Baghdad — Ali fell to his knees and said this is how it was done:
He put his hands behind his back to simulate being bound, then leaned his head back and closed his eyes as if blindfolded. A friend stepped behind him to hold his head, taking on the role of one of the enforcers. Then another would force open the victim’s mouth, Ali said, and a third would yank the tongue out with pliers and slice it off with a surgical knife or an army blade.
Tales of such abuse have flowed out of Iraq in the two weeks since Saddam Hussein was toppled. But Ali was not one of those whose tongue was cut. He was, he said, one of those who did the cutting.