Just days after a new report (pdf) was released, providing further evidence that torture of detainees in Afghanistan continues at the “secret” site at Bagram Air Base, Reuters informs us that a detainee in NATO custody has been “found dead” in his cell.

As evidence continues to accumulate that the US-led NATO counterinsurgency plan (COIN) in Afghanistan is an abject failure, we now see panic setting in on several fronts.

For some time, I’ve been documenting the effort to present General Stanley McChrystal’s COIN strategy as a warm, fuzzy program of which we should be proud, instead of the reality of night raids that kill and imprison innocent civilians, fueling the anger of insurgents. My most recent find in that propaganda campaign is truly a sight to behold.

Despite a huge public relations push to praise the new detention facility that has replaced the old Bagram prison, the legacy of torture and murder at Bagram and the nearby Afghan Pol-e-Charki facility will be hard to overcome.

Brig. Gen. Mark S. Martins played a key role in writing the new prisoner status review program under an Executive Order from Obama and now is serving in Afghanistan in a key role implementing it.

Vice Admiral Robert Harward, head of JTF-435, continues his process of “training” Afghan personnel to take command of Afghan prisons, in an attempt to deflect responsibility away from the author of US detention abuses, General Stanley McChrystal.