I know there are a lot of other subjects in the news this week, but I don’t want to let this excellent post by John Cole go unacknowleged. As Cole notes, major American news organizations that avoid the word “torture” when describing conduct by the American government are perfectly willing to use the word when they’re talking about foreign governments:
The New York Times:
The torture of Iraqi detainees at a secret prison in Baghdad was far more systematic and brutal than initially reported, Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday.
The Washington Post:
Adding to the political tension, Human Rights Watch released a report late Tuesday saying that members of a military unit under the command of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, systemically tortured and sexually abused hundreds of Sunni Arab prisoners.
NPR:
Iraqi men held for months at a secret prison outside Baghdad were systematically tortured and forced to sign confession statements that in at least some cases they were forbidden to read, according to a new report by a human rights group released Wednesday.
When OTHER people do it, HRW is a legitimate, credible source, and it is not “allegations of torture” or “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
More, including an interesting discussion in the comments section, here.
