Symbol of Abu Ghraib Seeks to Spare Others His Nightmare

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11ghraib.html

Symbol of Abu Ghraib Seeks to Spare Others His Nightmare
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: March 11, 2006
AMMAN, Jordan, March 8 — Almost two years later, Ali Shalal Qaissi's wounds are still raw
There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin. There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.

Mr. Qaissi, 43, was prisoner 151716 of Cellblock 1A. The picture of him standing hooded atop a cardboard box, attached to electrical wires with his arms stretched wide in an eerily prophetic pose, became the indelible symbol of the torture at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad.

"I never wanted to be famous, especially not in this way," he said, as he sat in a squalid office rented by his friends here in Amman. That said, he is now a prisoner advocate who clearly understands the power of the image: it appears on his business card.
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May God be pleased with him, the fellow has taken his ordeal and used it to help alleviate the suffering of others. Wow.

everytime I see that horrible picture. To think that something positive grew out of such evil...