To many people's knowledge, prisons are used as a deterrent and punishment of a crime committed and not to be punished physically. But here, recently, there has been an important issue on prison abuse in Iraq. Ever since people around the Earth became aware of this sever prison abuse in Iraq it has turned into a finger-pointing scandal. He did it, he did it, she did it. He knew about it, he knew about it, she knew about it. But no matter who knew, we’ve all seen the photos of abuse.
The President himself said, "Any decent American would have been sickened to see those photos of abuse." The question is, are there any decent Americans? If so, why are they and the President letting what's going on in American prisons to continue? And another question still exists. How can you clean someone else's backyard when yours is filthy? Nevertheless this abuse and sometimes killings in Iraq has been made known nationally and worldly, and this issue of abuse to Iraqi prisoners has also raised the issue of the 1949 Geneva Convention. This issue of abuse has also been the topic of many human beings on the face of the Earth which has become very disastrous to America.
However, Susan Collins (R) made a statement: "The world has seen those photos of abuse on the front pages of newspapers and T.V. screens. This is not the way of America." Elizabeth Dole said that these Iraqi prison abuses are horrendous. She went on to say, "But this does not reflect the moral ways of America." These are false statements. These ways have always been the ways of America. Ever since the Europeans set foot on this land and took this land from the Indians. This country called America has more prison abuse than anywhere on the face of God's Earth. And these photos also depict exactly the immoral ways of the Americans in power and how Americans believe that they could get away with treating human beings any way they feel.
So, when are we going to have a Senate Services Committee to assess the ills of American prisons?
Again, these atrocities that happen to Iraqi prisoners are small compared to what has been, and still is, going on in American prisons.
--A California prisoner, 2004