http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/569/569_05_Torture.shtmlsnip//
Since last year, when the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq became known to the world, the Bush administration has brushed aside concerns about torture.
The administration repeatedly claimed that the U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib who humiliated, beat and abused prisoners were simply “bad apples.” But with each passing week bringing more embarrassing revelations--of hunger-striking detainees violently force-fed at Guantánamo Bay, of members of the 82nd Airborne admitting to Human Rights Watch that the beating of prisoners was seen as “sport” by some soldiers--it’s clear that prisoner abuse and torture are a routine part of the Bush administration’s “war on terror.”
The additional fact, revealed last month, that the U.S. has detained more than 83,000 foreigners over the past four years--enough to fill the NFL’s largest football stadium--leaves no doubt that the cases we know of so far are only the tip of the iceberg.
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