Iraq Postmortem
Steve LaTulippe over at LewRockwell.com does an “autopsy” of the Mess in Potamia. Even though the specifics all relate to the Iraq war, the conclusion is applicable to all Imperial adventures:
- It was a geopolitical felony, committed with malice aforethought, perpetrated by a small band of admittedly cunning fanatics. They had a large mob of accessories who participated “for the cheap thrill of it.” Numerous bystanders saw what was going on, but failed to intervene because they feared the risks involved. And those few citizens who did stand up to stop it were utterly ineffective in their efforts.
It is not a pretty picture…but post-mortems seldom are.
Chalabi vs. Bush and the neocons
Daniel Drezner has an interesting post up taking off on a TNR piece analyzing various conservative positions on Iraq. Drezner asks, “Who will the neo-neos go with — Bush or Chalabi? My money is on Chalabi.” Especially note this bit on the end:
ANOTHER UPDATE: Just got one of Laurie Mylroie’s mass e-mails. She condemns “today’s outrageous, and totally uncalled for, raid on Ahmed Chalabi’s compound” and asks, “Just what is the U.S. doing in Iraq?”
Yeah, she’s stickin’ with Chalabi.
Break out the popcorn!
The Mirror Lies
Mick Hume on the fake photo scandal at the UK’s Mirror tabloid:
- Does it matter whether or not the photographs are fakes or staged, if we believe that British troops have been abusing Iraqi detainees? That is the question now being asked by the UK Daily Mirror’s defenders and the anti-war movement. To which the resounding answer must be yes, it bloody well does matter. …
Since the controversy over the alleged Iraq torture pictures blew up, and increasingly loud doubts have been raised over the veracity of the photos published in the Mirror, a line of defence has emerged which suggests that this is somehow a diversion. ‘Torture is the real issue, not these photos’ declared the headline on Roy Greenslade’s media column in the Guardian on 4 May. …
The irony is that the Blair government has taken a similar line in seeking to justify its wretched war in Iraq. All right, the New Labour spokesman will admit, it seems that our dossiers on Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction might have got the odd detail wrong. But we honestly felt it was true, and anyway these details don’t really matter, because the greater truth is that Saddam was a wicked tyrant and those dodgy dossiers helped us launch a war to stop him.
Note: this stupid hoax distracted almost all attention from a real torture story.
Don’t Spare Us
We can take it, warbots. Come on, tell us what you think about the raid on Chalabi’s home. Don’t hold back. We’re waiting. Surely this isn’t the best bit of spin you’ve got. Yo, Hitch, what up? Hey, Andrew, I’m fixing for my Daily Dish! Lileks, my man, what am I to make of this?
Why the hush, fellas?
Posing with an Iraqi corpse
(Click to enlarge photos)
These pictures are even being aired on American television. This is the Iraqi featured in this news article:
When CIA officers brought the Iraqi detainee to Abu Ghraib prison, his head was covered with an empty sandbag and Army guards were ordered to take him directly to a shower room that served as a makeshift interrogation center at the overcrowded, shell-damaged facility outside Baghdad.
An hour later, in the midst of intensive questioning by military intelligence officials, the prisoner collapsed and died. Only then did interrogators remove the hood to reveal severe head wounds that had never been treated.
The dead prisoner, whose identity has not been made public, would become famous around the world in the photograph of the body wrapped in plastic sheeting and packed in ice – among the grisliest images yet made public in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.
An account of his final hours – and of the failure to provide medical attention to a severely wounded prisoner – is contained in sworn testimony statements provided to Army investigators by military police guards at Abu Ghraib.
Even after the prisoner died, the documents say, officials continued to pursue their own agendas: They haggled over who was responsible for the body. Eventually, the body deteriorated to where it had to be disposed.
The horrific way this man died makes the idiotically happy smiles on Graner and Harman’s faces even more shocking and repulsive.
These pictures have been added to AntiWar.com’s archive of Iraqi prison torture photos.