Soldier Sues Over Guantanamo Beating

from the LA Times:

A U.S. military policeman who was beaten by fellow MPs during a botched training drill at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison for detainees has sued the Pentagon for $15 million, alleging that the incident violated his constitutional rights.

Spc. Sean D. Baker, 38, was assaulted in January 2003 after he volunteered to wear an orange jumpsuit and portray an uncooperative detainee. Baker said the MPs, who were told that he was an unruly detainee who had assaulted an American sergeant, inflicted a beating that resulted in a traumatic brain injury.

Baker, a Gulf War veteran who reenlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was medically retired in April 2004. He said the assault left him with seizures, blackouts, headaches, insomnia and psychological problems."

What happened to this GI shouldn't happen to a dog -- which is precisely the point those of us in the "blame America first" crowd have been howling about for about two years now. For those of us who oppose things like torture and the death penalty, there are no difficult fact patterns. But if you think it is OK to snuff or beat the snot out of some people but not others, sooner or later you end up here. I don't know what the Republican goon squad will have to say about this one -- anything they say will set off cognitive dissonance louder than Big Ben.