It’s snowballing

Arab anger at Iraq torture photos

On the Arabic satellite channels, it’s “all torture, all the time” - wall-to-wall coverage of the photographs, the graphic images flooding into homes across the region.

VA Senator suggests Iraq prisoner abuse more widespread

New Mexico Senator criticizes Pentagon on prisoner abuse

Sen. Kennedy suggests Iraq prisoner abuse more widespread, not ‘isolated incident’

The Army said 20 investigations into prisoner deaths and assaults were under way in Iraq.

Abu Gharib was better than other prisons?

Some Iraqis say Abu Ghraib is something of a sanctuary compared with what happens in other U.S.-run prisons around the country.

Abdullah al-Dulaimi, who was standing outside Abu Ghraib trying to get information about two brothers detained there, said he had been held in a detention center near the border with Syria for a month in January.

He says he was once put in something called the “coffin,” a wooden box too short to stand up in, for two days. He says he was also frequently beaten and had electrical wires attached to his penis.

“We were beaten, deprived of sleep and humiliated,” he said.

“If you ever talked to the prisoner next to you, you would have to do push-ups with a soldier standing on your back. They made us stand naked and then a soldier would come beat us with a stick and sometimes sodomize us with the stick,” he said.

Iraqi torture was devised by CIA, claims lawyer

The torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, captured on camera in a US run Baghdad prison, was controlled and devised by US agencies including the CIA, a lawyer claimed today.

Guy Womack, who represents a military policeman under investigation, said the photographs of the Iraq prisoners that have inspired widespread revulsion “were obviously staged” in order to manipulate the prisoners into co-operating with intelligence officials

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Iraqi general refuses to give up Falluja fighters (!)

The Iraqi general chosen to run a new security force in Falluja yesterday distanced himself from the US military by refusing American demands to give up foreign fighters supposedly hiding in the city.

As a flood of civilians returned home after four weeks of a ferocious assault on the city by American marines, Major General Jasim Mohammed Saleh said the US had provoked a backlash from ordinary Iraqis.

“The reasons for the resistance go back to the American provocations, the raids and abolishing the army, which made Iraqis join the resistance,” he said.

I wonder, was he was a double all along? Get the weapons, the supplies, the troops, then show your true colors? Yet one more sign of a disintegrating US offensive.

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Torturers! Prepare for a serious wrist-slap!!

The cover-up begins

The officers and noncommissioned officers received penalties that most likely will end their military careers, although they were not demoted or discharged. They have not been charged with crimes; six subordinates accused of carrying out the abuse already face criminal charges.

No court martials for the officers, eh? Instead, they will focus on the stupid cannon fodder kids, pretending no one gave them orders. It won’t work. Defense lawyers have already said they will ask uncomfortable questions about what the commanding officers knew and when did they know it. (Hmm, can a military court force a disgraced former officer to testify?) Meanwhile, the Pentagon is stonewalling anything about the officers, hoping no doubt that no more unpleasant truths come slithering to the surface.

But a-slithering they will come. On Democracy Now yesterday, Seymour Hersh, who broke the story in The New Yorker said the photos that have been made public are mild compared to other photos he has seen. Further, he strongly implied serious new bombshells will be emerging soon, as soon as he’s done more research.

It is important to note that the only way Hersch could have gotten this information is from Pentagon insiders who are sickened by what has happened. Let’s hope they triumph over the slime.

As for the Pentagon stonewalling and refusal to prosecute the officers, this needs to be protested, and protested loudly and strongly.

PS Mike, a friend, comments, “Horrible…I’m fascinated by the soldier whose excuse is that they weren’t trained properly.  I’m sure that is true…but HEY…I learned that this kinda shit was wrong right after toilet training! Certainly the top of the chain of command must be held accountable.  That means Rumsfeld, Bush, all of ‘em.

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Hmmm. Could these two stories be related?

Draft board wants to draft women and raise age to 35

And, oh yes, young Americans will need to “regularly inform the government about whether they have training in niche specialties needed in the armed services.” Hey kids, maybe you should skip college, don’t want to learn something the Army will draft you for…

Iraq needs 250,000 US troops, says blowhard

A US official who led the hunt for Iraq’s elusive weapons of mass destruction has said America may need as many as 250,000 troops to secure the country.

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