August 8, 2006
It has become the sign of the times.
Pick
up a newspaper or browse a website and you will come across at least
one news report or in-depth analysis of human rights abuses, torture,
murder, rape, and atrocity committed by the US military in Iraq or
Afghanistan or in Guantanamo.
Or some other CIA-run facility.
We
have heard of democracy being injected into countries considered
backward and lawless. But in each and every one of these countries the
injection process has been rejected and led to a disintegration of not
only civil society but the political structures inherent therein.
So, are we really surprised to read in the Washington Post or from Reuters the following: Raleigh,
NC - A CIA contractor beat an Afghan prisoner so badly he pleaded to be
shot to end his pain, prosecutors said yesterday at the start of a
trial that raises questions about the treatment of detainees by U.S.
interrogators.
Passaro beat Abdul Wali for "two solid nights"
leading him to plead with prison guards to shoot him to end his
suffering, prosecutor Michael Sullivan saidn in an opening statement.
Wali died of his injuries.
washingtonpost.com
Former CIA Contractor to Be Jailed Until Trial in Afghan Prisoner Assault
By Estes Thompson
Associated Press
Saturday, June 26, 2004; Page A17
RALEIGH,
N.C., June 25 -- A federal judge on Friday ordered former CIA
contractor David Passaro to remain jailed until his assault trial after
prosecutors said witnesses would testify Passaro beat an Afghan
detainee so badly he begged to be shot.
After a detention
hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Webb connected a 1990 assault by
Passaro when he was a Hartford, Conn., police officer and the alleged
beating of Abdul Wali in an Afghanistan prison. Webb said the
Connecticut case "started a pattern I see repeated here of structuring
stories, setting plans."
Passaro faces four counts of assault
and assault with a dangerous weapon -- a large flashlight. Wali, who
was 28, died at a U.S. base in Afghanistan on June 21, 2003.
During
Friday's hearing, prosecutors questioned Passaro's girlfriend about
allegedly coded telephone conversations the two had about money and
Passaro's passport.
Bonnie Heart, a Wake Forest police detective
who met Passaro online, said she and Passaro received a letter from
prosecutors in February. After that, she said, they discussed how she
should handle his financial affairs if he was arrested.
Heart, a
seven-year officer, testified that Passaro asked her to get his dozen
or so guns out of his house after his arrest, but she said she did not
know much about firearms. She also said she and Passaro never discussed
his work for the CIA in Afghanistan.
"It is inconceivable to me
that a person who has been a police officer for seven years would
testify that she was unfamiliar with firearms," the judge said. "That
dovetails with testimony that they didn't discuss the CIA."
Earlier,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Candelmo said three members of the 82nd
Airborne Division would testify Passaro beat Wali with a heavy metal
flashlight 10 to 30 times and kicked him so hard he came off the ground.
A
paratrooper will testify that when Passaro left the room to take a
break during one interrogation session, Wali begged one of the
paratroopers guarding him "to please shoot me," Candelmo added.
Defense
attorneys have cited an Afghan governor's comment that Wali died of a
heart attack, but a spokesman for that governor recently said he
suspected heart problems only because U.S. officials insisted the man
was not mistreated.
At the time of Wali's death, Passaro was
working as a CIA contractor in Afghanistan and was on leave from a
civilian job with the Fort Bragg-headquartered Special Operations
Command.
If convicted, Passaro faces up to 40 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
Also, a website that refuses to forget the American rape of Abeer.
http://www.choicechanges.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=674
|
