"A Few Bad Apples" online video

Good news! The Fifth Estate's expose on the un-aired Abu Ghraib footage/photos will be available online on Thursday. If you didn't get a chance to watch it--or you're not in Canada and would like to see it--it is a must watch.

The interviews with the soldiers revealed some pretty tragic stuff. It's amazing how, even within the same group of soldiers, two guys can take such different paths. With one possible exception, all of them seem pretty damaged by events. The PTSD guy who participated in torture was clearly losing his mind. The 'whistleblowers' among them were left completely broken-hearted by the experience. One of them looked near-tears about what his country has become.

Gillian Findlay's interview with John Yoo was really frustrating to watch. Yoo is one of the White House lawyers responsible for the "rewording" of America's POW policies. Yoo might as well have said "fuck you," to Findlay at the interview's conclusion. He made very little effort to suppress his disdain.

[click "Read on, MacDuff!" to continue reading]

Here's a small excerpt from the transcript:

Gillian Findlay: YOU TALK A LOT ABOUT COST VERSUS BENEFIT. EVERYTHING THAT YOU NOW KNOW THAT HAPPENED IN THESE PLACES, WHETHER OR YOU NOT ACCEPT THAT THEY ARE SOMEHOW RELATED TO THE POLICY YOU WROTE –
John Yoo: Well, a lot of them I don't think can be discussed. I mean I think the United States has successfully prevented terrorist attacks on the country, some of which could have been quite devastating.
Gillian Findlay: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?
John Yoo: I think the president just gave a speech a few weeks ago listing 10 attacks that were stopped, several of which were around the country, several of which could have led to a lot of deaths. But I don't think the United States can or should disclose publicly what those are in the middle of a war, where release of that information could give an advantage to the other side.
Gillian Findlay: BUT HOW DO WE KNOW? I MEAN, WITH ALL RESPECT TO THE PRESIDENT, YOU CAN SAY THESE THINGS. IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MAKE THEM TRUE. HOW DO YOU KNOW –
John Yoo: He doesn't have to justify them to the people of Canada either, but he does have to justify them to the Senate and the House. I mean there are, there is a procedure for briefing the House and Senate intelligence committees about these exactly these kind of things. But they have to remain classified, so they have had it explained. If they don't like it, they could cut funding off for it, they could pass laws prohibiting it.