Abu Ghraib first anniversary

Iraq Through the Eyes of Unemebedded, Independent Journalist Dahr Jamail

Dahr Jamail, one of the few independent, unembedded journalists reporting in Iraq for months, joins us in our firehouse studio to discuss the siege of Fallujah, detention of Iraqis, so-called 'reconstruction' and much more. [includes rush transcript]

"One of the most enduring images of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal is the photograph of a prisoner cloaked in black, standing on a box with wires attached to his outstretched arms.

"Now, the man depicted in the photo has reportedly been identified. He is speaking out on this week's edition of the PBS newsmagazine 'Now.' His name is Haj Ali. He was a mayor of a Baghdad suburb and a member of the ruling Baath Party, when he was snatched off the street in late 2003 and transported to Abu Ghraib, despite denying involvement in the insurgency.

"In the interview, Ali says,

'They made me stand on a box with my hands hooked to wires and shocked me with electricity. It felt like my eyeballs were coming out of their sockets. I fell, and they put me back up again for more.'

"Today is the first anniversary of the publication of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. We turn now to Iraq.

"We turn now to Iraq. An article in the British newspaper the Guardian titled 'This Is Our Guernica' reads:

"'In the 1930s the Spanish city of Guernica became a symbol of wanton murder and destruction. In the 1990s Grozny was cruelly flattened by the Russians; it still lies in ruins. This decade"s unforgettable monument to brutality and overkill is Falluja, a text-book case of how not to handle an insurgency, and a reminder that unpopular occupations will always degenerate into desperation and atrocity.'

"Those are the words of journalist Dahr Jamil. He spent many months in Iraq as one of the only independent, unembedded journalists there. He published his reports on a blog called DahrJamailIraq.com and was a regular guest on Democracy Now! He joins us in our firehouse studio today ..."
Read on at Democracy Now!