29,
March 2004 Prisoner
Abuse
In yet another sad episode of official
denial into the sadistic behavior of prison guards at Abu Garaib and other
prisons, a high-level army investigation cleared four top officers who were in charge
of prison policies. It defies belief that top army officials and Pentagon
policy makers were unaware of the torture and brutality of
these guards. If this is indeed true, these officials are surely
guilty of dereliction of duty and outright incompetence and must be held
accountable.
In a companion story, Army Gen. George W.
Casey said he had no reason to believe that U.S. officials
were warned that Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian reporter who was kidnaped and subsequently
released, and her bodyguard and driver were on the airport road when their car
came under attack from US forces. According to Italian reports, the US military
had been alerted and an Italian jet transport was waiting and ready at Bagdad
airport.
In a desperate effort to escape the watchful
eyes of human rights groups, the Pentagon is now outsourcing
torture (rendition) to autocratic and repressive regimes mimicking Saddam
Hussein's. How can our government officials, religious leaders and indeed the
American people choose to remain silent and thereby
acquiesce in the mistreatment of prisoners, most of whom are innocent
according to the ICRC? How can these same officials who claim to revere life
and oppose abortion be so indifferent to the suffering of people of other
faiths and nationalities?
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