"Abu Ghraib guard says prisoners were treated even worse than was reported"

[JohnyCanuck]

Former Abu Ghraib guard says prisoners were treated even worse than was reported

In February 2004, Benjamin Thompson was sent to Abu Ghraib to guard Iraqi prisoners. Two months after he arrived, photos of grinning American soldiers torturing and sexually abusing naked Iraqis were leaked to the world. Thompson saw nothing like that at Abu Ghraib. What he did see, he says, was worse.

"The public was told the problem was resolved when a few people were prosecuted," the decorated war veteran told a recent gathering of anti-war activists in Madison. "But the culture and the political reality that turned Abu Ghraib into a concentration camp was never addressed. Nothing in the camp really changed."

SNIP

Thompson said the prevailing attitude among his superiors was that the prisoners were not Americans so were therefore not worth protecting. "My prisoners were killed by mortar fire. By lack of medicine. By lack of sanitation. Food had rat feces it. The water was contaminated and so filthy dirty it gave them kidney stones."

Thompson watched one man die from a heart attack because the military did not provide him with medicine he'd been on for years. "He was the age and build of my father. And he died on the ground right beside me," Thompson said.

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/307209

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Why?

Why is it not closed and bulldozed down? Why does this still go on?
We are better than this ... aren't we?

[AuntPatsy]

2. Because the reality is that to most Americans they do not matter...

the sad truth...even those who spend hours standing on street corners holding signs about the evils of abortion have never taken the time to address the lives of humans already born nor do they care...our priorities have a lot to answer for if it is true that we must in the end answer to a higher power....many will fail if such is true..many....

[lonestarnot]

3. Yeah those righteous right to lifers are a crock.

[cabluedem]

8. Fact is that Americans dont care about Americans.....

else we would have universal health care. Fat-cats here don't give one rats ass for those who are "lesser" then they think they are. In the US its "dog eat dog".

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. So true.

x(

[JohnyCanuck]

4. This should give all Americans a warm fuzzy feeling,

The same US Army that treated its Iraqi prisoners like human garbage is going to be operating in the USA to provide backup policing services (Posse Comitatus Act, wha da?) for Fatherl... er, excuse me, Homeland Security. Aren't you feeling more secure already America?

[G_j]

5. this is important, right?

:shrug: :sarcasm: :mad:

[Solly Mack]

6. War.Crime.Nation.

You don't allow a war criminal executive to remain office (and out of prison) and get to pretend you can gain the high road on anything

[Irish Girl]

7. used as sacrifical lambs

Our men and women and Iraqis being used as sacrificial lambs for the profiteering interests of morbid Fascists. When will the insanity and horror end?

[Mabus]

9. A morning K&R

I am at a loss for words.

[malaise]

10. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al

are war criminals. Until they and their goons are in prison, this planet is in deep trouble.

[JohnyCanuck]

11. One silver lining on the dark cloud

is the knowledge that there are still people around like Benjamin Thompson with an inherent sense of right and wrong, a conscience, and the courage to speak out and inform his fellow citizens of what their government has been doing in their name and with their tax dollars.

[JohnyCanuck]

13. kick n/t

[petgoat]

14. It's Terrorism. We're saying we can kidnap anyone in the world and torture them to death.

And there's nothing anybody can do to stop us.


FOR CRIMES OF ABU GHRAIB, SEND THEM TO THE HAGUE!