Not that it is even shocking anymore, but newly released Navy documents show the abuse scandal is even larger than previously thought, which was of course even larger than first reported, which of course was first not reported and was covered up. It is going to take years to recover internationally from these fiascos and the word of the US has sunk back down to Vietnam-era levels. Why is this administration to pleased to humiliate America like this? This is what happens when you demonize a nation as we witnessed in the run up too the war. McCain surely knew the details of this investigation the other day when he abandoned his support of Rummy.
The files released Tuesday document a crush of abuse allegations, most from the early months of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, including U.S. Marines forcing Iraqi juveniles to kneel while troops discharge a weapon in a mock execution and the use of an electric shock on a prisoner.
The approximately 10,000 files include investigation reports from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and witness interviews.
Several Marines have been charged in connection with the treatment of a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party who died of strangulation after a Marine grabbed him by the neck at a holding facility. Investigators ruled that the death was accidental, but other investigations are pending.
In another of the documents, a Navy corpsman is quoted as saying, "there was a lot of peer pressure to keep one's mouth shut."
In yet another, a Navy investigator describes his Iraq caseload as "exploding" with "high visibility cases."
