The ongoing scandal of US military abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan

About

    This page dedicated to providing an on-going record of US military interrogation and detention policies and practices in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Author

    JG is an American graduate student in anthropology inspired to maintain this blog by the work of Carmela Baranowska, an award-winning independent filmmaker, whose report "Taliban Country" raised significant questions about detention practices in remote southern Afghanistan. Feedback welcome: JG AT truth-consequences.com

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Previous Posts

  • US: Iraqis jailing too many innocents
  • BTIF: Bagram, Black Hole
  • Proof CIA still using secret prisons
  • Dilawar, RIP
  • Tenet Denies CIA Torture
  • Ex-commander at Camp Cropper accused
  • Iraqis "do the dirty work" (torture)
  • 'Taxi to the Dark Side'
  • Priests on trial for Arizona torture protest
  • Hypocrisy: shock and awe on the body

By theme

  • Abu Ghraib
  • Abuse
  • Afghanistan
  • Bagram
  • British
  • Canada
  • CIA
  • Command Responsibility
  • Contractors
  • Documentary
  • Dutch
  • Guantanamo
  • Hearts and Minds
  • Homicide
  • Iraq
  • Iraqi prisons
  • Journalists
  • Juvenile
  • Military Commissions
  • Rendition
  • Torture
  • Western detainees
  • Whistleblower

    Archives

    • December 2004
    • January 2005
    • February 2005
    • March 2005
    • April 2005
    • May 2005
    • June 2005
    • July 2005
    • August 2005
    • September 2005
    • October 2005
    • November 2005
    • December 2005
    • January 2006
    • February 2006
    • March 2006
    • December 2006
    • January 2007
    • February 2007
    • March 2007
    • April 2007
    • May 2007

    General links

    • Susan Sontag's "Regarding the Torture of Others"
    • Getting waterboarded
    • Yale Law's Jack Balkin, Anti-Torture Memos
    • HRW Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project
    • Alternet's "Rights and Liberties" RSS Feed
    • Columbia Prof Scott Horton speaks on command responsibility
    • Bush's spokesman Tony Snow on torture
    • MSNBC's Olberman on the Military Commissions Act
    • Frontine's "The Torture Question"
    • Slate's "What is Torture?"
    • CACI, contracted for interrogation
    • TITAN National Security Systems
    • Corpwatch's Intelligence page
    • CDI's Legal links
    • ACLU Torture FOIA documents
    • Center for Constitutional Rights
    • Amnesty's "Human Dignity Denied"
    • Crimes of War Project
    • Human Rights First
    • End Torture Now
    • Cage Prisoners
    • Frontline's "Torture Library"
    • CPT's Adopt-a-Detainee
    • Disappeared in America
    • Military Central Command News
    • The Marine Times

    Afghanistan

    • Nangahar Massacre
    • Afghanistan Analyst
    • CS Monitor's "Charting the Reconstruction" (swf)
    • Warlords of Afghanistan
    • Dilawar photos by Keith Bedford
    • U.S. vs. Passaro (ex-CIA contractor)
    • Habibullah's autopsy (.pdf)
    • Dilawar's autopsy (.pdf)
    • Abdul Wahid's autopsy (.pdf)
    • Mohammed Sayari's death
    • Bagram torture and abuse (wikipedia)
    • Convoy of Death (documentary)
    • SBS' Report on Psyops against Taliban (real player)
    • IWPR Afghan Press Monitor
    • Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
    • Radio Free Europe Afghan Report
    • Afghanistan Watch
    • Afghan News Network
    • Human Rights Watch Afghanistan
    • Reliefweb Afghanistan
    • British Agencies Afghanistan Group

    Iraq

    • Janis Karpinski speaks on fumbling at Abu Ghraib
    • Skynews interviews ex-Army interrogator Lagouranis
    • Salon's Abu Ghraib Dossier
    • The Thar Thar Killings May 2006
    • Abu Ghraib victim sworn testimony
    • Interview with Haj Ali, torture victim
    • Jaleel autopsy (.pdf)
    • Mowoush autopsy (.pdf)
    • Jamadi autopsy (.pdf)
    • Dababa autopsy (.pdf)
    • Nagem Hatab's death
    • Mohammed Al-Izmerly's death
    • Jamadi's death at Abu Ghraib
    • Military panel's judgement on Sgt Smith
    • Abu Ghraib contractor John Israel
    • Abu Ghraib contractor Steven Stefanowicz
    • Al-Rawi v. Titan et al
    • Reliefweb Iraq
    • ICRC Iraq
    • Abu Ghraib (wikipedia)
    • Herald report: children imprisoned
    • CameraIraq on Abu Ghraib
    • EPIC USA

    Rendition & Secret Prisons

    • Council of Europe page on Secret Detention sites
    • Air Torture
    • Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act (not passed)
    • CIA's Comment Form (if you dare)
    • Outdoor Rendition Map Billboard
    • Cage Prisoners' list of secret prisons (.pdf)
    • Trevor Paglen's Black Sites
    • Trevor Paglen's Missing Persons
    • WITNESS' "Outlawed" video
    • "Outsourcing Torture" (New Yorker)
    • Extraordinary Rendition (Wikipedia)
    • JURIST legal news: "Rendition"
    • Tenet v. El-Masri
    • An interview with Mamdouh Habib
    • Maher Arar's personal site
    • Resolutions on the Inquiry on Maher Arar (Congress)
    • Secret CIA prisons (original Post story)
    • The "Dark Prison" in Kabul (HRW)

    Blogs/Projects

    • Restore the Constitution Act 2007
    • A Good War is Hard to Find Blog
    • National Religious Campaign Against Torture
    • Torture is Wrong Project
    • Thank you, Joe Darby
    • American Torture
    • Talkleft on Terror Detainees
    • Stephen Soldz on Torture
    • Never in Our Names "Torture" tag
    • Expose the War Profiteers
    • Disinfo's War on Terror page
    • Read the Denounce Torture Blog!
    • Torture Awareness Month

    Bookshelf

      A list of key books highly relevant to the content of the blog.
    • The Schlesinger Report
    • US Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook
    • US Army Counterguerrilla Operations Handbook

    • David Griffith
      A Good War is Hard to Find
    • Giorgio Agamben
      Homo Sacer
    • Giorgio Agamben
      State of Exception
    • Tony Lagouranis
      Fear-up Harsh
    • Michael Otterman
      American Torture
    • Moazzam Begg
      Enemy Combatant
    • Paglen&Thompson
      Torture Taxi
    • Seymour Hersh
      Chain of Command
    • Erik Saar
      Inside the Wire
    • Mark Danner
      Torture and Truth
    • Chris Mackey
      The Interrogators
    • Janis Karpinski
      One Woman's Army
    • Hyder Akbar
      Come Back to Afghanistan
    • Robert Fisk
      The Great War for Civilisation
    • Alfred McCoy
      A Question of Torture
    • Jennifer Harbury
      Torture, Truth and the American Way

    Geneva Convention

    • Article 3

      In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:

      1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

      To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

      (a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

      (b) Taking of hostages;

      (c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;

    • Article 13

      Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.

      Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

      Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.

    • Article 17

      No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.


    Coalition of the reading

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