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November 28, 2005

A Few Bad Apples?

by at 8:02 pm.

Dailykos writer Levity points us to a brave whistleblower, interviewed until this point only by PBS’s Frontline and Democracy Now!, who confirms that torture in Iraq was not just a few bad apples, it’s the whole damned orchard:

Here’s a story that will disappear until bloggers start talking about it. Only PBS Frontline and Democracy Now! have dared to interview U.S. interrogator Tony Lagouranis, who reports widespread torture and abuse throughout Iraq.

He admits:
- frustrated US soldiers torture Iraqi families at length in their homes - including flesh burning, bone breaking, and ax attacks - with impunity
- no matter how obvious their innocence, detainees are always treated as guilty and sent to Abu Ghraib
- officers filed unfounded reports to bolster the claim that Fallujah dead were foreigners
- actually the Fallujah corpses included numerous women and children
- Lagouranis’s multiple official abuse reports, ignored by CID and commanders for over a year, were suddenly re-filed after he appeared on Frontline
- torture has produced no useful intelligence, and efforts to legalize it are “the worst thing we could do”

I have yet to see the Frontline (only the greatest and most thorough damned news show on TV right now) with the interview, but you can read the transcript and see highlights here.

So, folks, is torture now an American value? Seems like it is.

2 Responses to “A Few Bad Apples?”

  1. Dan S. Says:

    Unfortunately for the Kos, they are waaaay behind the curve on this story. Over a month ago a blog run by a US navy SEAL proved Tony is full of crap, and then engaged Tony directly in a debate (in his comments section). You can read it here:
    http://froggyruminations.blogspot.com/2005/10/pbs-frontline-on-torture.html

  2. David Says:

    You ask a great question - and Dan S. above (and the supposed SEAL “Froggy”) unintentionally provides the answer, although not what they attended.

    Dan S. (and “Froggy”) are struggle to discredit and smear Tony Lagouranis, but their link shows Lagouranis engaged those comments with many credible answers, never hiding or misrepresenting how he got his information. (I wish more of our journalists operated that way.) The idea that a SEAL who has never met him wants to discredit him does not “prove” what Dan S. claims.

    In fact, the comments there also include someone in the military who does know Lagouranis - and who disagrees with him on politics - but is certain that Lagouranis must be telling the truth. So Dan S. and that blog are actually terrific evidence of the social and cultural pressure military people use to attack and silence whistleblowers - demonstrating why there aren’t more of them.

    Thanks for the service, Dan.

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