Seymour Hersh Interview: US dumps a body

[mburbank]

BLITZER: As far as you know, no one was killed at Abu Ghraib, is that what you're saying?

HERSH: No, that's not true. There were people killed, yes, but not by the soldiers, not by the reservists. There were people killed -- I can tell you specifically about one case. One of the horrible photos is a man packed in ice. You want to hear it? I'll tell it to you.

They killed him -- either civilians, the private guards, or the CIA or the military killed him during an interrogation. They were worried about it. They packed him in ice. They killed him in evening. They packed him in ice for 24 hours, put him in a body bag, and eventually at a certain time -- don't forget, now, the prison has a lot of other Army units about it, and they didn't want to be seen with a dead body.

So they packed him in ice until it was the appropriate time. They put him on a trolley, like a hospital gurney, and they put a fake IV into him, and they walked out as if he was getting an IV. Walked him out, got him in an ambulance, drove him off, dumped the body somewhere.

That literally happened. That's one of the things I know about I haven't written about, but I'm telling you, that's where you're at. There was bloodshed on the other side of the... BLITZER: We heard from Dan Senor earlier in this program, suggesting he said he didn't know of anyone who died at Abu Ghraib prison.

HERSH: I have some photographs I'll be glad to share with him anytime he wants to know.


Hersh is referring not only to his own investiagtive work, (he's a pulitzer prize winning journalist) but the armies own report, which has been out since february. Chairman of the Joints Cheifs General Richard Mysers says there's no evidence of sytemic torture, but he also says HE HAS NOT READ THE REPORT which has been out since FEBRUARY. The armies own report refers to:
"Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoritic acid liquid on detainees, pouring cold water on naked detainees, beating detainees with broomhandle and a chair, threatening them with rape, sodomizing a detainee with chemical lights and perhaps a broomstick, sicking military dogs on detainees."

and this report predates the photographs!

"sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses"

The other factoid the report makes public is that we have privatized interrogation in Iraq. Does that sound like a job we ought to privatize? In addition, it makes clear that many of the folks in that prison were not picked up violationg curfew or any other laws, they were picked up randomly for interrogation and have been held incommunicado.

Bush says he's disgusted. I wonder if he's bothered to read the report. I wonder if it would even be an issue if photographs hadn't been leaked to the press. Now we're going to get a whole dog and pony show about how it's just a 'few bad apples' from people who haven't read a report that's been out since February.

Even if you think this war is a good idea, does this not gall you? Are we not throwing away any possability of doing any good over there?

[Brandon]

It's horrendous.

If our image in the Middle East was fragile before, it's been completely blown to shit by the last few days of news.