Two commemorative destinations established in the Middle East will help shape the historical consciousness of the region's newest generation. In Lebanon children flock to a shrine dedicated to Imad Mugniyah, the dead commander of Hezbollah, who is considered a martyr to some and a terrorist responsible for numerous bombings throughout the 1980s and 90s to others.
At the exhibit
schoolchildren wait to see Mugniyah's bloodstained clothes, the shoes he died in, his cell phone, or the desk he sat at while he planned his attacks.
Abu Ghraib Inmates Sue Contractors, Claim Torture
Former detainees of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are suing US contractors in four states for alleged torture. The complaints allege that innocent people who were arrested and taken to the prison were subjected to forced nudity, electrical shocks, mock executions, and other inhumane treatment by employees of defense contractors CACI International and L-3 Communications, formerly Titan Corporation.
"If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong." So says John Fredman, then chief counsel to the CIA's counter-terrorism center,
explaining in minutes of a 2002 meeting released yesterday, concluding that torture "is basically subject to perception". The minutes were released in conjunction with the Senate Armed Services Committee investigation into the origins of harsh interrogation tactics used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
What's being called the Torture Memo (written in 2003 and made public yesterday) sheds a bold light on upper official decrees on the
definition of torture at the beginning of the Iraq War. The memo contains language telling Pentagon senior leadership that inflicting pain would not be considered torture unless it caused “death, organ failure or permanent damage.”
It is the most fully developed legal justification that has yet come to light for inflicting physical and mental pressure on suspects, and it was declassified in response to a request by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. Campus Progress has a
great breakdown of the quotes and arguments from the memo.
