act and "War on terror", by Guantanamo and "enemy combatant".
When CIA and Pentagon make "waterboarding" a legal interrogation technic, I can't help to think of the torture room in Tuol Sleng. Though I didn't stop to watch the torture tool display, I knew one tool is a big water box used to choke victim's breathe. (From the picture illustration before the display room) What's the difference between Khmer Roug (spelling?) and the Feds?
