Saturday June 26: United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The ad caught my attention simply through the conviction of the words of the victim: "I was gagged. Electrodes were inserted in my v@gin@. They told me to raise my finger when I was ready to speak". When I read the ad in its entirety, I was so shocked by the various testimonies. Stories of torture through beatings, rape, electrocution, stress positions, being put into a room with a dead person, being threatened with dogs. That kind of stuff makes me sick. These are stories of people from around the world. It kinda makes you think of what happened at the Abu Graib Prison in Iraq. Any form of torture is a violation of human rights , something that the U.S government has yet to learn. Awareness of these issues is important to us all. Human beings should not be subject to this kind of treatment.

On a different note, I don't think there is a doubt now that the abuse at Abu Graib prison was ordered from the very top and was systematic abuse designed to elicit info/break the will of prisoners. More info is coming out now that Donald Rumsfeld ordered these torture tactics and that the Australian government knew what was going on. The Geneva conventions relating to prisoners of war and the rights of human beings are to be respected, especially in times of war.