For the strong of stomach: the Australian SBS Dateline report and the Salon article publishing new photos and video clips of detainee torture, abuse, and murder at Abu Ghraib. As ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh (speaking on the Dateline report) reminds us, the overwhelming majority of detainees are in all likelihood innocent (not that their being guilty would justify these atrocities).
The photos published with the Salon article come from a leaked DVD of photographic evidence associated with an internal Army investigation into the abuse. Evidently the DVD contains 1,325 photographs and 93 video clips of suspected abuse of detainees, 546 photographs of suspected dead Iraqi detainees, 20 images of a soldier with a Swastika drawn between his eyes, 37 images of military working dogs being used in abuse of detainees, and 125 images of "questionable acts".
Based on date stamps, all images were recorded between October 18 and December 30 2003. In other words: these represent a very small fraction of abuse (presumably most such events weren't preserved for posterity) occuring during a short period of time.
No independent investigation into the abuse has been conducted.
"Specialist" Charles Graner was sentenced to a mere 10 years; Pvt. Lynndie England just 3 years; involved higher-ups, Singh notes, have frequently been promoted.
One of the creepiest scenes in the Dateline report shows Graner being led handcuffed and shackled to a van. A reporter calls out "Any regrets?" "No, ma'am", Graner says, shaking his head.
UPDATE: As Juan Cole says: US Constitution RIP.
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