Roaming death squads? Brilliant!!”

Whenever someone who supports the war in Iraq starts barking about “we’re on the road to victory!” or other similar pseudo-patriotic bromides, I can’t resist asking them just WTF they define victory as being — what are “we” winning? What gain is there from this?

There is none, of course, but willful ignorance amuses me. As does the following re: Iraq’s Ministry of Interior:

Bribery is said to be so rampant [in Iraqi detention facilities] that a standard list of under-the-table fees has apparently evolved. Mohammed Abid, a defense lawyer in Baghdad, says clients describe prices that range from 30,000 Iraqi dinar (about $21) for one minute on a mobile phone to $40,000 in U.S. currency for release from custody. Those rates are independently confirmed by an Iraqi police officer who has spent two years working at Al Hakimiya and does not wish to be named, out of fear and shame. “I’m coming forward for reasons that are between me and Allah,” he says. “I have done things. I needed to tell someone.” He says torture and beatings are part of the daily routine, creating an eager market for guards who sell painkillers to the inmates.

Sorta puts a rather morbid spin on the “markets in everything” bit the guys at Marginal Revolution like to run, huh?

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