En el seu moment, les imatges dels maltractaments a Abu Ghraib van donar la volta al món i periòdicament repareixen a les pantalles de la televisió i a les pàgines dels diaris. En canvi, la majoria dels media no han reproduit les fotografies d'alguns torturats per Al Qaeda ni els dibuixos del seu manual de tortura, trobat a l'Iraq en un amagatall de l’organització terrorista.In a recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of crude drawings depicting torture methods like "blowtorch to the skin" and "eye removal." Along with the images, which you'll find on the following pages, soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire cutters. Photos of those items can be seen here. The images, which were just declassified by the Department of Defense, also include a picture of a ramshackle Baghdad safe house described as an "al-Qaeda torture chamber." It was there, during an April 24 raid, that soldiers found a man suspended from the ceiling by a chain. According to the military, he had been abducted from his job and was being beaten daily by his captors. In a raid earlier this week, Coalition Forces freed five Iraqis who were found in a padlocked room in Karmah. The group, which included a boy, were reportedly beaten with chains, cables, and hoses. Photos showing injuries sustained by those captives can be found here.
Es dirà, amb raó, que és molt important denunciar les violacions dels drets humans quan les comet un govern democràctic compromès amb aquests valors. Però no és menys important que l'opinió pública conegui amb fets, i no només amb discursos, la naturalesa de l'enemic que s'està combatent.