CBS to Air Soldier Video Diary on Prison
NEW YORK – A video that shows a young American soldier saying “who cares?” about Iraqi prisoners who died will air on “60 Minutes II.”
The CBS newsmagazine (8 p.m. EDT Wednesday) obtained the video diary of a soldier, whose name was withheld, talking about conditions at Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib in Iraq, where Iraqi prisoners were held.
It was “60 Minutes II” that first aired pictures two weeks ago of prisoners allegedly being abused at Abu Ghraib, igniting a political tempest.
“We’ve already had two prisoners die … but who cares?” the soldier says on the tape. “That’s two less for me to worry about.”
The tape reflects the soldier’s dislike for the prison camp and the prisoners, according to CBS.
“I hate it here,” she says. “I want to come home. I want to be a civilian again. We actually shot two prisoners today. One got shot in the chest for swinging a pole against our people on the feed team. One got shot in the arm. We don’t know if the one we shot in the chest is dead yet.”
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Lasagna and a Red Bull is a bad, bad breakfast.
The horrors of Abu Ghraib should prompt something long overdue — serious media scrutiny of the military’s actions in Iraq.
By David Rieff
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Even before the photographs of soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison surfaced, the Bush administration’s contention that everything is going according to plan in Iraq was finding fewer and fewer takers either among the American public as a whole or in the media. Even in the right-wing media like the Fox network, conservative pundits like Bill O’Reilly had begun to challenge the government line that the Iraqi resisters fighting in Fallujah or Najaf are simply a minority of malcontents — those few “individuals,” as the Coalition Provisional Authority’s spokesman, Dan Senor, put it in a press conference on April 20, “who would like to see Saddam Hussein’s regime return.” For anyone but Bush administration true believers, the evidence of widespread support for both the Fallujah insurrection and the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr was too overwhelming to deny.
In other words, Americans had already come a long way toward sobering up from those heady post-Saddam days when White House advance men could sanction a banner reading ‘Mission Accomplished’ as the perfect backdrop for Bush’s announcement that major combat in Iraq was at an end. The images of postwar Iraq — the charred and mutilated bodies of the American contractors hanging from the bridge in Fallujah as jubilant Iraqis crowded round, the ever-growing tide of flag-draped coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware — have all but guaranteed that. But the Abu Ghraib photographs finally seem to have galvanized even many supporters of the war into realizing that not only has the occupation been a failure, but it may well turn out to be the calamity for U.S. interests and America’s reputation in the world that the war’s most adamant opponents always claimed it would be.
::|:| the patriot act & you |:|::
::|:| pfaw patriot act archive |:|::
From the cages at Guantanamo to a jail cell in Brooklyn, the administration isn’t just threatening the rights of a few detainees—it’s undermining the very foundation of democracy.
By Anthony Lewis
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“It is a recurring theme in history that in times of war, armed conflict, or perceived national danger, even liberal democracies adopt measures infringing human rights in ways that are wholly disproportionate to the crisis.”
– Lord Johan Steyn, lecture to the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, November 25, 2003
Britain’s law lords, who make up the country’s highest court, are by tradition a secluded lot, avoiding comments on matters outside of their court. But last November one of them, Lord Steyn, broke those bounds in a dramatic way. He gave a lecture condemning the U.S. government for keeping hundreds of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in what he called a “legal black hole”—unable to challenge their imprisonment before any court. Speaking, he said, as a lifelong admirer of American ideals of justice, he called the treatment of the men held at Guantanamo a “monstrous failure of justice.”
It is not just for Guantanamo that the alarm bells of American liberty should be sounding. Civil liberties are more broadly in a perilous state, wounded in the historical pattern noted by Lord Steyn: repression in times of perceived national danger. In the name of fighting terrorism, President Bush and his administration have abruptly overridden rights protected by the Constitution and international law. Ideas foreign to American principles—detention without trial, denial of access to lawyers, years of interrogation in isolation—are now American practices.
You will perish of fits. Repeat this to yourself:
“Things can work out even if I don’t get
my way. Things can work out even….”
What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
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Like the Wehrmacht, we’ve descended into barbarity
The treatment of Iraqi prisoners is a consequence of coalition policy
Flicking through a Sunday magazine a few years ago I was struck by a colour photograph of heavily armed German soldiers on the eastern front in Russia burning a village to the ground. With the heavy helmets, camouflaged combat jackets, submachine guns thrown over shoulders, the image seemed standard fare. It was only when I looked at the caption that my illusions dissolved. It was a picture of US troops in Vietnam punishing Vietcong guerrillas.
It was an easy mistake to make. Since the 1940s, all instances of asymmetrical warfare – where local populations have sustained irregular campaigns against an occupying army – have occasioned a brutal, sometimes atrocious, response. This was true of British forces fighting the Mau Mau in Kenya, US troops in Vietnam, Russian armies in Chechnya and, it now turns out, of coalition forces in occupied Iraq. The term used to describe the terrible behaviour of German forces in the Soviet Union, the “barbarisation of warfare”, can be transferred to many other contexts, though none as grim or murderous.
Moon Square Moon exact at 06:01 — Discordant emotions
Weak, transient effect: This influence, although not long lasting, can provide some moments of difficulty and irritation. Your emotions are discordant, and you may be more inclined to get into disagreements with others. This will probably have the greatest effect in your most personal life and domestic situation. Consequently you should watch out for unnecessary conflicts with loved ones. In a group, you will not feel that your interests are in accord with the others’ interests. It is not a good time to work with people or to make any kind of public appearance, if peace and harmony is you goal. However, if you are trying to stir people up about some issue or call their attention to circumstances that must be dealt with, this influence can be quite helpful, although the others may not appreciate your role in this.
Expect to have greater concern and more communication with family, friends and neighbors. You will be on the go from morning to night trying to meet all the demands being put upon you. Lots of moving about, conversations and correspondence will fill this period.
Problems with transportation delays or communications can be expected today. You may be a little confused and you should be sure to get proper directions, if you do have to travel at this time.
Your attitude will be a problem today, especially when dealing with your partner. Back up, and try not to be too demanding about how things should and shouldn’t be done.
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Great. I’m going to Neubaten tonight. Maybe I should stay home and watch CSI reruns.
::|:| and now for something completely different |:|::
