My country is torturing it's own people.

The Times posted a very illuminating article this morning describing the internment conditions of an American Security Contractor in Iraq. I have always taken issue with the idea of security contractors being used as part of the American Military Force in Iraq. There are obvious issues that arise when a country decides to send unmarked men and women into combat.

This article highlights the main issue: identification. The man in the story, Donald Vance, was a security contractor who infiltrated a suspicious Iraqi company. The U.S. government thought the company might be involved in trading weapons with Iraqi militias. When he went to inform U.S. government officials, he was arrested and sent to a detention site in Baghdad called Camp Cropper. The officials said that they could not validate the sources Mr. Vance claimed were responsible for his presence in Iraq. This is a problem! If you send in unmarked contractors, there are likely to be indentity issues. This can lead to problems of friendly fire, etc... He was kept in the prison for over 3 weeks under extremely harsh conditions. Read the article for the sordid details surrounding the conditions at Cropper.

This is a fundamental issue that has been on the table for a long time. The U.S. government needs to once again ask itself a series of crucial questions, which have thus far gone unasked and unanswered.

Question 1: Why are we being forced to send private contractors to Iraq?
Answer: Because this is war is so unpopular that we can't find anyone to enlist.

Question 2: What should be the logical solution to this problem?
Answer: Develop plans to start gradually removing our troops from the region in order to preserve the rights of both Iraqis and Americans.

We need to get organized and work to ensure that No Americans are subjected to these horrible rights violations. I think Vance had it right when he said that it is absurd that even Saddam Hussein had more rights than he did. If we're going to attempt the installation of a democracy in Iraq, it that seems that our leaders should have a good idea of what a liberal democracy entails.