Yesterday's edition of The Guardian newspaper contained an 8-page comic strip, Trauma On Loan, by Joe Sacco, in its Weekend magazine supplement, which looked rather out of place next to advertisements for BMWs, properties, personal hygiene products and articles such as Seven Pointers To A Perfect Smile, fashion – the right coat can add more than a touch of style this Spring – and reviews of expensive London restaurants.

Trauma On Loan is based around Sacco's time spent with Thahe Mohammed Sabbar and Sherzad Kamal Khalid during their visit to the USA to appear as plaintiffs in a lawsuit. The lawsuit charges U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with legal responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First. Both Sabbar and Khalid were detained by the United States military in Iraq and were subjected to physical abuse, torture, and other cruel and degrading treatment. They were eventually released without charge.

The filed complaint is available online at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/rumsfeld/23378lgl20060105.html.

Joe Sacco's Trauma On Loan can be downloaded as a PDF from here: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2006/01/20/fullsacco1.pdf.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 22nd, 2006 at 9:09 and is filed under Books/Magazines/Printed Papers, Culture/Politics.
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