But what are this prisoners being held for??

[fairfaxvadem]

Have I missed a piece of this story?

Are they your everyday, run of the mill criminals?

Are they political prisoners?

Are they "Saddamists" and "Dead Enders" or "Al Queda WannaBes"?

Do they have lawyers? Due Process???

And when I hear that they are suspending the hooding and other deprivation-type interrogation tactics, well, I'm not sure I can sit here and say "Hey, aren't we just great for doing that?"

Did we hood Tim McVeigh and use these tactics on him or was he not a terrorist and just a common criminal?

[Eric J in MN]

1. No lawyers, no due process, for most of them.

They were picked up on the suspicion that they know something about the insurgency, and then they're held indefinitely and tortured to get information from them.

[fairfaxvadem]

3. which leads to another question I have...

Are you an "insurgent" in your own country against a foreign invader/occupier/"we're only here to help"/whatever we are in Iraq?

That's what I also cannot reconcile. If these are Iraqis, then I'm not entirely comfortable calling them "insurgents". I don't have a better name for it but was just wondering about calling them "insurgents".

[DrWeird]

2. I remember during Operation Iron Hammer...

there were these "embedded" reporters following troops as they looked for insurgents based on informant testimony.

In the middle of the night they break into this guys house, haul him and his family into the living room at gun point and tie them up. Search the house and finally realize that they had the wrong house. The "informant" was a neighbor who was having a domestic dispute with this guy and "turned him in" out of spite. Nevertheless, our brave troops hauled the innocent man off to Abu Ghraib or some such concentration camp.

[ufansdilligaf]

4. Did we hood Horiuchi after he shot Vicki Weaver in cold blood?

Disgusting is all I can say about justice in this country.

[heidiho]

5. According to the RW, they are the ENEMY

I guess because they live in Iraq!