Gitmo. Just like Abu Ghraib

Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were subjected to Abu Ghraib-style torture and sexual humiliation in which they were stripped naked, forced to sodomise one another and taunted by naked female American soldiers, according to a new report.

Some of the abuse has been captured on videotape.

Based on the testimony of three former British prisoners who spoke with other detainees, the report details a brutal yet carefully choreographed regime at the US prison camp in which abuse was meted out in a manner judged to have the “maximum impact”. Those prisoners with the most conservative Muslim backgrounds were the most likely to be subjected to sexual humiliation and abuse while those from westernised backgrounds were more likely to suffer solitary confinement and physical mistreatment.

The Red Cross says these abuses could amount to war crimes.

Iraqi prison abuse not a strategy, officer says uh huh, why sure I believe him, don’t you?

Since the abuses at Gitmo appear to be the same as those at Abu Ghraib,  then of course it was a strategy - a deliberate strategy.

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Quote of the Day

“Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear that America is under attack, I would have told those kids very nicely and politely that the president of the United States has something that he needs to attend to.”

– Sen. John Kerry, quoted by Editor and Publisher, referring to the moment, now immortalized in Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11, when Bush refused to leave a group of schoolchildren in Florida for seven minutes after being notified of the second attack on the World Trade Center.

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City of L.A. panel backs plan to hinder Wal-Mart

Two Los Angeles City Council committees Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal to make it harder for Wal-Mart to open mammoth superstores in the city.

If the full City Council approves the ordinance next week, Wal-Mart and other large retailers will have to pay for an economic analysis to show if a proposed store will eliminate jobs, depress wages or harm businesses in nearby neighborhoods.

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