Military abuse and torture of detainees may be more widespread than the official reports have found. Why? Because many incidents haven’t been reported. One case, uncovered by the ACLU, actually involved a death in U.S. custody that wasn’t recorded at the time. When it surfaced, the case was closed for lack of evidence. If actual deaths are ignored, can you imagine how many Bybee-authorized torture cases we don’t know about? Here’s an example of a case where only minor punishments were meted out:
An officer in the 20th Field Artillery Battalion deployed in Taji, for example, was given an unspecified nonjudicial punishment and fined $2,500 after he admitted to threatening to kill an Iraqi, firing a pistol next to the man’s head, placing the man’s head in a barrel, and watching as members of his unit pummeled the man’s chest and face. One of those who administered the beating told investigators that the officer “had given us a talk about how some circumstances bring about extra force.” Another said the officer told them after it was over: “This night stays within” the unit. “We all gave a hooah” before parting, the soldier said. The document indicates that four soldiers received suspended nonjudicial punishments and small fines, while a decision on a fifth soldier was pending.
Hey, sometimes “military necessity” requires you to pummel a detainee. That’s what the president said, wasn’t it? In that memo distributed as part of the war-plan. And he’s promoted all the architects of that policy, right? And no Republicans are going to complain, are they? Torture is, after all, an integral part of the expansion of freedom across the globe. Hooah.
The Dish 