Today In U.S. War Crime News

More sickening evidence that the terrorists at Abu Ghraib (that is, the captors) weren't the aberration the U.S. claimed them to be. And they knew it.

First, via Bob Harris, a story on Salon, "Whitewashing torture?" (subscription or free day-pass required).

So, here's the story in a nutshell - National Guard Military Intelligence Sgt. Greg Ford tried to blow the whistle on torture that he was witnessing. So, they falsely claimed he was crazy and express-mailed his ass out of Iraq. (I guess Klinger should have reported prisoner abuse, instead of just wearing a dress all those years.) Granted, one can imagine (or try to) the pressure this guy's unit was constantly under, being shelled by mortars from every direction day and night, trying to find and stop them. But there is no excuse, ever, for violating the Geneva Conventions.

[Col. C.] Tsai [a military doctor who examined Ford in Germany] told Spiegel that he had treated "three or four" other U.S. soldiers from Iraq that were also sent to Landstuhl for psychological evaluations or "combat stress counseling" after they reported incidents of detainee abuse or other wrongdoing by American soldiers...

If Ford's allegations are proven, the Army would be faced with evidence that its prisoner abuse problem is even more widespread than previously acknowledged -- and that some of its own officers not only turned a blind eye to abuses but actively participated in covering them up...

According to Ford, his teammates, three counterintelligence agents like himself -- one of them a woman -- systematically and repeatedly abused several Iraqi male detainees over a two-to three-week time period. Ford describes incidents of asphyxiation, mock executions, arms being pulled out of sockets, and lit cigarettes forced into detainee's ears while they were blindfolded and bound...

"[Ford's commanding officer, Capt. Victor Artiga] looked right at me and said, 'Nope, that never happened. You're delusional, you imagined the whole thing. And you've got 30 seconds to withdraw your complaint. If you do, it will be as if this conversation never took place.'"...

When a CID [Criminal Investigation Command] investigator finally began pursuing the matter in the fall, Artiga told the investigator that the 223rd had "looked into it" and found "nothing wrong."...

But wait, there's more! In an article in today's Guardian Unlimited, Abuse 'continued after Abu Ghraib', there's additional evidence of torture and abuse, plus (surprise!) additional evidence of covering it up.

US military officials witnessed the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at a second Baghdad prison at the height of the Abu Ghraib scandal and were threatened and harassed when they attempted to report the abuse, official memos released by the Pentagon have shown...

documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have revealed that senior Pentagon officials who claimed that Abu Ghraib was an aberration were repeatedly informed of abuse elsewhere through official channels.

I hate it when my country makes me sick. But on the plus side, I bet the victims will just forgive the U.S. and be fine with it. Or, even if they don't, they probably won't tell anybody about it. Or, if they do, it certainly won't be exaggerated in the telling. Or, if it is, I'll bet plentiful first-hand accounts of U.S. war crimes, in the midst of a war that's unnecessary and groundless in the first place, certainly won't be used to recruit new anti-American terrorists. Yes, those terrorists are just about all finished, I reckon.

Where's George? I want to vote for him after all! It's not too late is it?