{"id":1026,"date":"2005-02-18T10:17:58","date_gmt":"2005-02-18T18:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2005\/02\/more_bad_apples\/"},"modified":"2005-02-18T10:17:58","modified_gmt":"2005-02-18T18:17:58","slug":"more_bad_apples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2005\/02\/more_bad_apples.html","title":{"rendered":"MORE ‘BAD APPLES’"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re all familiar with Dear Leader’s bogus claims, and those of his cronies, that torture of
\nprisoners (or if you prefer the euphemism, abuse) was limited to a few “bad apples” and that
\nsystemic torture was never, never the case.<\/P>
\n

Now comes major evidence in a new report in this morning’s London Guardian that “US
\nforces in Afghanistan engaged in widespread Abu Ghraib-style abuse, taking ‘trophy photographs’
\nof detainees and carrying out rape and sexual humiliation” — and then destroying the photos to
\ncover it up after the scandal in Iraq. <\/P>
\n

<\/P>
\n

According to the Guardian, documents it obtained “contain evidence that such abuses took
\nplace in the main detention centre at Bagram, near the capital Kabul, as well as at a smaller US
\ninstallation near the southern city of Kandahar.” Further:<\/P>
\n


\n

[P]hotographs taken in southern Afghanistan showing US soldiers from the
\n22nd Infantry Battalion posing in mock executions of blindfolded and bound detainees, were
\npurposely destroyed after the Abu Ghraib scandal to avoid “another public outrage”, the
\ndocuments show. …
\n

<\/P>
\n

In a separate case, which the Guardian reveals today, two former prisoners of the US in
\nAfghanistan have come forward with claims against their American captors.
\n

In sworn affidavits to a British-American human rights lawyer, a Palestinian says he was
\nsodomised by American soldiers in Afghanistan. Another former prisoner of US forces, a
\nJordanian, describes a form of torture which involved being hung in a cage from a rope for
\ndays.<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/P>
\n

Go read the complete story<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>.<\/P>
\n

To my knowledge the evidence of systematic torture at Bagram, and the attempt to cover it
\nup, have yet to appear in the American press. Fancy that! I’m checking further. When I have more
\ndefinitive knowledge, I’ll post it.<\/P>
\n

Whoops, I take that back. It’s been reported all over. The Associated Press has it<\/B><\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A>.
\nReuters has it<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>. The Boston Globe has it<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>.
\nThe New York Times has it<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>. The Washington Post has it<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>. And here’s one<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> in The Times of London.<\/P>
\n

The Guardian story and the rest are based on information
\nreleased<\/B><\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A> by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has
\nposted the incriminating documents here<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>.
\nThe 1,000 pages of “evidence from U.S. army investigations released to the American Civil
\nLiberties Union” about torture of prisoners in Iraq — to which the Guardian refers — have also
\nbeen reported on in the American press. The ACLU has dripped the documents out to generate a
\nhuge number of stories.<\/P>
\n

Meanwhile, have a look at “‘Nobody is talking,'”<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> another
\nGuardian story this morning, which details how “9\/11 created the will for new, harsher
\ninterrogation techniques of foreign suspects by the US and led to the abuses in Guant\u00e1namo, Iraq,
\nAfghanistan and beyond.” Not incidentally, “it is the British who refined these methods and who
\nhave provided the precedent for legalised torture.”
\n

The story is occasioned by British publication of American journalist Mark Danner’s book,
\n“Torture and
\nTruth,”<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> and another book, <\/B>“The Torture Papers,”<\/B><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A> edited by
\ntwo American lawyers, Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel. Both books have been reported on in
\nthe American press. But the Guardian lays out the themes and details better than I’ve seen
\nanywhere else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re all familiar with Dear Leader’s bogus claims, and those of his cronies, that torture of prisoners (or if you prefer the euphemism, abuse) was limited to a few “bad apples” and that systemic torture was never, never the case. Now comes major evidence in a new report in this morning’s London Guardian that “US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-gy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}