Monday, June 05, 2006

When did that happen?

Andrew Sullivan has been a vocal critic of President Bush's Administration and continues to write extensively about what he calls "widespread torture" by U.S. troops. Here's a quote from his article yesterday that was posted at Times Online:

"If the men and women who tortured and abused and murdered at Abu Ghraib did not represent America, what did they represent? They wore the uniforms of the United States military. They were under the command of the American military. In the grotesque, grinning photographs they clearly seemed to believe that what they were doing was routine and approved."

According a recent Washington Post article, eleven soldiers have been convicted of crimes relating to detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. Seven soldiers were convicted for their actions in the events depicted in the famous photos from November, 2003. Two soldiers were convicted of scaring detainees with dogs, causing the detainees to soil themselves. One soldier admitted pouring water on naked detainees and making them crawl on the floor. One additional soldier pleaded guilty to conspiracy and mistreating prisoners. None of the soldiers were convicted of torture or murder.

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