IRAQ WAR - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Abu Ghraib: Business as Usual |
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by Kurt Nimmo Another Day in the Empire Entered into the database on Tuesday, October 04th, 2005 @ 13:42:05 MST |
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In the aftermath of Private First Class Lynndie England’s conviction
for abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, she has told NBC’s Dateline “I
know worse things were happening over there.” In her first post-court-martial
interview, England “said one night she heard blood-curdling screams coming
from the block’s shower room, where non-military interrogators had taken
an Arab detainee,” reports Yahoo
News. “The interrogators were not identified, but several investigations
into the abuse have disclosed that Central Intelligence Agency operatives
worked at Abu Ghraib alongside US military intelligence, mining for
useful information.” In addition to CIA and MI knuckle-draggers, it was
revealed earlier this year, “US defense contractors” were
involved in the torture of Iraqi detainees. “Three employees of CACI International
and Titan—working at Abu Ghraib as civilian contractors—were separately
accused of abusive behavior,” the Guardian
reported in January. Instead of firing the contractors and hurriedly engaging
in damage control, the Pentagon awarded CACI International with “a $16
million renewal of its contract. Titan, meanwhile, has been awarded a new contract
worth $164m.” In short, over at the torture and rape chambers of Abu Ghraib, it is
business as usual. For torture apologists and emotional cripples such
as Rush Limbuagh, this endless violence and abuse is simply “our troops”
blowing off a little steam. Most Americans, thanks to the corporate media—more
interested in the fate of a white girl such as Natalee Holloway and unconcerned
about Arab Iraqis under the burden of American occupation—are blissfully
unaware of what the Pentagon, CIA, and “military contractors” are
doing in their name. If not for the grisly and inhumane nature of the “interrogation”
(of mostly innocent victims) at Abu Ghraib, the Pentagon’s response to
criticism would be almost amusing. “A federal judge in New York, responding
to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ruled Thursday [87
photographs and four videotapes made by guards] should be made public. But the
Defense Department was expected to appeal, arguing such a release would fuel
anti-American propaganda and help recruit new Islamic extremists in Iraq and
elsewhere.” Of course, for Iraqis joining the resistance, Abu Ghraib is
but one small instance of abuse and humiliation—in fact, much of the country
is Abu Ghraib on steroids, a hell-hole of polluted drinking water, destroyed
hospitals, intermittent electricity, sectarian violence, and Israeli-styled
checkpoints situated on a landscape polluted with depleted uranium. Simply existing
on a day-to-day basis in post-invasion Iraq is more than enough to “recruit
new Islamic extremists” and others determined to get rid of the Americans. Lynndie England’s latest revelations are simply confirmation of what
many of us already know—the United States is engaged in wholesale abuse
and “acts of brutality and purposeless sadism” (as Major
General George Fay revealed) not only at Abu Ghraib but all across Iraq.
Additional photographs and videotapes are not required to arrive at the obvious
conclusion—the United States is waging a depraved “clash of civilizations”
war against not only the Iraqi people, but Islamic society and culture at large.
Under such horrific conditions, it should not be surprising Iraqis are treated
as less than human, thus motivating “extremists in Iraq and elsewhere”
to fight back. It is, however, truly remarkable more Iraqis—many who have
lost mothers, fathers, children, and other relatives and friends to “acts
of brutality and purposeless sadism”—have not taken the war to America.
But then maybe Iraqis possess something a lot of Americans apparently lack—compassion
and a sense of right and wrong. |