Thirty Seven Deaths Certificates for Detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan Released In Past Few Weeks

ABC's Nightline reported tonight that, in the past few weeks, in response to the revelations of torture at the hands of Military Intelligence officers, 37 death certificates have been issued in the past few weeks for detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan listing homicide as the cause of death. Causes of death include Blunt force injury and Strangulation. These certificates go back 2 years.

In addition, last year, six JAG core members met with the Human Rights Committee of the New York Bar Association, and reported that the former rules of engagement governing military interrogations had been thrown out, and that nothing had been put down to take its place -- a situation ripe for creative abuse.

It becomes hard to argue that the failure was due to "bad apples", and not systemic, when the abuse happened over years, and happened because the Pentagon threw out the rule book constraining against torture.