Kids Sodomized At Abu Ghraib, Pentagon Has Videos - Hersh - Read With Caution

[Gold9472]

Kids sodomized at Abu Ghraib, Pentagon has the videos - Hersh

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/7/14/193750/666

(Gold9472: I'm not going to watch the video inside... I saw this on www.rawstory.com today, and I had to post it... I don't even want to read it... as I said... read with caution... this could be just too damned upsetting. Let me say this... yes... the soldiers who participated in this are criminal. They have the ability to say no to such atrocities. This DOES NOT mean that we blame ALL soldiers serving in Iraq. We LOVE our soldiers, and we want them to come home. Only because of this Administration's policies have these atrocities taken place. Only because of this Administration's policies has this illegal war taken place. Don't ever forget that.)

by Gryn
Wed Jul 14th, 2004 at 20:33:32 PDT

(From the diaries -- kos)

Seymour Hersh says the US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."

This is a summary of Hersh speaking at the ACLU 2004 America At A Crossroads conference (http://www.aclu.org/2004memberconf/Program/program.htm) according to EdCone.com (via Oliver Willis (http://www.oliverwillis.com/entries/0704/wtf.html)). I verified by watching the video (http://stream.realimpact.net/?file=clients/aclu/conf2004/20040707_aclu_AmericaAtACrossroads_300.rm) myself (it starts at 1:07, the "worse stuff" part starts at 1:30).

There's more bad stuff in here, read Ed Cone's summary (http://radio.weblogs.com/0107946/2004/07/14.html#a1922).

I'll try transcribing some of the more important bits.

[my transcription from 1:31 - 1:32]

Some of the worse that happened that you don't know about, ok. Videos, there are women there. Some of you may have read they were passing letters, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib which is 30 miles from Baghdad [...]

The women were passing messages saying "Please come and kill me, because of what's happened". Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys/children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror it's going to come out.

It's impossible to say to yourself how do we get there? who are we? Who are these people that sent us there?

Chilling.

[update: title changed since Hersh could be giving either 1st or 2nd hand info. I need to watch it again first - Gryn]

[Gold9472]

Is it me, or am I missing the part about specific abuse in the video... has it been edited?

[Gold9472]

bump

[Gold9472]

This is what Bush gets away with because of the passage of that bill.

[werther]

damn I thought this was new. I never heard about this.
.....Bastards

Was this covered at all by the MSM?

[Gold9472]

What do you think?

[werther]

Yeah kind of a rhetorical question.

[YouCrazyDiamond]

I can not get the ACLU video to play. (“Unable to establish a connection with this server” error.)

And I’m a bit doubtful about this story since it only appears on this one blog by 'EdCone.com':

http://radio.weblogs.com/0107946/2004/07/14.html#a1922

The Oliver Willis link appears to be broken. (404 error)

Why not drop Seymour Hersh a line asking him about this?
_______________________________

A little more digging reveals this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh#Criticisms


Specifically, one of Hersh's dramatic allegations made during a speaking engagement in July 2004, during the height of the Abu Ghraib scandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_scandal), was later amended by Hersh. He alleged that American troops sexually assaulted young boys: "basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children, in cases that have been recorded, the boys were sodomized, with the cameras rolling, and the worst above all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking. That your government has. They’re in total terror it’s going to come out.” [16] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh#_note-15) In a subsequent interview with New York Magazine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Magazine), Hersh admitted, "I actually didn’t quite say what I wanted to say correctly...it wasn’t that inaccurate, but it was misstated. The next thing I know, it was all over the blogs. And I just realized then, the power of—and so you have to try and be more careful." [17] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh#_note-16) In his book, Chain of Command (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chain_of_Command_%28book%29&action=edit), he wrote that one of the witness statements he had read described the rape of a boy by a foreign contract interpreter at Abu Ghraib, during which a woman took pictures. [18] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh#_note-17)

I don’t know how reliable or credible 'newyorkmetro.com' is.

Is it still worthwhile to contact Seymour to check up on this?

If, as Seymour says, his statements at the July 2004 ACLU conference were not all that inaccurate, which story has he published that deals with this issue?

The above quoted section of Seymour's wiki page suggests that at least part of this issue is in his book 'Chain of Command.'

http://www.amazon.com/Chain-Command-Road-Abu-Ghraib/dp/0060195916