What really got me about that story was the Iraqi auxiliaries used to threaten prisoners and carry out the particularly brutal interrogations. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me that this is just a situation where a couple of low-level soldiers got over-excited and... hired teams of local thugs to beat prisoners into submission? Clearly the kind of thing anyone might do in a moment of excitement.
How out of control are we supposed to believe US operations in Iraq are if we have this kind of crap going on and the Army claims not know that it's happening? How many prisoners have we beaten not quite to death? What are we doing right now?
I'm amazed the speed at which what once seemed monstrous now looks quaint.
Okay, so, why, why, why, is no one linking to this story? Isn't Sgt. 1st Class Michael Pratt a hero?
And why is it that no one gave a goddamn when I posted the basic story a week ago, but every blogger in creation is linking to the WashPo version as if it were spectacularly new? (Although it's worth blogging itself for the added detail, to be sure -- but the earlier version wasn't?)
I don't get it. Unless the answer is that no bloggers read me, and I'd prefer not to have that be the answer.
Hilzoy linked to it in the comments of ObWi, and you're right, Pratt is a hero. The worst thing about the story is the difficulty he had reporting the prior misconduct. It's as if no one in the hierarchy saw anything wrong with what was going on.
On the linking? No idea, but I did see it the first time you posted it.
And Digby has now linked the second story via you.
It's as if no one in the hierarchy saw anything wrong with what was going on.
Which tends to undercut the bad apples theory.
"And Digby has now linked the second story via you."
Yeah, actually I finally broke down and e-mailed a bunch of bloggers with the link yesterday, which is why I'm momentarily getting about 160 page views/hour, after links from Digby, Froomkin, John Cole, P.Z. Myers, Moderate Voice, and a number of others, if I can pull back the curtain for a moment.
Hey Gary, you should do something to make your link to the Salt Lake Tribune permanent (like, copy the whole text of the article). Trib links expire with alarming speed.
Re 2: Well, according to the WaPo article Gary linked, they're not unconnected. First we kidnapped Mowhoush's kids, then when he came in to ask about them we arrested him and had him tortured to death.