TORTUREGATE APPEARS TO WIDEN

From the NY Times via the Houston Chronicle:

2nd prisoner abuse site comes to light

After several visits to Camp Cropper, where they interviewed Iraqi prisoners, officials of the ICRC in early July 2003 cited at least 50 incidents of abuse reported to have taken place in a part of the prison under the control of military interrogators.

In one example cited to U.S. officers in Baghdad that month by the committee officials, a prisoner said he had been beaten during interrogation, as part of an ordeal in which he was hooded, cuffed, threatened with torture and death, urinated on, kicked in the head, lower back and groin, "force-fed a baseball which was tied into the mouth using a scarf and deprived of sleep for four consecutive days."

A medical examination of the prisoner by the committee's doctors "revealed hematoma in the lower back, blood in urine, sensory loss in the right hand due to tight handcuffing with flexi-cuffs, and a broken rib," said a final report by the Red Cross panel, which was presented to U.S. officials in February 2004.

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And from the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

U.S. investigating Afghan prisoner abuse

The U.S. military has launched a second probe into alleged prisoner abuse in Afghanistan in a week, a spokesman said today.

On Monday, the U.S. military opened a criminal investigation into complaints of mistreatment from a former Afghan police officer who claimed he was beaten and sexually assaulted during 40 days in custody last summer.

U.S. military spokesman Tucker Mansager said leaders of the U.S.-led coalition had been notified on Thursday of "another allegation of detainee abuse" and had begun an "immediate investigation."

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It's becoming pretty clear that this has been going on all over the place: this can no longer be seen as an isolated incident; when abuses are this widespread, the ultimate blame must be laid at the feet of military commanders. It's time for Rumsfeld to go.

Actually, it's time for Bush to go.

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