Bush Congratulates Rumsfeld For Doing 'Superb Job' (in torturing Iraqis)
Commentary
~ May 11, 2004: President Bush traveled to the Pentagon yesterday and examined more than a dozen new photos documenting abuse of Iraqi detainees, then went before cameras and – in the words of The Washington Post – “effusively praised” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the “superb job” he is doing in Iraq. He may just as well have praised his excellent work in encouraging his army to humiliate and torture hundreds of Iraqi prisoners in a manner that could only be compared to the man Rumsfeld himself had congratulated 21 years earlier – Saddam Hussein.
Bush had apparently already known about the graphic photographs, which include sexual abuse of detainees and other mistreatment of naked, hooded detainees. Some photos even show a detainee who was forced to masturbate in front of American soldiers. Others show evidence of an Iraqi woman being raped by an American soldier.
The Pentagon is refusing to release the photos to the public our of fear they could hurt Bush and his chances for election this year.
It has also emerged that the International Red Cross “repeatedly” warned U.S. authorities that American forces were behaving brutally toward Iraqis, committing human rights violations that were "in some cases tantamount to torture." The Wall Street Journal reported that the Red Cross issued similar warnings "throughout 2003" but evidence of abuse continued, adding weight to claims by Iraqis that the problem is systemic -- that U.S. occupation authorities are running a brutal, unjust prison system that is damaging the lives of tens of thousands of people. In recent months, according to U.S. officials quoted in various newspapers, the prison system has held roughly 8,000 people at a time.
Meanwhile, the seven U.S. soldiers facing criminal charges for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib facility west of Baghdad have said they were just following orders.
