I do not mean the current, alternating headlines in the online and print editions, where the t-word is now popping up. I mean, this story where, because it's about the Iraqi victims of torture, debriefed in Jordan, the NYT will use the word "torture" as plain English has it, because it would not offend their sources in the Bush-Cheney administration. But then … the article reveals American torture. Money quote:
The torturers, clients say, have included the Iraqi Army, American forces, Saddam Hussein’s henchmen, Al Qaeda in Iraq, and the sectarian groups, gangs and militias that continue to terrorize parts of Iraq. Some clients report having been tortured by more than one of these groups. Many clients still fear for their safety, so the treatment center omits victims’ names from its records and uses a code instead.
My italics. And this story has details of what US forces did:
During an interview at the center for torture victims, Jamal — trimly built, bearded, with strong hands, and dressed in jeans and a knit sports shirt — displayed a copy of a document in English and Arabic that recorded his imprisonment. It was a “MultiNationalForces MNF-1 verification of detention” card bearing his name and a serial number. It said he was detained from Dec. 15, 2003, until May 1, 2005.
For the first week, he said, he was held standing up in a tent with a hood over his head, and the soldiers guarding him were ordered to let him sit for only five minutes an hour. The hood was removed only when he was fed. But he said two soldiers were kind, giving him water and letting him sit when the officer in charge was not around. Three times he was taken to an officer to be interrogated. The first time, the Americans asked him about terrorists they were looking for. He knew nothing. They took his clothes off, supposedly to look for tattoos.
In the second interrogation, he said, the officer hit him with a baseball bat. Recalling the encounter, Jamal demonstrated, sliding from his chair to the floor. The officer made him sit with legs apart and hit him repeatedly in the genitals with the bat, he said. During the third interrogation, he said, the officer used an “electric stick” on his arms and legs.
For this victim of US torture, Abu Ghraib, where he was subsequently sent, was actually an improvement. Later,
he was terrified that the Americans would arrest him again. He slept with his shoes in case they came for him during the night, so that he would not be taken away again with his feet bare.
It's good to see – finally – the NYT prepared to use the word "torture" for what this country did to countless victims, in contravention of the law, the Geneva Conventions and core American values. It's also good to see evidence of American decency interwoven with the brutality imposed by president Bush.
The Dish 