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Torture’s Other Victims: US Soldiers

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Tortures Other Victims US Soldiers

Journalist Joshua Phillips. (Photo: Lance Page / Truthout)

The Iraq war isn't over.

For tens of thousands of soldiers returning from the battlefield, it never will be.

Some of these men and women will turn to alcohol and drugs to ease their mental injuries; some will end up homeless, unemployed and divorced. Some will commit suicide. Most will be forgotten.

That will be one of the lasting legacies of the nearly nine-year-long conflict.

Fortunately, there are investigative journalists like Joshua Phillips who have taken great pains to preserve the memories of a handful of veterans whose lives have been ravaged by the war.

Phillips is the author of “None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture,” a harrowing book about the torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deep psychological scars it left on the members of one tank battalion who dispensed pain to their victims.

In this compelling and heartrending on-camera interview, Phillips, who spent more than five years researching and writing “None of Us Were Like This Before,” discusses his investigation into the 2004 death of Army Sgt. Adam Gray, and how it led him to uncover a tragic story about torture's other victims.

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