Via Crooks and Liars, we learn about a Forbes article that describes how Americans have been detained and tortured for reporting the illegal sales of arms.

He had thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and the land mines and the rocket-launchers - all of them being sold for cash, no receipts necessary, he said. He told a federal agent the buyers were Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and ministry employees.

For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

All I can say is that I now live in total and utter fear of the United States government. I feel that the country is slipping into being a fascist state so quickly that nobody can fully recognize all of the signs. I don't tend to be a paranoid person. In fact, I tend to be overly optimistic and give everyone and everything the benefit of the doubt.