Meet the New Torture Boss - Same As the Old Torture Boss

Once again we see the "birth pangs" of democracy in the Middle East. The Iraq government has been officially placed in charge of Abu Graib.

An independent witness who went into Abu Ghraib this week told The Sunday Telegraph that screams were coming from the cell blocks housing the terrorist suspects. Prisoners released from the jail this week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects and on Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Conditions in the rest of the jail were grim, with an overwhelming stench of excrement, prisoners crammed into cells for all but 20 minutes a day, food rations cut to just rice and water and no air conditioning.

"For the vast majority of Iraqi citizens who wish to live as free men and women, this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever," President Bush said after Saddam Hussein's capture.

The secret police are gone. But Iraq now has death squads. Some of these men have been proven to be police officers working for the Interior Ministry.