Opiniatrety

Utterly Disgusting

From the Department of "Makes me so angry I have to post about it."

via Kevin Drum and Praktike, from the the Washington Post:

Army intelligence officials in Iraq developed and circulated "wish lists" of harsh interrogation techniques they hoped to use on detainees in August 2003, including tactics such as low-voltage electrocution, blows with phone books and using dogs and snakes -- suggestions that some soldiers believed spawned abuse and illegal interrogations.... Army investigative documents released yesterday, as well as court records and files, suggest that the tactics were used on two detainees: One died during an interrogation in November 2003 while stuffed into a sleeping bag, and another was badly beaten by inexperienced interrogators using a police baton in September 2003.

If no one is prosecuted for this--and if there are not investigations conducted to see exactly how high the culpability goes--then the International Criminal Court should step in. (Of course, Gen. Ricardo Sanchez should already be under investigation for lying under oath to Congress about torture, but that's not an ICC issue.)

Fitting in with the post title, via Professor B comes this form letter from Walmart about why they don't provide emergency contraception, and why they allow their pharmacists to deny you any sort of contraceptive drugs if the pharmacist feels you should not be having sex. Just another reason never to set foot in the store. I understand abortion as a controversial issue--I understand that some people will not want to use contraception themselves--but other people's use of contraception is their own business. Period. And if you don't want to dispense contraception, you shouldn't be a pharmacist.

Posted by Matt Weiner at April 19, 2005 03:48 PM