How America trains terrorists

By Michael J.W. Stickings

You know how the warmongers, and Cheney in particular, have repeatedly drawn that imaginary connection between al Qaeda and Saddam's Iraq as a justification for their war? You know how that war has turned Iraq into a playground for terrorism? And you know how the warmongers defend the war now by arguing that if the U.S. withdraws Iraq will become a haven for terrorists who will bring the war back to the homeland?

Well, crap:

America's high-security prisons in Iraq have become "terrorist academies" for the most dangerous militant groups, according to former inmates and Iraqi government officials.

Inmates are left largely to run their blocks, which are segregated on sectarian lines. The policy has created a closed world run by Iraq's worst terrorists and militias, into which detainees with no links to insurgent groups are often thrown.

I have hardly been alone in arguing that the ongoing U.S. occupation of Iraq is only making the situation worse. I had no idea the situation was already worse than I had imagined.