Torture debate at times glosses over facts (Prabhu | The Tennesseean)

[struggle4progress]

By SARITHA PRABHU • May 22, 2009

... Fact No. 1 is that 108 detainees have died in U.S. custody since 2002, according to Human Rights First. According to the U.S. military's own classification, 34 of these were suspected or confirmed homicides. Human Rights First has further identified 11 detainees who died of physical abuse, and eight who were tortured to death ...

The facts show that not all detainees at Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram were terrorists or al- Qaida fighters. According to an extensive McClatchy investigation, U.S. terrorist prisons often held innocent men who were imprisoned after raids or bomb blasts. In other words, a large number of detainees were the equivalent of Afghan and Iraqi Joe-the-plumber types who were sometimes harshly interrogated for information they didn't have. A military interrogator has said, "If they weren't terrorists before, they certainly could be now."

It is interesting that some of the same Republicans who wanted to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein tortured his own people, now make the case that we should practice "torture lite" on captured Iraqis and Afghans ...

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090522/COLUMNIST0108/905220368/1008/OPINION01