Doug Johnson's Call For
Iraqi Prisoner Investigation
by Leslie Reindl
sent to Star Tribune 5-10-04
To the Editor:
Thank you for publishing Doug Johnson¹s call for a
U.N. investigation into
the torture depicted in Iraqi prisons. Johnson, as long-time
director of
the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis, certainly
is well
qualified to understand what acts should be called ³torture,²
having seen
hundreds of victims arrive for treatment. Many of those victims
are from
countries with a culture of strong male pride or dominance
and with
restrictive sexual mores, and, in the case of Muslims, strong
religious
prohibitions; Johnson also understands that the effects of
sexual violence
can be more powerful and long-lasting than those of other
kinds of torture.
His call for the U.N. rather than the U.S. to investigate
these crimes is
well taken; --"the rest of the world wouldn't believe
an investigation
performed by the U.S. government.² Neither will many
Americans. This
government has been caught in lies and coverups too many times.
The torture
shown in the photographs--and Dick Cheney says there is worse
to
come--brings dishonor on all Americans. This administration
needs to take
responsibility for its leadership and the outcomes of that
leadership,
beginning with the firing of Cheney and an apology to the
rest of the world
for forcing an unnecessary war in Iraq and the killing of
thousands of
Iraqis, and now the condoned behavior of its military and
other Americans in
the Iraqi prisons, and probably also in Afghanistan prisons
and at
Guantanamo. It is time to withdraw all of our military from
Iraq, to save
our troups and what is left of our honor, and to help the
U.N. begin
independent work with Iraqis to rebuild their country.
Bush¹s famous slogan ³Mission Accomplished²
will probably live in infamy as
the slogan of the worst U.S. government in our history. Just
five more
months to a desperately needed change.
Leslie Reindl
Leslie Reindl is President of Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers
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