A minor article in The Washington Post mentions something truly apalling that ought to be a cause for outrage around the nation.
Five hundred prisoners walked free from the U.S. military's Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq yesterday, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The detainees were presented with a Koran and $25 on their release, which marked Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Their release was in addition to 1,000 prisoners set free in October at the start of the month of fasting.
All 1,500, who also received traditional white shirts, were released after their cases went before an Iraqi-led review board and were found not to have committed serious or violent crimes, the U.S. military said.
Since these 1,500 Iraqis could not have gone before this "review board" (no judge? no attorneys?) in a single month, let alone a single day, it is clear that hundreds of men and women have been imprisoned long past they were believed to be innocent so they might be released as part of some "goodwill" stunt. Good will? Oh yeah, I'm sure their families felt these gestures were very magananimous of us.
How many months--or years?--had these people been held at Abu Ghraib? For that many innocent Iraqis to be held (and in Abu Ghraib, of all places! Did anyone else think we had shut that place down?) proves that we are simply rounding up thousands of "suspects" like cattle. How many more are being held by U.S. forces? And what lesson do you think Iraqis have learned from all this about American justice?
1 comment:
Who was it that said he feared for the country when he considered the providence was just? Wasn't it Jefferson?
// posted by Raised By Republicans
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