American Interrogation, American Torture

The Chicago Reader has the story of an american interrogator who witnessed and performed torture in Iraq

The worst part of the story isn't even about the torture, nor even about the 500 dead he saw rottin in Fallujah. It's the stupidity and uselessness (or worse, creation of enemies where there probably weren't any before) of it all. People who clearly had no relationship with insurgents were arrested, tortured, had their bones broken and had mock executions performed. No doubt the Americans got some insurgents in the general sweeps. But it's stupid to catch 1 insurgent and 10 innocent people, and then keep them all in prison, torture them all, and maybe have only a 50% chance of finding the insurgent in that sea of people. Those 10 innocents have been made enemies for life. Killing them all won't help because all of their families have also been made enemies for life. And Iraqis have VERY LARGE EXTENDED families.

The Americans would do better for themselves to just kill everyone in that country and leave it a barren desert. Of course they won't, and so George W Bush will have his forever war on terror.

Where is American honor now? Not that I thought the U.S. government ever had any, but there was some hope for the military. If not as an institution, then perhaps individually. It seems though that the American people and their military are working with the government to bury that honor where no one will ever find it, what little is left after torturing innocents (everywhere in Afghanistan and Iraq), killing innocents (Haditha, but also far more places than are reported, no doubt), Raping innocents (and killing her parents in the other room, and telling her, while she's being raped, that her parents and siblings have been killed).

How many years did it take for the disgrace of Walter Reed to come to public attention? Two? Three? And those were American soldiers being merely left to their own devices. None were even being put under direct duress. How many tortures, massacres and rapes have American soldiers performed in Iraq and Afghanistan where their superiors turn a blind eye to, and kick reports under the carpets so that American honor is not tarnished. At Walter Reed, officers and senior NCOs were all actively ignoring the bad care that soldiers were getting. What does this say for the treatment of those who aren't even americans. If the army will do this to itself, what are they doing to those on the business end of their guns? There are already indications enough.