Monday, March 18, 2013

Torture Chambers in Iraq

Waterboarding really isn't half of the story.  A really interesting BBC documentary reveals information about undisclosed detention centers in Iraq run by Iraqi's under US direction.  Rumsfeld brought in an American that had previously been involved in the El Salvadoran death squads, used to murder civilians and prevent democracy there back in the 80's.  A man named James Steele.  He worked hand in glove with Patreaus helping to run gruesome torture chambers.  Men would just be picked up, tortured, and finally just murdered and their bodies dumped in the streets.

Thanks to Wikileaks and Bradley Manning we learned that the US military directed US personnel to not report torture that they witnessed (see #9 here), which itself is an international crime.  While Steele today lives in Texas and is paid to do security consulting, Bradley Manning sits in prison for trying to do what the law required; make people aware of the crimes that were happening.

Patreaus finally did get in some trouble.  Not for torture.  He had an affair, and subsequently resigned.  That for some reason drew the interest of the US media.  But not torture.  Recall that the existence of torture chambers was one of the justifications offered for overthrowing Saddam.

1 comment:

Examinator said...

See my last comment in the previous topic.
Sadly this ( the deliberate atrocities) isn't something new or unique amongst countries where the population feel they are superior.
Nor is it uncommon in American culture to be more brutal that the "opposition" .... The end doesn't justify the means and sooner or later America will reap what it has sown.
Like the professor said about the Israel V Palestinian conflict see the massacre in Lebanon by Israeli armed militias .
Steele got one thing right but after the event i.e. the Shia dominance was a elementary MISTAKE. American 'hawks' and their corporate vultures are the epitome of insanity .... doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
If you feel that there is a problem with violence amongst that 20 million wait until 500 million + dispossessed Asians are sufficiently aggrieved. Add to that those from the middle east and Africa.