"I never wanted to be famous, especially not in this way."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Symbol of Abu Ghraib Seeks to Spare Others His Nightmare

By HASSAN M. FATTAH

AMMAN, Jordan, March 8 — Almost two years later, Ali Shalal Qaissi's wounds are still raw. There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin. There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.

Mr. Qaissi, 43, was prisoner 151716 of Cellblock 1A. The picture of him standing hooded atop a cardboard box, attached to electrical wires with his arms stretched wide in an eerily prophetic pose, became the indelible symbol of the torture at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. (The American military said Thursday that it would abandon the prison and turn it over to the Iraqi government.)

"I never wanted to be famous, especially not in this way," he said, as he sat in a squalid office rented by his friends here in Amman. That said, he is now a prisoner advocate who clearly understands the power of the image: it appears on his business card:



At first glance, there is little to connect Mr. Qaissi with the infamous picture of a hooded man except his left hand, which he says was disfigured when an antique rifle exploded in his hands at a wedding several years ago. A disfigured hand also seems visible in the infamous picture, and features prominently in Mr. Qaissi's outlook on life. In Abu Ghraib, the hand, with two swollen fingers, one of them partly blown off, and a deep gash in the palm, earned him the nickname Clawman, he said.



Ali Shalal Qaissi in Amman, Jordan, recently with a picture of himself standing atop a box and attached to electrical wires in Abu Ghraib.

Published: March 11, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/international/middleeast/11ghraib.html

[Mythsaje]

1. I'm sure turning it over to the Iraqi government will make it all

better. Well, at least American service-people won't be snapping digital pics and movies and sending them over the 'net.

I GUESS that's better.

[NYC]

2. On Friday they retracted that. They will not be turning it over.

That's what I read.

[Hekate]

4. Abu Ghraib should have been leveled by US tanks the first day...

Now, THAT would have been a potent symbol of freedom from Saddam.

But hey, US tanks should also have been sent to GUARD the museum, the rare books library, and other cultural artifacts of our shared human history.

Which they were not. Inanna wept and raged.

So many missed chances to get things right -- so many roads to Hell.

Hekate

[undergroundpanther]

3. he looks like such a sweet gentle guy too.

He looks like any someone who may have been a schoolteacher,or someone you'd meet doing gardening a chess club or something.
Why was he arrested? Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time,like so many inncents broken by the THUGS of america?
Damn I am ashamed of this country's bully bullshit.I hope he and all the other innocents tortured for greed and empire shame the FUCK out of the assholes who torture people.

[Dem2theMax]

5. Seeing his face made me cry for him.

No other words. Just tears. :cry:

[tech3149]

6. We could never repay our debt to Islamic culture even before this

If you missed it, an article in the Independent profiled the 20 greatest contributions to Western society (we stole their ideas and research). http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article350594.ece
For those interested in seeing more detailed information you can check out this site.
http://www.1001inventions.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewSection&intSectionID=309

We owe them much more than 40 acres and a mule.

[tecelote]

7. Excellent Post.

A little education in America would go a long way.

Persia has been called the birthplace of civilization.

America may be known as the end of civilized society.