In the midst of the first week of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, civilian contractor Thomas Hammill managed to escape his captors 23 days after he’d been taken hostage.
Given the mutilation of the bodies of military contractors in Fallujah in early April and the killings of U.N. personnel, aid workers, and Iraqi civilians, I wouldn’t be at all surprised that many of the other hostages taken in past months have been physically abused. Certainly, any number of them have been found dead, including others taken at the same time as Mr. Hammill.
Hammill, on the other hand, although he and his hostage-takers were staying in a hovel infested with mosquitos, received some treatment for a gunshot wound in his arm that he’d received during his capture. Additionally, he’d been provided with antibiotic pills.
Beats sodomy with a light stick.