> US war crimes : how troops tortured Iraqi prisoners
5 May 2004, 17:18
Noone said the Hersh article was the holy grail. It does raise some questions though. Why are these women, children and men in the prison? Are they being held for flimsy trumped up reasons? As for torture, that has a very wide definition. There are many ways to degrade and brutalize people without rapes and beatings—still torture. Consider the possibility that the rapes and beatings and murders or near-murders are the result of a brutal and inhumane prison system, one that routinely degrades and brutalizes prisoners. If so, then the problem is what Hersh calls systemic. Consider the possibility that these soldiers were "taking orders" to a certain extent and had also divined that this kind of systematic humiliation, torture, rape, etc. would please the higher-ups and may have received some positive responses for what they were doing.
The Bush apology is a too little to late.
Noone said the Hersh article was the holy grail. It does raise some questions though. Why are these women, children and men in the prison? Are they being held for flimsy trumped up reasons? As for torture, that has a very wide definition. There are many ways to degrade and brutalize people without rapes and beatings—still torture. Consider the possibility that the rapes and beatings and murders or near-murders are the result of a brutal and inhumane prison system, one that routinely degrades and brutalizes prisoners. If so, then the problem is what Hersh calls systemic. Consider the possibility that these soldiers were "taking orders" to a certain extent and had also divined that this kind of systematic humiliation, torture, rape, etc. would please the higher-ups and may have received some positive responses for what they were doing.
The Bush apology is a too little to late.