Iraq prisoner abuse 'was routine'

From BBC:

The torture of prisoners in US custody in Iraq was authorised and routine even after the Abu Ghraib scandal came to light, a US-based rights group says.

Soldiers who tried to complain about the abuse were rebuffed or ignored.

But a Pentagon spokesman said 12 reviews had found there was no policy condoning or encouraging abuse.

So it was more of an unwritten rule. More of a cultural thing than a legal thing. Peer pressure, that's it. All the cool kids are doing it.

An interrogator at Camp Nama said the use of abuse techniques was commonplace - authorisation forms could be easily prepared for commanding officers to sign. "I never saw a sheet that wasn't signed," the soldier said.

Yeah, because you wouldn't want to be a nerd.

HRW gives accounts of instances where soldiers who were concerned by the abuses were thwarted from reporting it. One military police guard at the facility near Qaim, who took his concerns to an officer, was reportedly told: "You need to go ahead and drop this, sergeant."

Yeah, what a dork! What's he trying to do? Get us all detention? Hell, we'd probably be tortured.

"It is now clear that leaders were responsible for abuses in Iraq," Mr Sifton said. "It's time for them to be held accountable".

What is he? The Preacher from Porky's II?

The Geneva Conventions, which were passed in the wake of World War II, are meant to guarantee minimum standards of protection for non-combatants and former combatants in war.

Human Rights, blah blah. Jeez, talk about your party pooper. Talk about your Debbie Downer.

I guess they'll start pulling the troops out now. If they can't have proper fun by nearly drowning people or beating them to near death, then I guess there's not even a good reason to stay. Damned human rights. They've gone and ruined it all. I guess the terrorists win.