Sunday, March 19, 2006
NYT: US Torturing Iraqis Well After Abu Ghraib Came To Light
Abu Ghraib wasn't the only place in Iraq where the US ran torture facilities. Of course, this has been known or at least suspected for some time, but we now have proof. This Sunday's NYT, as mentioned in Editor and Publisher and by Atrios, tells of a place called "The Black Room" at Camp Nama that was open for business as a torture site well after the Abu Ghraib scandal first reached American ears. Of course, right-wingers will respond with "So what? They're just terrorists." But they weren't. As has been established in the past, many if not most of the Iraqis picked up and tortured were not terrorists at all. Page four of the the five-page NYT story starts with this paragraph:
Despite the task force's access to a wide range of intelligence, its raids were often dry holes, yielding little if any intelligence and alienating ordinary Iraqis, Defense Department personnel said. Prisoners deemed no threat to American troops were often driven deep into the Iraqi desert at night and released, sometimes given $100 or more in American money for their trouble.Of course, the wingnuts will be on the attack. Which is why we should send the NYT some love for a change (letters@nytimes.com). Reward good behavior and all that.
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