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September 01, 2004
It's Torture in Saddam's Abu Ghraib, Chile, Equatorial Guinea but "Abuse" in Our Abu Ghraib
A New York Times article about Dr. Hussain Shahristani's efforts to establish an Iraqi National Academy of Sciences:
In Iraq, a Quest to Rebuild One More Broken Edifice: ScienceAugust 31, 2004
He came within a hair's breadth of being named prime minister of Iraq last spring. He was tortured by Saddam Hussein's government for refusing to work on an atomic bomb and spent 12 years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, before escaping during the Persian Gulf war of 1991.
Another New York Times article about Kissinger's lack of concern about rampant torture under Argentina's military dictators:
Papers Show No Protest by Kissinger on ArgentinaAugust 27, 2004
Also at the meeting were William Rogers, then under secretary for economic affairs, and Luigi Einaudi, the current assistant secretary general of the Organization of American States, who took notes at the meeting. Both men have previously denied that Mr. Kissinger privately gave any "green light" to political repression and torture in Latin America, as has Mr. Kissinger himself.
John McCain's convention speech criticizing opponents of the war for ignoring the reality of Iraq's horror's under Saddam:
Text of Sen. John McCain's RNC SpeechAugust 31, 2004
And certainly not a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls.
Reuters sourced NY Times article about Chile's Supreme Court's blessed decision to finally strip Pinochet of immunity for his crimes:
Chile's Top Court Strips Pinochet of ImmunityAugust 27, 2004
The ruling is the latest in six years of back-and-forth court decisions in hundreds of human rights cases in which General Pinochet has been accused of ordering the secret police to kidnap, torture and kill leftists.
An Associated Press sourced NY Times story about Mark Thatcher's involvement in a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea:
Coup Charges Cap Mark Thatcher's CareerAugust 31, 2004
Equatorial Guinea wants Thatcher and his alleged co-conspirators extradited for allegedly plotting to overthrow Teodoro Obiang, the president for a quarter century of the tiny but oil-rich nation. Media reports have accused Obiang of cannibalism and torture, in addition to the theft of his nation's oil wealth.
Now, let's move a little closer home. A NY Times story about Rumsfeld's claim, plainly contradicted by the reports published by the Army itself and later retracted by Rumsfeld, that the "abuses" had not occurred during interrogations:
Rumsfeld Denies Abuses Occurred at InterrogationsAugust 27, 2004
In his first comments on the two major investigative reports issued this week at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday mischaracterized one of their central findings about the American military's treatment of Iraqi prisoners by saying there was no evidence that prisoners had been abused during interrogations.
...
While the abuses that first came to light - depicted in photographs taken in Abu Ghraib prison - were not the ones involving interrogations, the subsequent investigations have shown that, among other abuses, prisoners were kept in harsh isolation, beaten, kept naked and threatened by dogs as part of the interrogation process there. Mr. Rumsfeld has condemned the prisoner abuses, and did so again in his public appearances on Thursday in Arizona. But he has also hewed to the line that a small band of rogue military police were largely responsible for the beatings, sexual humiliating poses and other abuses, especially those depicted in a notorious set of photographs that became public in April.
An AP sourced NY Times article about how some generals may pay the awesome price of cushy retirement with full pay and benefits for their role in "abuse":
Generals May Pay a Price for Iraq AbuseAugust 31, 2004
The Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal could effectively end the careers of four Army generals who are linked indirectly to the misconduct but face no criminal charges.
The four are singled out for varying degrees of criticism -- mixed with instances of praise -- in two comprehensive investigative reports released last week. The investigators conclude that the generals are partly responsible, but not legally culpable, for the abuse last fall.
A New York Times article about how the "alleged abuses" in Iraq may be traced to practices first developed in Afghanistan:
Some Abu Ghraib Abuses Are Traced to AfghanistanAugust 26, 2004
Intelligence officials said the C.I.A.'s inspector general was already carrying out a series of investigations of the agency's involvement in alleged abuses in Iraq, including the handling of the "ghost detainees."
You get my drift... They torture, we merely abuse. Remember, what has happened is far beyond a few sexually humiliating pictures. People were beaten to death, shackled in extremely painful positions for extended periods of time, sleep-deprived for many days, threatened with murder of their families, attacked and bitten by dogs, and worst, children were raped and taken hostage to make their parents break.
Posted by zeynep at September 1, 2004 12:11 AM
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Let's see what the definition of victory in the war on terror should be- to end the hatred of America and stop attacks against the US and it's citizens.
This can be achieved by means other than storming your way into the region with guns ablaze (like justice and equality in foreign policy), then torturing the brownies to confess to defending their country.
Unlike Americans, most people in the world have a cultural memory that lasts GENERATIONS and the next crop of kids named Muqtada will rightfully pick up their father's guns to continue defending the land of their ancestors from those who are invading, no matter what the pretext the invaders come with.
Posted by: portummah.com at September 1, 2004 09:02 AM
It's all straight from Newt Gingrich's list of good/positive words to use about "us" vs bad/negative words to use about "them", & it extends to slapping the label "terrorist" on anyone, at home or abroad, who dares to oppose the US on any level. Did you notice how often propaganda outlets like Fox tried to imply that protesters at the RNC were "brutal", "vicious", "anarchists", "violent", "out of control", etc? Control the language, & you control the debate.
Posted by: Nancy at September 2, 2004 04:44 AM