Welshofer wrapped an Iraqi general in a sleeping bag, bound him, sat on his chest and covered his mouth,' until he was dead

Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish: Bush's CIA: "Wednesday, January 25, 2006

More reports from the field of routine brutality toward military inmates. From the Salt Lake Tribune:

'It was a place where innocent men, rounded up in broad sweeps alongside terrorists and killers, sat in filth and extreme temperatures, tied at the wrists for days and weeks at a time.

The rats outnumbered the inmates. The inmates outnumbered the guards. The nights were punctuated with artillery fire and lit by bright flares that hung under tiny parachutes over the western Iraqi city of Al Qa'im. Central Intelligence Agency officials were beating inmates with hoses and sledge hammer handles, soldiers have testified.'

It was here that 'Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer wrapped an Iraqi general in a sleeping bag, bound him, sat on his chest and covered his mouth,' until he was dead. For that murder, Welshofer got 'two months of restricted duty, forfeiture of $6,000 pay and a letter of reprimand.' The soldiers who served with him testify that 'the conditions at Blacksmith and tactics of others there made Welshofer's interrogation methods seem humane by comparison.' And so it goes on. We have no power to stop it. Welshofer's defense was that he was following orders. Whose? Witnesses were 'apparently restricted from testifying as to the presence and actions of CIA agents.' And so it goes on."