Freedom, unless you count...

Two stories about Iraq. Halli-fucking-burton has been importing workers to do menial jobs on American bases in Iraq (because the occupation is such a success that there are no unemployed people in Iraq) and then taking their passports so they have no choice but to work in the conditions and for the pay Halli-motherfucking-burton feels appropriate. The words slavery and human trafficking are used, with good reason.

That article can be skimmed if you’re short of time. But the WaPo has a must-read about torture, abuse and starvation in Iraqi prisons, which are in fact still being inspected by American soldiers: they’re just not doing much of anything about it. They always, always find evidence of abuse, but short of actual broken bones they leave the prisoners in the hands of their torturers. You’ll remember the Interior Ministry “unofficial jail” discovered and shut down last November. Evidently the US military decided after that to stop embarrassing the Iraq regime. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, Military Moron, has lied about the inspections, claiming they’d uncovered no abuse. He should be fired. The Post says it has photographs, plural, but runs only one.