And I thought I'd heard the worst of it.

[novapsyche]

Torture at Abu Ghraib (@ The New Yorker)

Specialist Matthew Wisdom, an M.P., told the courtroom what happened when he and other soldiers delivered seven prisoners, hooded and bound, to the so-called “hard site” at Abu Ghraib—seven tiers of cells where the inmates who were considered the most dangerous were housed. The men had been accused of starting a riot in another section of the prison. Wisdom said:

SFC Snider grabbed my prisoner and threw him into a pile. . . . I do not think it was right to put them in a pile. I saw SSG Frederic, SGT Davis and CPL Graner walking around the pile hitting the prisoners. I remember SSG Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its [sic] ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to SSG Frederick. . . . I left after that.

When he returned later, Wisdom testified:

I saw two naked detainees, one masturbating to another kneeling with its mouth open. I thought I should just get out of there. I didn’t think it was right . . . I saw SSG Frederick walking towards me, and he said, “Look what these animals do when you leave them alone for two seconds.” I heard PFC England shout out, “He’s getting hard.”

Comments

[padpedpladuk.livejournal.com]

I read the article last night - very disturbing.

I couldn't figure this out - how come the apparently empathetic Wisdom refers to prisoners twice as "it" ??

It's like this story was written by a sci fi writer, giving the apparent good guy the name "Wisdom" but having him refer to people as "it".

[akaiyume.livejournal.com]

from his statement about "not wanting to be part of anything criminal" I think Wisdom's talent at covering his ass far exceeds his empathy.