Cheapskate Torture School

Back in the early 2000s the Abu Ghraib prison scandal shook the moral consciousness of America until the Bush administration described the systematic abuse as an isolated incident. More and more photos revealed that the routine abuse of detainees was practiced throughout every Iraqi prison by the US Military and pointed out that the Pentagon had greenlighted torture as a method of extracting information from the innocent as well as the guilty.

"Requiring prisoners to stand 8-10 hours is not torture." Donald Rumsfeld actually believed these words, however by 2004 he admitted before Congress that detainees had suffered "grievous and brutal cruelty at the hands of a few members of the United States armed forces."

Compensation was suggested by the Defense Secretary.

To date not a single dollar has been paid to the hundreds of former prisoners seeking redress for their time at Abu Ghraib. The Pentagon has defended its dishonor by fighting all allegations in court. Easy work since there are more lawyers in the USA than the US Military has soldiers in the Army.

1,128,729 lawyers in suits and 540,000 men in uniform.

No way an Arab has a chance in a US court against those odds.

Even if the prison guards at Abu Ghraib stand accused of beating a man in front if his sisters so badly that he died from internal injuries or electrocuted prisoners on a regular basis or used attack dogs to bite detainees. Choking, suffocation, sensory deprivation, beatings, waterboarding, and a host of other techniques were SOP or standard operating procedure at Abu Ghraib no matter what they lawyers in suits say before the Supreme Court. Guilty or innocent. All prisoners got the same treatment and this is the truth as is the fact that the Pentagon will appeal any ruling to protect its good name.

Remember. And no one is talking about sending Donald Rumsfeld to prison for violating human rights. Not if they know what's good for them and their careers.

ps the brown liquid dried on this naked prisoner was not chocolate pudding.

The Blindness Of Justice

In 2003 online postings from US soldiers working at Abu Ghraib prison showed photos of torture. The Pentagon called this an isolated incident, however the CIA had established a secret empire of prisons throughout the world for terror suspects of their 'rendition' program. "This is not representative of the 150,000 soldiers that are over here. I'd say the same thing to the American people ... Don't judge your army based on the actions of a few. Americans chose to believe their leaders, despite the condemnation of Amnesty International," said Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of Coalition operations in Iraq. Military commanders punished eleven soldiers and announced an end to torture. It was all lies. Especially since most of the torture was condoned by the higher ranks of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency. It was not an isolated incident and neither was the News of the World's phone hacking. The British newspaper sought headlines by tapping phones with sophisticated methods gleaned from the various spy networks of the UK and USA. This week the chief editor was found guilty of phone-hacking, but then according Al Jazeera the jury failed to arrive at a verdict on whether former News of the World editor Andy Coulson and ex-royal editor Clive Goodman were guilty of paying police officers for royal phone directories. The trial cost over $3 million. Most of the other conspirators have been acquitted of all charges and the media magnate Rupert Murdock was never charged with anything. This too was only an isolated incident. His other newspapers were innocent of any wrongdoing in the eyes of the media, who are equally guilty of the same charges and worse. Once more justice has been blinded by the news. The truth will always out. Especially for Mssr. Murdoch, who was known to have said, "Bury your mistakes." The deeper the better.