Speak Up & Speak Out!!! |
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His anonymous form has become the internationally-recognized symbol of abuse and torture, and for many around the world, of American brutality and arrogance. Within the United States, however, the image is the center of swirling controversy. In what journalist Mark Danner has called the "master narrative" put forward by the Bush administration, "Hooded Man" and unnumbered others who shared similar outrages were only the victims of a few "bad apples," rogue elements in the military and intelligence contractors whose behavior "does not represent America." Their abuse in no way implicates higher-ups, who insist they are shocked, shocked by the photos (which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld nonetheless sought to suppress months before they appeared in the press). Besides, surely these poor wretches wouldn't have suffered if they hadn't been caught up in U.S. military sweeps for "insurgents." It is U.S. government policy that Hooded Man will never enjoy the presumption of innocence on which his uniformed abusers may rely. |
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