Amnesty International calls for an independent investigation of the abuses of Iraqi prisoners of war by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison:

"There must be a fully independent, impartial and public investigation into all allegations of torture. Nothing less will suffice. If Iraq is to have a sustainable and peaceful future, human rights must be a central component of the way forward. The message must be sent loud and clear that those who abuse human rights will be held accountable."Our extensive research in Iraq suggests that this is not an isolated incident. It is not enough for the USA to react only once images have hit the television screens".

Amnesty International has received frequent reports of torture or other ill-treatment by Coalition Forces during the past year. Detainees have reported being routinely subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest and detention. Many have told Amnesty International that they were tortured and ill-treated by US and UK troops during interrogation. Methods often reported include prolonged sleep deprivation; beatings; prolonged restraint in painful positions, sometimes combined with exposure to loud music; prolonged hooding; and exposure to bright lights. Virtually none of the allegations of torture or ill-treatment has been adequately investigated by the authorities.

Human Rights Watch calls for a probe of the military higher-ups and contractors:

The promised U.S. investigation into the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners should not stop with the lower-level soldiers who were immediately involved, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States should also investigate the superiors of these soldiers to see whether they ordered or knowingly tolerated these abuses.

An Iraq prison diary by Joe Ryan, one of the U.S. interrogators has found its way onto the web. [links via Orcinus and Billmon]

Another disturbing sign of the times....the U.S. is losing its scientic edge.

The United States has started to lose its worldwide dominance in critical areas of science and innovation, according to federal and private experts who point to strong evidence like prizes awarded to Americans and the number of papers in major professional journals. Foreign advances in basic science now often rival or even exceed America's, apparently with little public awareness of the trend or its implications for jobs, industry, national security or the vigor of the nation's intellectual and cultural life.

What does it mean?

Even analysts worried by the trend concede that an expansion of the world's brain trust, with new approaches, could invigorate the fight against disease, develop new sources of energy and wrestle with knotty environmental problems. But profits from the breakthroughs are likely to stay overseas, and this country will face competition for things like hiring scientific talent and getting space to showcase its work in top journals.

"We are in a new world, and it's increasingly going to be dominated by countries other than the United States," Denis Simon, dean of management and technology at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, recently said at a scientific meeting in Washington.

Maybe if we weren't spending billions of dollars on an unnecessary war being fought for no good reason we'd have more money to fund scientific research and our scientists. The Democrats think so and are attacking Bush on the subject:

A released Iraqi prisoner says in an interview he was tortured at Abu Ghraid prison first by Saddam and then by the Americans and his treatment by Americans was worse:

Dhia al-Shweiri spent several stints in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, twice under Saddam Hussein's rule and once under American. He prefers Saddam's torture to the humiliation of being stripped naked by his American guards, he said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press.

....Al-Shweiri said he was not surprised to see TV images of smiling U.S. soldiers posing by naked, hooded inmates who, in one photograph, were piled in a human pyramid. Al-Shweiri, who was arrested by the Americans in October, said he was asked to take off his clothes only once and for about 15 minutes. "I thought they wanted me to change into the red prison uniform, so I took off my clothes, down to my underwear. Then he asked me to take off my underwear. I started arguing with him but in the end he made me take off my underwear," said al-Shweiri, who was too embarrassed to go into too much detail.

He said he and six other prisoners - all hooded - had to face the wall and bend over a little as they put their hands on the wall. "They made us stand in a way that I am ashamed to describe. They came to look at us as we stood there. They knew this would humiliate us," he said, adding that he was not sodomized.
"They were trying to humiliate us, break our pride. We are men. It's OK if they beat me. Beatings don't hurt us, it's just a blow. But no one would want their manhood to be shattered," he said. "They wanted us to feel as though we were women, the way women feel and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman," al-Shweiri said.

al-Shweiri has a plan for retaliation:

Now the 30-year-old, who used to work in a fabric shop, is a die-hard fighter in the al-Mahdi Army, the fanatic militia of a Shiite Muslim cleric who has vowed to take on the Americans.

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11 U.S. troops were killed today. Another 10 were wounded. Are we losing the war? Yes, says Patrick Cockburn, writing in Sunday's Independent.

A year on from 'Mission Accomplished', an Army in Disgrace, a Policy in Tatters and the Real Prospect of Defeat. Against the odds, America has earned the hatred of ordinary Iraqis. In Baghdad Patrick Cockburn sees the battle for hearts and minds comprehensively lost.

The tide is going out for the US in Iraq. They were not able to use their military strength against Fallujah and Najaf. They have very little political support outside Kurdistan. They can no longer win. It may be one of the most extraordinary defeats in history.

