Quote Originally Posted by nightflier
Sorry, but let the guy enjoy his vacation, already.

Turkey isn't Iran folks. Considering how badly Turkey wants to join the EU, things there have changed considerably since Billy Haye's experience in the 1970s. The movie that was made about the book depicts Turks in a way that even forced Oliver Stone to apologize about it. There's considerable misinformation about the unfortunate events surrounding Hayes' arrest and imprisonment and to say that it was over-dramatized and sexualized to sell tickets would be an understatement.

Anyhow, I seriously doubt our current treatment of prisoners here in the US measures up to any European nation's standards. I remember reading that something like half of US inmates are raped, and even more than that suffer regular physical abuse in prison. Add to that our renditioning, water-boarding, and enhanced interrogation legacy, and it's pretty hard for me to see that we should be throwing stones from our glass towers. Turkey still has a lot of political and social issues, but movies like Midnight Express are pretty far from the mark today.
I would have no trouble traveling to Turkey. If you want to see a prison movie that over-dramatized in the other direction, see the Shawshank Redemption. All those wonderful prisoners who were really good people, despite their crimes. Yeah, sure they are/were.

Have you actually seen water boarding in action? I mean, it's really not a big deal, although it renders the prisoner helpless. If it gets good info out of the terrorists, I'm all for it, and my tongue isn't in my cheek at the moment. The ACLU can stick it where the sun don't shine.