Officer Suggests Iraq Jail Abuse Was Encouraged

These guys put the NYPD to shame.

Remember Abner Louima?



WASHINGTON, May 1 — An Army Reserve general whose soldiers were photographed as they abused Iraqi prisoners said Saturday that she knew nothing about the abuse until weeks after it occurred and that she was "sickened" by the pictures. She said the prison cellblock where the abuse occurred was under the tight control of Army military intelligence officers who may have encouraged the abuse.

The suggestion by Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski that the reservists acted at the behest of military intelligence officers appears largely supported in a still-classified Army report on prison conditions in Iraq that documented many of the worst abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, including the sexual humiliation of prisoners.

The New Yorker magazine said in its new edition that the report by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba found that reservist military police at the prison were urged by Army military officers and C.I.A. agents to "set physical and mental conditions for favorable interrogation of witnesses."

According to the New Yorker article, the Army report offered accounts of rampant and gruesome abuse from October to December of 2003 that included the sexual assault of an Iraqi detainee with a chemical light stick or broomstick.

http://nytimes.com/2004/05/02/international/middleeast/02ABUS.html?hp

and Sy Hersh indicates this reaches ALL the way up the chain of command.

That the tortures WERE the product of CIA research... looking for the best way to humiliate Muslims.

That this is a form of cyclical interrogation that is only about abuse and not intelligence gathering.

The veil of ethical supremacy is being destroyed, revealing fascist torture methods. This needs to be a high-profile issue.

I have no doubt that the abuse was not only condoned, but encouraged. At my age, I'll be 61 next month, I have seen what goes on in this country, and there have been many times when abuse has been considered acceptable.

I know how this country has treated native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, gays, and any other group that whit men have chosen to demonize.

There will always be within society a certain number of sadistic, amoral people. Normally, they are held in check to a certain extent by making their actions criminal or viewing them with revulsion. That element of the sadistic has been encouraged by the neocons...they feel that they have been given a license to get away with anything.

Look at our so-called leaders, and you need look no further to see why these atrocities are happening. They do not think the abuses were wrong, they are only sorry they got caught.

the united states has had bloody hands for years. it`s the dark side no one wants to admitt.