"US prison like descent ‘into wings of hell’"

[bread_and_roses]

I didn't put this in LBN because I am not sure it is less than 12 hours old. The quotes attributed to the Representatives who saw the photos are extremely disturbing. However, the images reported in the first paragraph are not specifically attributed to anyone. At this point, though, I think it is too much to hope that they are exagerations.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/16008.html

snip>Members of the US Congress saw new images of violence and sexual humiliation from a US-run Iraqi prison last night in a closed viewing and one likened them to a descent into "the wings of hell".
They said images showed inmates apparently being forced to commit sodomy, wounds possibly from dog bites, a number of dead bodies, and examples of "sadistic torture" and "sexual humiliation".<end snip

snip>"There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of the wings of hell and sadly it was our own creation," said Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.
"I still cannot believe that this happened without the knowledge of those at higher levels," he added.<end snip

There is no excuse for not releasing these images. Recognizable faces of the prisoners can - and should - be blanked out to protect their identity. Do these people seriously think that knowledge of these abuses is not already widespread in Iraq?

[TacticalPeek]

1. "Rings of Hell", from TPM.

-- Josh Marshall

(May 12, 2004 -- 05:35 PM EDT // link // print)

East wing or west wing?

This from Reuters ...

New images of Iraqi prisoner abuse contain awful scenes of violence and sexual humiliation, members of Congress said after a viewing on
Wednesday that one lawmaker likened to a descent into "the wings of hell."

...

"There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of the wings of hell and sadly it was our own creation," said Sen.
Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. "And when you think of the sadism, the violence, the sexual humiliation, after a while you just turn away,
you just can't take it any more."

That's gotta be 'rings of hell'. Right?

Like in Dante?

I suspect it's the reporter's goof. But who knows?

Late Dante Studies Update: I'm told by a reporter on the scene that Durbin did indeed say 'rings' of hell, as one might have expected. The Reuters
correspondent seems to have misheard. Where are E.D. Hirsch and Allan Bloom when we need them!?!?!

-- Josh Marshall

http://talkingpointsmemo.com



And c-span has congressional reaction to pics here under Latest Video.

http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp

[bread_and_roses]

4. If he is refering to Dante

I thought it was the "circles" of hell.

[TacticalPeek]

5. Both, but ususally "circles", I think. The Ultimate Circle is ice.

For Rummy, it would be icenine.


http://www.atsweb.neu.edu/uc/s.cassavant/DanteOut.html

[madrchsod]

2. rummy and his boys

said the release could/will violate geneva conventions---just like the photo`s of the concentration camps did-not- what a lying bunch of thugs

[jus_the_facts]

3. Yeah same shit goes on in most ALL prisons here in the USA too....

....and NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT IT EITHER! :evilfrown:

[Selwynn]

6. This is why everyone should support the ACLU --- link

U.S. Must End Torture of Prisoners in America As Well As in Iraq, ACLU Says

May 11, 2004

Statement of Elizabeth Alexander, Director of the ACLU National Prison Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON– Like most Americans, I am horrified by the sexually degrading photographs and the reports of Iraqi detainees being threatened with electrocution and rape by members of our military at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. Those who are shocked by these human rights violations, however, should be aware that equally depraved acts are committed against prisoners in the United States regularly without the outrage and disgust currently being expressed by U.S. officials in response to conditions in Iraq.

Indeed, accepted correctional practice allows male officers to work in housing quarters that provide views of women showering, undressing and even using the toilet. In certain circumstances male guards even strip search confined women, many of whom are victims of sexual abuse, often leading to unnecessary trauma and pain.

For U.S. prisoners who have suffered treatment similar to what has been carried out in Iraq, federal action bars them from bringing a lawsuit in our federal courts to gain redress for their injuries. The Prison Litigation Reform Act, passed in 1996 without any congressional hearings on its provisions, prevents prisoners, jail detainees and even confined juveniles from seeking damages for deliberate sexual misconduct and other forms of abuse, as long as the prisoner suffers no “physical injury.” Indeed, if a prisoner in our nation’s capital were threatened with electrocution by his captors and suffered a heart attack or a mental breakdown as a result, he would still have no remedy in federal court.

Degradation and humiliation are just the tip of the iceberg. The ACLU hears from thousands of incarcerated men and women in the United States whose human rights are violated. Many report repeated rapes and sexual assaults committed by prisoners and even staff. The best available data tell us that more than 200,000 prisoners have been raped nationally.

(more)
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15674&c=206