Apologies for the silence here; in my scattered efforts to finish up one semester and get ready for something completely different, I've now had two complex posts wiped out before I had a chance to save them. within the past 4 days. For now, I will punt to Elendil, whose page should be a stop on your blogroll already and who has much to say about what's already become a succesful part of the new government in Iraq:
Most of the updates have been added to the month of July, as the new Iraqi government shows itself capable of building upon the foundation laid by the US, in the areas of arbitrary detention and torture.
- 22 May 2005: Ali is captured by the Wolf Brigade during Operation Lightning and tortured by application of electricity to his genitals
- 03 July 2005: A story in The Observer builds upon a HRW report from 6 months ago alleging that the new Iraqi govt, particularly the Ministry of Interior's 'Wolf Brigade', is using tortures such as knee-capping detainees with electric drills
- 04 July 2005: A spokesperson for the Iraqi government admits that Ministry of Interior police commandos have tortured Iraqis, but denies that this is government policy, and blames it on an Iraqi "culture of violence"
- 24 July 2005: Sunni official claims he was fired because he spoke against the new Iraqi government, and their role in arbitrary arrest and torture of Sunnis
- 30 July 2005: A Sunni protest against torture is buried in a Reuters report, which was about a suicide bombing.
I'll build on this later tonight, leaving you with this thought: Maybe GWOT isn't such a bad acronym after all.
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