Death of a Prisoner

There was a story on NPR by John McChesney this afternoon -- a story about the capture, abuse and murder of an Iraqi prisoner in the hands of American guards and interrogators.

We sat in silence as the work of our soldiers and agents was laid nakedly bare as is rarely done in the mainstream press these days. We were walked step by step, minute by minute thru the horror. For twenty-two minutes the story went on (an eternity in radio time), and we drove home from north to south without saying a word.

War is hell, they will tell us.

They will say this to intimidate us, to stifle us, to get us to go along. But the squelching isn't working as well as it has been. And the hypocrisy is finally being seen by Americans for what it is.

I sat behind the wheel on the verge of tears for those 22 minutes, not just because of the horror of the truth that we have known for some time, but for the shame that this is what my country has come to stand for -- this and almost nothing else.

I can only hope I was not alone.

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