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06/21/2004:

"Iraqis See U.S. Sham as Abuse Trials Open"

'People who gave orders will never be punished'

by Todd Richissin and Gail Gibson

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Court-martial proceedings against Maryland-based U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners are to begin here today, but among many Iraqis the verdict on the legal process is already in: It's a sham.

Their evidence has little to do with what went on inside Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities and more to do with conditions outside those walls more than a year after American promises of a new Iraq were made: Government buildings are still charred shells, clogged streets are still without traffic signals, gasoline supplies are limited, hospitals are filled with maimed Iraqis, morgues are overflowing with the dead. Full Article