An important story from Betsy Hiel in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

ERBIL, Iraq — Humam Abdel Jabar sits on a bench in a friend’s jewelry shop. Shoulders hunched, head down, he nervously plays with his fingers while recounting a tale of kidnapping and torture that is familiar to many Iraqis.

In April, “four armed men wearing face masks came at 8 o’clock at night and broke down the door of my house,” the tall, dark-eyed man with a full moustache wearily recounts.

They shoved him into a car trunk and drove to a nearby house, then blindfolded and bound him.  read more »