Last summer, Josh White, of the Washington Post, described in some detail one of the worst cases of torture and murder in Iraq. An Iraqi general, Abed Hamed Mowhoush, who had walked into a forward operating base of his own accord, trying to secure the release of his four imprisoned sons (who were never charged with anything, and believe they were used as bait to capture their father), and who was initially described as cooperative, was interrogated and severely beaten by a Special Forces group, the CIA, and a CIA-sponsored Iraqi paramilitary, the Scorpions. According to his autopsy, he was left with seven broken ribs and at least 47 contusions, some of them thirteen inches long. Two days later, an Army interrogator stuffed him head-first into a sleeping bag, bound him with electrical cord and sat on him. The interrogator’s immediate superior, who received immunity from prosecution, testified that she had approved the sleeping bag technique, and that, in fact, it had been used on other prisoners.

Mowhoush suffocated.

The interrogator was found guilty of negligent homicide yesterday.

The CIA? We’re not talking about that, although one witness was accidentally identified as having worked with the CIA. The CIA was immune, and McCain Amendment or no McCain Amendment, probably still is.

The results of this case are outrageous. CIA and Special Forces soldiers almost certainly contributed to the  cause of the general’s death. Moreover, the convicted interrogator actually sought and received approval for the technique he used, and his boss thought she had approval from higher up. Did she? Well, we’ll never know, because the investigation stops with the conviction of one soldier for negligent homicide.