Today's Ghraib-bag

Many commentators have likened the Abu Ghraib atrocities to the behavior exhibited during the infamous Stanford experiment run by Philip Zimbardo. The trouble with this comparison is this: American prisoners in Iraqi insurgent hands received better treatment than did Iraqi prisoners in in U.S. custody. We can't blame human nature.


According to the rules established at the Geneva convention, citizens of an occupied country who take up arms against the occupation forces are not criminals or terrorists. They are combatants and must be accorded POW status. In other words, the legal distinctions drawn by Bush and company are meaningless.


In an earlier post, I asked just who leaked the photos and the Taguba report. In light of the over-arching "war" between the CIA and the neocons in the administration, I wonder if the "spooky" side of the equation released this material to humiliate the Bushites (or perhaps I should say "Cheneyites"). This theory would be borne out, I predicted, the moment we saw the usual neocon propaganda journals try to blame the entire business on the CIA.

Well, it has happened. The mighty NewsMax -- which is to journalism as Jerry Springer is to debate -- has offered this piece screaming CIA, CIA, it's all the fault of the CIA. Next up: The radio rightists will call for the resignation of George Tenet.


The Financial Times confirms that most of the detainee were arrested by mistake. I've labeled this the AOI (Any Old Iraqi) approach to criminal justice: When our units cannot find the person they are looking for, they pick up an AOI at random.

The report, published in full on Monday by the Wall Street Journal, said arrests tended to follow a pattern. "Arresting authorities entered houses usually after dark, breaking down doors, waking up residents roughly, yelling orders, forcing family members into one room under military guard while searching the rest of the house and further breaking doors, cabinets and other property.

"Sometimes they arrested all adult males present in a house, including elderly, handicapped or sick people. Treatment often included pushing people around, insulting, taking aim with rifles, punching and kicking and striking with rifles."

The report said some coalition military intelligence officers estimated that "between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of the persons deprived of their liberty in Iraq had been arrested by mistake".

Xymphora makes the important point that Captain James Yee, the chaplain exonerated of spying at Guantanamo, remains under gag order. Perhaps because higher-ups fear what he might say about torturous conditions at that prison? Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, brought in to repair the damage done at Abu Ghraib, played a part in the persecution of Captain Yee.


The CIA and the military have "disappeared" some 9000 civilians. The new term is "ghost detainee."


Quite a few rightists have fought the Abu Ghraib revelations by indulging in subject-switching. "What about those bodies hanging from the bridge in Fallujah?" they've asked. I was horrified by the sight of those bodies, of course; nothing justifies such an atrocity. But let's note a few factors which wingers prefer to ignore:

1. The victims were Americans in a foreign land. Would foreign occupiers of an American city receive a much different treatment?

2. The massive retailiatory strikes inflicted on Fallujah by American bombers far outweighed the crimes committed on that bridge.

3. Military contractors were killed at Fallujah; military contractors earlier committed atrocities against Iraqi civilians. Cause and effect.


From the March 12, 2004 Daily Mirror:

BRITISH captive freed from Guantanamo Bay today tells the world of its full horror - and reveals how prostitutes were taken into the camp to degrade Muslim inmates.

Jamal al-Harith, 37, who arrived home three days ago after two years of confinement, is the first detainee to lift the lid on the US regime in Cuba's Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta.

The father-of-three, from Manchester, told how he was assaulted with fists, feet and batons after refusing a mystery injection.

He said detainees were shackled for up to 15 hours at a time in hand and leg cuffs with metal links which cut into the skin.

Their "cells" were wire cages with concrete floors and open to the elements - giving no privacy or protection from the rats, snakes and scorpions loose around the American base.

And this, from Newsweek:

Donald Rumsfeld likes to be in total control. He wants to know all the details, including the precise interrogation techniques used on enemy prisoners. Since 9/11 he has insisted on personally signing off on the harsher methods used to squeeze suspected terrorists held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The conservative hard-liners at the Department of Justice have given the secretary of Defense a lot of leeway. It does not violate the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, the lawyers have told Rumsfeld, to put prisoners in ever-more-painful "stress positions" or keep them standing for hours on end, to deprive them of sleep or strip them naked. According to one of Rumsfeld's aides, the secretary has drawn the line at interrogating prisoners for more than 24 hours at a time or depriving them of light.

What a humanitarian!


Previously we've asked whether the private contractors can be tried (aside from the sort of "trial" received at Fallujah). FindLaw says yes: Although they cannot be accused by Iraqis in an Iraqi court, they can be tried for war crimes in an American court. This will probably prove cold comfort to the victimized Iraqis, who no doubt want to brings charges personally. Investigating crimes by contractors is the FBI's job; so far, Ashcroft has done nothing.