Hi family-
I thought I'd try writing an entry today instead of just dropping in comments. I just finished reading today's entry on a weblog from a young Iraqi woman who isn't as famous as "the Baghdad Blogger," but I think she's more interesting. Anyway. Go read this and see if you don't get angry.

I'd like to think that these people aren't being interrogated by soldiers. I'd really like to think that they're being questioned by civilian contractors. It just pisses me off that we still have people who call themselves HUMINTers who take the word of one source and send off a platoon to go kick in doors. I've read too many stories like this to doubt their credibility: guy holds grudge, guy lies to soldiers, neighbor goes to prison, guy laughs and tells buddies how easy it is to get the Americans to do what he wants.

What's worse is that they aren't treated in a way that will allow us to make up lost ground when (as it often does) it turns out they were arrested by mistake. Interrogations are not supposed to be run the way these chowderheads are running them. Prisoner abuse doesn't happen in a vacuum--the command climate must be encouraging the behavior, either implicitly or explicitly. Most likely though, the encouragement is implicit, because Intel officers are nothing if they aren't concerned with covering their own asses and forgetting their soldiers'.