The American casualty of Abu Ghraib?
Spare a few moments to ponder the fate of an all-but forgotten Charles Graner, notorious torturer at Abu Ghraib. Injustice has many faces, and this one is hard to get to grips with but noteworthy indeed...
The detainee held on charges related to the so-called war on terror is clad in an orange jumpsuit. His wrists are shackled to a leather belt cinched tight around his waist. A short chain connects his ankles, so he can only shuffle down the barren hallways of the prison, escorted by a guard at each arm.
[…] You remember [Charles] Graner, the alleged ringleader of abuse at Abu Ghraib who showed up in those harrowing photos back in 2004.
He has spent more than 29 months in solitary confinement over the past four years, allowed out of his narrow cell during some of that period only to stretch his legs, alone, for one hour a day. In solitary, he has almost no contact with other human beings. He is allowed no radio, no TV and, in a disorienting twist, no watch or calendar to mark the brutal grind of passing time.
[…] it is easy to argue that Graner deserves whatever he gets. Graner is now the only person involved in the Abu Ghraib scandal who is still behind bars.
[…]
Years of revelations, however, show that the prisoner abuse started at the top, yet nobody who ordered the abuse has ever been tried or convicted of anything. The Army convicted a handful of soldiers from Abu Ghraib in courts-martial focused almost exclusively on acts captured by the soldiers' own digital cameras, not on policy decisions from above. As the nation prepares to change presidents, the administration that sanctioned, encouraged or ordered the abuse of prisoners taken in the war on terror is about to leave office, having long ago decided that no one in a position of authority will be held accountable.
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