Real reporter Twitter-blasts/essay U.S./military for backing Afghanistan torturer
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http://gawker.com/veteran-war-reporter-flames-u-s-on-twitter-for-backing-1575607204
[font size=5]Veteran War Reporter Flames U.S. on Twitter for Backing a Torturer[/font]
Adam Weinstein
If you want to know what's happening in Afghanistan, read Matthieu Aikins. If you want to know what torturous executing enforcer the U.S. military is working with to keep the peace in Afghanistan, follow Matthieu Aikins on Twitter.
This morning, a new report in the New York Times detailed how the force led by that torturer, Kandahar police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq, likely killed and desecrated a 23-year-old man over the weekend, the latest in his three-year campaign to brutalize perceived and suspected terrorists.
Raziq's reign is a subject near and dear to Aikins' heart; the Polk Award-winning journalist profiled him critically in 2011 linking the chief to mass murder. Yet since then, Raziq has gotten more power and prestige from the U.S. military.
So after reading the Times piece, Aikins vented his righteous, informative frustration in a 12-part "Twitter essay":
(The Twitter "essay" here. Graphic images.)
This is a good genre for smart rants. Here's hoping Aikins and more journalists use it.
As for Raziq, our dependence on men like him in Iraq and Afghanistan puts the lie to every jingoist knucklehead's simplistic old saw that we're over there fighting for freedom and right. We may very well may be, but freedom and right don't look quite as free and right as advertised to the American public that sanctions those fights.
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