In the ongoing investigation into U.S. Army detention policies in Iraq by the ACLU and others, the AP has reported that once again, our government is determinied to shoot itself in the foot:
"The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.
Say what?!?!? More on the flip.
In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife.
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In one memo, a civilian Pentagon intelligence officer described what happened when he took part in a raid on an Iraqi suspect's house in Tarmiya, northwest of Baghdad, on May 9, 2004. The raid involved Task Force (TF) 6-26, a secretive military unit formed to handle high-profile targets.
"During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target's surrender," wrote the 14-year veteran officer.
He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior sergeant, seized her anyway.
"The 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing," the intelligence officer wrote. She was held for two days and was released after he complained, he said.
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How far down the rabbit hole will we go? As we continue to get bogged down in counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, our military - stuck between a rock and a hard place - is being put in a position where kidnapping woman and children starts to seem reasonable. While there doesn't seem to be any evidence yet that the women were mistreated or otherwise subject to lengthy detentions, I doubt the hearts and minds we are trying to win over in the Iraqi public will see it that way. Nor should they.
Torturing hooded POWs at Abu Ghraib. Melting the skin off babies with WP. Buying off Iraqi and other journalists. Kidnapping nursing mothers. This is spreading democracy? In what bizzaro wingnuts sadistic wet dream is THIS spreading democracy? Welcome to the shackles of freedom. Welcome to the terrordome.
The rest of the article can be found here