Speaking of that Beacon of Hope in Iraq

/in /by

Mark Hosenball first reported this back in July, then linked back to that report last week. But given yesterday’s post on our what we’ve accomplished in Iraq, I thought it worth noting that the most inflammatory material in the next big Wikileaks dump–which appears to be the Iraq war log Bradley Manning leaked–reportedly pertains to Iraqi abuse of detainees.

According to one of the sources, the Iraq material portrays U.S. forces being involved in a “bloodbath,” but some of the most disturbing material relates to the abusive treatment of detainees not by Americans but by Iraqi security forces, the source says.

We’ll see whether that material has the kind of impact that the Abu Ghraib revelations had.

But that also suggests that we’re prosecuting Bradley Manning–among other things–for leaking information on the torture our client state in Iraq conducts.

image_print
  1. BoxTurtle says:

    I hate to say it, but I hear the yawns already. Nobody outside of FDL seems to care when America tortures scary brown moslems, even scary brown American citizen moslems. When it’s revealed that Iraq is doing it to their own scary brown moslem citizens, the reactions will be:

    1) The Iraqi’s are sharing what they learn, right?

    2) If they didn’t do it, we’d have to do it.

    3) What’s the point spread on the Steelers game?

    Boxturtle (I’d like to be wrong)

  2. bmaz says:

    Well, add another given reason we invaded Iraq to the shitpile of history.Along with the litany of other false bases stated for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, this pretty much confirms we didn’t go to stop the torture and mistreatment of Iraqi citizens by Sadaam and/or the Iraqi government.

    • bobschacht says:

      …this pretty much confirms we didn’t go to stop the torture and mistreatment of Iraqi citizens by Sadaam and/or the Iraqi government.

      Exactly. This was one of the “reasons” that has been offered as to why we had to topple Saddam (As you imply.)

      Just when did George W. Bush become a member of the “Rationale of the Month” Club?

      Bob in AZ

  5. thatvisionthing says:

    What Julian Assange said, about an Army report on Wikileaks and how to neutralize it — the thing the Army was worried about wasn’t leaking per se, it was “whistleblowing” — exposure of wrongdoing:

    JULIAN ASSANGE: Yeah. This was a 2008 counterintelligence analysis of us by the US Army….Now, what’s more interesting about that report is the middle. It says that—it recommends that we be attacked by destroying our center of gravity—that is, the trust that confidential sources have in us and the trust that the public has in the integrity of the material that we release. It goes on to explain examples of why we maybe should be attacked. And those examples are examples which have embarrassed the US military, revelations of abuses at Guantanamo Bay, abuses in Fallujah, and potentially illegal use of small chemical weapons in Iraq. Now, it says that one of the ways of attacking that center of gravity is by publicly prosecuting whistleblowers. It even uses that word, “whistleblower,” not US military personnel or other personnel who are engaging in irresponsible leaking, but rather whistleblowers, people who are blowing the whistle on abuse.

    I’ve posted that quote before but it’s like the sun that comes up anew every day. The only there there in the War of Terror is the reality we can’t see because (Darth voice) it’s a national secret. Plus God bless America, amen.

  6. Mary says:

    No matter what happens in Iraq, at least we have a Plan B going with our Beacon of Hopey-Changey in Saudi Arabia. Obama plans on “creating jobs” with a humongous sale of weaponery to SA. With all those weapons, you can bet something will be lit up enough to be a beacon.

    Good thing we didn’t have a brainless warmonger with no appreciation for the consequences of their actions like Sarah Palin running that show. /s

    • bobschacht says:

      Obama plans on “creating jobs” with a humongous sale of weaponery to SA.

      This is the one sure type of “job creation program” that a president can almost always get. Who is going to object? I’m just surprised that he hasn’t done more of this, sooner. Except for the part about making things that kill and maim people, these are “good” jobs, that pay well and promote the manufacturing sector.

      I just wish it was so easy to create jobs in non-lethal industries, like public works jobs. What we need is a WPA for the 21st Century, hiring hundreds of thousands of workers.

      Bob in AZ