Jim White: Of the 108+ known deaths in US custody, many are due to exposure to the weather. Recall that the Torture Councils convened to choreograph the cruel beatings.

The ACLU obtained autopsy reports through FOIA in 2005. Summaries are posted on their web site (http://www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/21236prs20051024.html):

The records reveal the following facts:

• A 27-year-old Iraqi male died while being interrogated by Navy Seals on April 5, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq. During his confinement he was hooded, flex-cuffed, sleep deprived and subjected to hot and cold environmental conditions, including the use of cold water on his body and hood. The exact cause of death was "undetermined" although the autopsy stated that hypothermia may have contributed to his death. Notes say he "struggled/ interrogated/ died sleeping." Some facts relating to this case have been previously reported. (In April 2003, Secretary Rumsfeld authorized the use of "environmental manipulation" as an interrogation technique in Guantánamo Bay. In September 2003, Lt. Gen. Sanchez also authorized this technique for use in Iraq. Although Lt. Gen. Sanchez later rescinded the September 2003 techniques, he authorized "changes in environmental quality" in October 2003.)
• An Iraqi detainee (also described as a white male) died on January 9, 2004, in Al Asad, Iraq, while being interrogated by "OGA." He was standing, shackled to the top of a door frame with a gag in his mouth at the time he died. The cause of death was asphyxia and blunt force injuries. Notes summarizing the autopsies record the circumstances of death as "Q by OGA, gagged in standing restraint." (Facts in the autopsy report appear to match the previously reported case of Abdul Jaleel.)
• A detainee was smothered to death during an interrogation by Military Intelligence on November 26, 2003, in Al Qaim, Iraq. A previously released autopsy report, that appears to be of General Mowhoush, lists "asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression" as the cause of death and cites bruises from the impact with a blunt object. New documents specifically record the circumstances of death as "Q by MI, died during interrogation."
• A detainee at Abu Ghraib Prison, captured by Navy Seal Team number seven, died on November 4, 2003, during an interrogation by Navy Seals and ""OGA."" A previously released autopsy report, that appears to be of Manadel Al Jamadi, shows that the cause of his death was "blunt force injury complicated by compromised respiration." New documents specifically record the circumstances of death as "Q by OGA and NSWT died during interrogation."
• An Afghan civilian died from "multiple blunt force injuries to head, torso and extremities" on November 6, 2003, at a Forward Operating Base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. (Facts in the autopsy report appear to match the previously reported case of Abdul Wahid.)
• A 52-year-old male Iraqi was strangled to death at the Whitehorse detainment facility on June 6, 2003, in Nasiriyah, Iraq. His autopsy also revealed bone and rib fractures, and multiple bruises on his body. (Facts in the autopsy report appear to match the previously reported case of Nagm Sadoon Hatab.)

Remember, these things happened four and a half years ago and have been known and freely available for two and a half years (since October 2005).

The closer to the bone the truth is, the louder and more persistent the shoutdown is.
— Paul Dirks

This one is already taken:

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
— H. L. Mencken

I love George Bush

Without George Bush there would be no Obama, or even Hillary Clinton, as president.
— L.W.M.

I think many people have misunderestimated George W. Bush's legacy. I think future historians will likely see him as the savior of his country. "What?!", you say, "this doofus who can't pronounce a three syllable word savior of his country?!"

Yes, precisely. It won't be the view of near-term history but in about a century it will be realized that George W. Bush's contribution to America will have been the demolishing of the Republican Party, with its goal of a permanent one-party majority, in short, a goal of making the United States of America look more like the People's Republic of China. George W. Bush's total incompetence as a chief executive has made the Republican Party so radioactive that those who are willing to self-identify as Republicans are at a 50-year low, and die-hard Republicans (like Tom DeLay and Rush Limbaugh) have to distance the party's presumptive nominee from the Republican Party in order to have any chance of his winning the election. If Republican Party were a brand of dog food it would have to be taken off the shelves. And we owe it all to George W. Bush

If the Publishers have a few free copies, one should be given to Elephantman. Compassionate Liberalism.
— oratorio

You can lead an elephantman to water, but you can't make him take a bath.

shooter: Look people, one can get only so far with doom and gloom.

Shooter's right here. You'd think that someone would have told Bush and Cheney and Mukasey and McConnell (both of them) and Hayden and Boner that doom and gloom doesn't work anymore and saved them the excruciating embarrassment of insisting that we were all going to be slaughtered in our beds if Congress didn't grant retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies.

Yes, doom and gloom will only get you so far. It got us into Iraq, but it can't get us out. In fact doom and gloom is what is keeping us there (have you heard, shooter, that if we leave Iraq the terrorists will follow us home?).

So do the world some good, shooter, and call up your BFF George W. and tell him to knock it off with the doom and gloom already.

GC!: Shake it about and find a morel

There's a morel to every story.