When will the president respond to the cascading allegations of prisoner abuse by the military?
Editorial Los Angeles Times December 19, 2004 A Marine guard in Iraq sprayed an alcohol-based liquid on a detainee, struck a match and ignited the prisoner, burning and blistering the man’s hands. Another Marine held wires from an electric transformer to a detainee’s shoulders, so that the man “danced as he was shocked,” according to military documents made public this month. In photographs now under investigation, Navy SEALs appeared to sit on a hooded and handcuffed Iraqi prisoner and to point a gun at another, bleeding detainee. Army troops repeatedly beat Afghan prisoners in their custody, ripped off their toenails, shocked them and dunked them in cold water, according to recent reports from a U.N. group. Most incidents occurred in 2002 and 2003. The cascading allegations of prisoner abuse, of which these are but a few examples, long ago demolished the president’s claim that only a few bad apples were responsible. So did reports that soldiers and officers who complained to their su
