Earlier this week I took Jerry Falwell to task for his divisive comments that Jews and Muslims can't go to heaven.

With Easter and Passover approaching, there's an inclusive message Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims, Buddhists and those of every other religion, can get behind. From the National Religious Campaign Against Torture: Torture is a Moral Issue.

If you thought that "Let It Bleed" was just a Rolling Stones song, think again. In what seems like Chapter 22 in the book I hope someone will write, "President Bush Says the U.S. Does Not Engage in Torture," the New York Times introduces us to Task Force 6-26 and describes what it was doing both before and after the abuse at Abu Ghraib came to light in the the "Black Room" at Camp Nama, a converted Baghdad military installation located at the Baghdad airport.

There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball. Their intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.

They even had a slogan, "No Blood, No Foul."

The U.S. today launched a big offensive against insurgents in Iraq -- the largest since the 2003 invasion. Knights Ridder reported the other day that airstrikes risk civilian casualties. [hat tip Daily Kos.]

The Senate today passed a spending bill that increases the national debt to $9 trillion, in large part to fund the war.

It passed hours before the House was expected to approve another $91 billion to fund the war in Iraq and provide more aid to hurricane victims.

Salon has published the entire collection of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse photos. It was January 10, 2004, that the first abuse photos were handed over to the military by Spc. Joseph Darby. The Army commenced its investigation the next day. Many publications published selected photos in the aftermath. Yesterday, for the first time, all of the photos in the Army's dossier were put on the Internet, by Salon.

Today Salon presents an archive of 279 photos and 19 videos of Abu Ghraib abuse first gathered by the CID, along with information drawn from the CID's own timeline of the events depicted.

President Bush tells us the United States does not torture. What is this? Or this or this?

Here's the backdrop to the story about the Abu Ghriab prisoner turned prisoner's rights activist from Saturday's New York Times.

The New York Times reports today that Salon is challenging its identification of Ali Shalal Qaissi as the hooded detainee standing on a box hooked up to electricodes. From the Times:

On Monday, Chris Grey, chief spokesman for the [Army's criminal] investigations unit, asked about the challenge, confirmed to The Times in an e-mail message: "We have had several detainees claim they were the person depicted in the photograph in question. Our investigation indicates that the person you have is not the detainee who was depicted in the photograph released in connection with the Abu Ghraib investigation.

by TChris

The news from Iraq continues to be gruesome:

Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings -- a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said today.

The dead included at least 27 bodies stacked in a mass grave in an eastern Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

Last week I wrote about a new effort by the Marines to arrest Vietnam War deserters. On Thursday, former Marine Allen Abney, 56, who moved to Canada in 1968 and holds dual citizenship, was arrested by U.S. Border Agents at the Vancouver-Idaho border. He's being transferred to Camp Pendleton to face desertion charges.

Abney, 56, lives in Kingsgate, BC, close to the Canada/US border, which he crossed often to go shopping, to do errands, and for other purposes. He is retired. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Abney came to Canada with his family in 1959. In 1968 he enlisted in the US Marines. Later that year, he joined thousands of others who fled to Canada because of their opposition to the Vietnam War. He has lived here ever since.

Washington Post Photo

Army Sgt. Michael J. Smith, the soldier depicted in this infamous Abu Ghraib abuse photo, goes on trial this week in Ft. Meade, accused of dereliction of duty and maltreatment of prisoners.

He is also accused of using his dog to threaten two other detainees and for allegedly engaging in a contest to make detainees urinate and defecate out of fear. Smith's military attorney declined requests to comment.

But here's an interesting twist:

Unless you have a strong aversion to blood and gore, check out Newsweek's five page account of Navy Doctor Richard Jaddick's tour of duty on the front lines of Iraq.

This week will mark the third anniversary of Bush's pre-emptive war in Iraq, a war that was based on misinformation at best and lies at worst.

As Bush promotes his war this week in the news, I hope bloggers will counter with calls to exit.

SAS soldier Ben Griffin spent three months in Baghdad fighting along with Americans and then told his commander he wanted out:

He said he had witnessed "dozens of illegal acts" by US troops, claiming they viewed all Iraqis as "untermenschen" - the Nazi term for races regarded as sub-human.

It immediately brought to an end Mr Griffin's exemplary, eight-year career in which he also served with the Parachute Regiment, taking part in operations in Northern Ireland, Macedonia and Afghanistan

Speaking at a fundraiser in Ohio, Karl Rove told those assembled Bush will not pull troops out of Iraq until we've won the war.

Abandoning Iraq now would signal to U.S. allies that America can't be trusted, Rove said. "Tyrants in the Middle East would laugh at our failed resolve," he said. "To retreat before victory would be a reckless act."

On the NSA warrantless surveillance program, Rove went for the fear factor:

"President Bush believes that if al-Qaida is calling someone inside the United States, we should know who they are calling and what they are saying," he said.

[larger version]

Ali Shalal Qaissi is the former Abu Ghraib prisoner in the photo of the hooded prisoner standing on a box connected to electrodes. He's still angry and doing something about it.

There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin. There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.