No-Touch Torture
by Weam Namou
I attended a presentation today pertaining to a landmark lawsuit case against CACI, a private U.S. contractor which systematically tortured Iraqis in Abu Ghraib. The lawsuit was filed by four Iraqis who say they suffered abusive and degrading treatment at the Abu Ghraib prison. The men were all released – one after four years – without ever being charged. These men were professionals, like a math teacher, a live stock trader, a construction worker and a journalist.
The military was largely protected from the suit, but not so with CACI. Earlier in the year, a $5-million settlement involving 71 detainees were reported. In March, Arlington-based CACI wanted a federal judge to toss out the case because they said CACI employees never even came in contact with the plaintiffs, much less abused them. The judge didn’t buy that, so someone – no one knows who – came up with a brilliant idea. Stop the Iraqi men suing CACI from coming to the United States.
Three of the four men (one is already in the United States) had their boarding passes on hand when they were pulled out of the line boarding the plane. Their passports were taken away from them and they have not been able to travel to the U.S. since. Whether or not they will be able to attend the trial determined to be in June is still to be seen. CACI has argued against a video deposition and request that their cases be dismissed because of their inability to come.
There are over 3,000 additional photos of the Abu Ghraib torture which Congress will not release because they are so graphic and for fear of what will happen to US soldiers overseas. Some of these photos include a father and son lying naked on top of each other and various rapes of detainees, including young boys.
The point is this – the selfish, careless and heartless decisions of our leaders will continue to haunt us for decades to come, whether we like it or not. It’s not as evident in American television. Just subscribe to Al Jazeera and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Cultural Glimpse 
Oh God! More shit our American government is doing! And that the American public is not aware of. This infuriates me!! There is so much that needs to be revealed that the government is hiding about Iraq, 9/11 and related, and SO many in the government that should be brought to trial….ex: Dick Cheney, G. W. Bush and others. And they wonder why there are terrorists (real ones)? We help create them! I would use stronger words to describe our leaders myself. Actually, I do read Al Jazeera now and then. I should just subscribe to it. I am so livid about what our government has become. It’s sickening, on many levels.
A few days ago Al Jazeera had an entire documentary about depleted uranium being used in 2004 on Fallujah. They had experts from all over the world, including the United States and England, talk about the damage this has done to Iraqis as well as soldiers who came in contact with the chemical weapon. The last images of the documentary were U.S. Marines shooting at a building and saying “See you in fucking hell!”
If we don’t want more terrorists to pop up in our neighborhoods, we have to care about a war that is over for us but which has remained in the minds of millions of others around the world.
Absolutely! And I have read in the past about the use of the depleted uranium the USA used and there were groups trying to stop this. I have heard about that before about the Marines saying that as well. I am so disgusted with this country…the USA. I am ashamed, anymore. I can’t even get myself to say the Pledge. I would just choke on the words.
Torture of any kind is never acceptable. I, too, am ashamed of my country for engaging in it.
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