Reuters reports the Arab world believes the liberators are worse than the dictators. Check out the pictures.

by TChris

A deputy sheriff in Milwaukee, assigned to court duty as a bailiff, has been charged with sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman who was in his custody.

According to the complaint, Terrell took her and a group of other inmates to a court holding cell, then took the woman alone into the bathroom of a jury room, locked the door and told the woman, "I would fall in love with you, but I'm too old." The complaint says Terrell then removed the woman's handcuffs, took off her prison clothes and assaulted her before re-cuffing her and saying she should not tell anyone about the incident.

This is the second time the deputy has been criminally charged. He was acquitted in 2000 when he was accused of "kissing an inmate and removing her shirt, then exposing himself, on a courthouse elevator."

by TChris

In an op-ed piece published in today's NY Times, Jonathan Knee argues that the government should pursue "a more radical approach to censoring pornography." He builds his argument from a strange premise:

The value of laws against prostitution is well established. What if we were to enact laws that made it illegal to give or receive payment to perform sex acts?

Well, actually, that's exactly what laws against prostitutution do. Almost everywhere in the U.S., it is illegal to pay a person to engage in a sex act with another person; whether the act is performed on the payor or a third party doesn't matter. We all know how effective those laws have been in stamping out prostitution.

by TChris

Jayson Williams escaped a manslaughter conviction for a number of reasons, but his "soft brown eyes" may have played a key role.

Williams's escape route from doom is due, in part, to a bumbling prosecution, his relentless team of elite lawyers, a convoluted law outlining negligence and his soft brown eyes. All of this provided a diligent jury with reason to doubt the courtroom depiction of Williams as a dark criminal mind.

"He didn't have the look of a cold-blooded killer," a juror, Angela Pravata, told reporters. "I didn't see it in his eyes."

Williams didn't testify, but he didn't need to. His eyes told his story for him.

Noah at Defense Tech writes of hints of Iraqi prisoner abuse in December. Billmon does the same with details you won't want to miss.

We have been reporting on alleged Iraqi prisoner abuse for a year. Starting with Noah's timeframe of December, working backwards: In December, 2003, we wrote about it here--and in November, we wrote about it here and here. In October, we wrote about an Iraqi prisoner being left to die at the hands of his countrymen.

In August, 2003, we wrote about a military hearing investigating abuse of Iraqi prisoners. We pointed out a Guardian article of concern to us here.

In July, 2003, we wrote about four U.S. soldiers who were charged with abusing POW's in May at a prison camp in Southeastern Iraq. In June, 2003, we reported the U.S. was investigating whether U.S. troops were responsible for the mystery death of an Iraqi POW.

In May, 2003, we wrote about suspected abuse of Iraqi pows by british soldiers. A soldier had left a roll of film for developing.

The film depicted a bound and gagged Iraqi inside a net that was suspended from a forklift, according to The Sun, which first reported the story this morning. The Sun also reported that the roll included pictures of soldiers performing sex acts near Iraqi prisoners.

So there have been hints, reports, investigation and hearings into abuse of Iraqi POW's all along. We can't help but question the sincerity of those in the military and Bush Administration who profess to be so shocked about it now.

Excellent news. Thomas Hamill, the American Halliburton employee taken hostage and shown on Arab tv a few weeks ago, escaped his captors and ran to the safety of a military convoy yesterday. He is reported to be physically well, with a gunshot wound to the arm that probably occurred during his capture.

Congrats to Jesse of Pandagon who has gotten a job blogging for Ohio Senatorial Candidate Jerry Springer.

Oliver of Liquid List has an analysis of the Colorado redistricting case. He reminds us not to lose sight of the importance of our courts.

David Neiwert of Orcinus writes on Iraqi prisoners and war crimes.

Skippy reports on a New York Times poll that is not favorable to Bush.

It cost $31 million to build. It will open next week with an official commemoration ceremony. It is designed to hold 100 inmates for several years--or permanently. Say hello to Camp 5 at Guantanamo Bay ....the latest and greatest in detention camps.

John Nichol, an RAF navigator in Gulf War I, was shot down over Iraq and paraded on tv. Here is his reaction to the photos of Iraqi prisoners allegedly abused at Abu Ghraib prison. He begins:

They are the images I thought I would never have to see again, sickening pictures of Iraqi prisoners, naked, tortured and humiliated. Surely liberation from Saddam Hussein's brutal, evil regime had seen an end to all of that? Yet here they are, photographs of American soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib's dungeon and of British servicemen brutalising captives in Basra.

They have sent shock waves around the world and shivers down my spine. During the Gulf war in 1991, I was shot down over Iraq, taken prisoner, tortured, humiliated and paraded on TV in pictures that provided an enduring image of that war. Now, perhaps, these horrific new pictures from Iraq will be the lasting image of so-called liberation.

Update: Amnesty International has reports of torture as well.