A pyramid of naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners, tortured at Abu Ghraib prison by U.S. troops

“In the era of Saddam Hussein, Abu Ghraib, twenty miles west of Baghdad, was one of the world’s most notorious prisons, with torture, weekly executions, and vile living conditions,” writes Seymour Hersh, in the latest edition of The New Yorker.
“As many as fifty thousand men and women — no accurate count is possible — were jammed into Abu Ghraib at one time, in twelve-by-twelve-foot cells that were little more than human holding pits.”
When the United States assumed responsibility for Abu Ghraib prison more than a year ago, conditions for prisoners were to have improved — the mandate of the U.S. troops to hold human rights as paramount — as preparations were made by the Bush administration to turn over responsibility for the prison to Iraqi authorities this June.
Earlier this year, when reports began to leak out that unsavoury practices within the prison had continued under U.S. command, the senior U.S. Army commander in Iraq authorized an investigation into the Iraqi prison system. The 53-page report that resulted, which was written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and was not meant for public release, was devastating.
Taguba found numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” of Iraqis by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison.
This systematic and illegal abuse, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by members of the 320th Military Police Battalion, and also by members of the American intelligence community. There was considerable evidence to support the allegations, Taguba added, including “detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence”; the photographs, which were taken by American soldiers while the abuse was going on, were not included in the report, Taguba said, because of their “extremely sensitive nature.”
This week, 10 of those photographs made their way into the hands of the American media. Some graphic details have been digitally obscured.
Today, the New York Times published their own investigative update on the “virtual collapse of the command structure in prisons” throughout Iraq.
Over in Britain, at the same time General Taguba’s confidential report was being made public in America, The Daily Mirror published its own graphic report of the gross abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners — this time by British troops — along with horrific photos of that abuse.
Although a story in The Guardian reports that some quarters within the British Armed Forces have expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the photos, Piers Morgan, editor of The Daily Mirror, said his newspaper stands by the authenticity of the photos.

The favourite target of WTO protesters is actually far more diverse than the anti-globalization movement. Kim Fellner looks into the contradictions of coffee, class, and race.

In an article published in Colorlines magazine, reporter Kim Fellner ponders the ‘Starbucks Paradox’ — is the coffee behemoth inherently evil just because it’s a big corporation? Or, is Starbucks actually a diverse company that offers viable career opportunities for those of all races and classes?
The knock on Starbucks? WTO protesters accuse Starbucks of buying coffee at prices that won’t sustain farmers’ livelihoods; purchasing from farms that degrade the environment; causing neighbourhoods to gentrify and small cafés to wither; and representing the mega-branding that’s killing small businesses and homogenizing the world.
Ms. Fellner’s response to the concerns raised above encompasses Starbucks’ record on race, class, politics, human rights and the environment; as well as employees’ working conditions and benefits.
In the Colorlines article, Jef Keighley, a national representative for the Canadian Automobile Workers, describes his experiences organizing Starbucks in British Columbia, where the union is in a drawn-out contract negotiation covering 10 Vancouver stores. “We used to have 12 stores,” he says, “but the company has had a hand in organizing decertifications at two of those stores, even selecting and paying for the lawyer. We’ve been at the Labour Board for a year and a half.”
Is Starbucks equivalent to Wal-Mart, given its hyper-aggressive expansion, especially abroad, and a marketing plan which has positioned the company as a symbol of the ‘Americanization of the world’? Read Ms. Fellner’s article for an expansive and thoughtful answer to that, and other, questions.