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Did U.S. Central Command receive new orders from civilian top at the Pentagon?
BAGHDAD Nov. 15, 2005 — More than 170 malnourished detainees found at an Interior Ministry detention centre in Baghdad appear to have been tortured, the Iraqi prime minister says.
The announcement by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, came two days after US troops surrounded and took control of an Interior Ministry building in the Baghdad neighbourhood where the detainees were found.
“I was informed that there were 173 detainees held at an Interior Ministry prison and they appear to be malnourished. There is also some talk that they were subjected to some kind of torture,” al-Jaafari told reporters. Al-Jaafari said said an investigation had been launched.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official also said that an investigation will be opened into allegations that ministry officers tortured suspects detained in connection with the country’s on going fight against the foreign military presence in the country.
Al-Jaafari said the detainees were moved into a better location and “medical care will be given to them”.
More to follow soon as news develops »»
«« click pic to enlarge
The BBC’s Caroline Hawley in Baghdad says the discovery will not come as a surprise to many Iraqis. There have been persistent allegations of abuse by members of the Shia-dominated security forces, our correspondent says.
But Sunday’s discovery is hard evidence and officials believe it may be the tip of the iceberg.
«« click pic for story Annan visit
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said the
prisoners had now been moved.
There are suspicions the building may also have been used as a base for a militia called the Badr Brigade, which has links to senior government officials, our correspondent adds. The facility is reported to be in the central Jadiriya district of Baghdad.
BBC NEWS: VIDEO AND AUDIO
Hear more details on the detainees that were found
Iraq Inquiry Says Detainees Appear to Have Been Tortured
NYT (AP) Nov. 15 — “According to our knowledge, regrettably, all the detainees were Sunnis,” Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, told The Associated Press. “In order to search for a terrorist, they used to detain hundreds of innocent people and torture them brutally.”
Most insurgents are Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein’s regime but lost power after his ouster.
The Interior Ministry is controlled by Shiites. Sunni leaders have accused Shiite-dominated security forces of detaining, torturing and killing hundreds of Sunnis simply because of their religious affiliation.
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement late today saying that both Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had discussed the case “at the highest levels” of the Iraqi government. “We agree with Iraq’s leaders that the mistreatment of detainees is a serious matter and totally unacceptable,” the statement said.
The Pentagon spokesman said the discovery at the facility “was clearly something that was concerning, and was appropriately looked into by the Iraqi forces with the support of the coalition.” He said it was not a U.S. military-run facility and that he does not believe the American military was involved in the investigation.
Amnesty International also said it had recently received information of four people who were tortured while detained by Iraqi security forces.
● UN Concern Over Iraq Mass Arrests
● U.K. Ambassador’s Memoirs Describes the Build-up to Iraq War
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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Posted earlier in BooMan’s diary :: An Iraq Exit Strategy
From start of your discussion on thread ::
Why We’re Talking About Impeachment
But unlike in Vietnam, the active insurgency against the government (not necessarily against us) represents a minority (the Sunnis). Therefore, the weight of the population has an interest in preserving the new government, if for no other reason than to provide some security.
The majority of Iraqis want the U.S. Forces out of the country NOW!
March 17, 2005 — An opinion poll conducted in Iraq recently by Zogby International showed that 82 per cent of Sunni Arabs, and 69 per cent even of Shia Arabs, want the US out “now” or “very soon.” The main reason for the high Shia turn-out in the January election was that their religious leaders told them a Shia-dominated assembly was the quickest way to get the Americans out.
The Kurds are a satisfied political bloc, as they continu their status of sovereignty since the end of Gulf War I and the U.S. and U.K. imposed “No-Fly” zones. In addition they are now part of the Central Government in Baghdad and have great political influence, thanks to U.S. and coalition forces. The mixed Arab-Kurd cities of Mosul and Kirkuk will be hot-spots because of Saddam’s historical endeavor to have Arabs settle in houses belonging to Kurds. The oil resources will be worth fighting for. The U.S. and Israel will back the Kurds up to Independence. The development will be closely watched by Turkey, Syria and Iran.
The majority of Iraqis are disillusioned, dissatisfied and will never accept U.S. permanent occupation of cities and/or military bases. The reasoning must be obvious, the U.S. led invasion has worsened the daily living circumstances for most Iraqis. The heavy handed attacks by the U.S. troops in areas of both Sunni Triangle, Euphrates valley stretched to Syrian border and the suburbs of Baghdad and nearby cities where Shia rebel leader Muqtada Al-Sadr controls local government.
The Iraqis where optimistic in the first months after March 2003. The horrible security in their neighnorhood leaves most Iraqi families destitute, home bound, still in lack of services as electricity, running water and sewage disposal.
Iraq – In cold blood: Abuses by Armed Groups
Timeline of Exit of U.S. and Coalition Forces
The U.S. Armed Forces should be replaced by U.N. and NATO forces, similar to the liberation of Liberia from 14 years civil war. All you can do is pray and hope for the best as the U.S. departs from Iraq occupation.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Re your BBC-link on mass arrests. Also covered by MSNBC:
today – this line is particularly chilling:
If this is, and it seems to be, pretty common knowledge around Iraq, why haven’t any of our hard-working war correspondents reported it? Is this Interior Ministry in the “green zone”?
There were some reports out along the way about training problems and human/civil rights abuses of prisoners. The whole place is one mistake after another.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
An alarming trend appeared early on in the dual roles of security for diplomats-training forces and the high number of training programs infiltrators by insurgents.
When private contractors are not held to standards of respecting human rights then it’s no surprise when the ones they train don’t either.
Most contracts awarded were to companies that have been under investigation or lacked experience for the jobs awarded.
and read descriptions of the kind of torture carried out by the Diem regime. Here we find the same methods in Iraq 2005 although we still await the first report of the deliberate destruction of female reproductive organs.
How many times and by how many people has it been said that nothing happens in Iraq without the US allowing it or authorzing it? Different time. Different client regime. Same result.
Reports also seem to indicate that most Iraqis have at least suspected this kind of behaviour for a long time. A critical question may also be why was it discovered now?
The trends I notice in circumstances like this one is that one of the guilty parties might be trying to get out ahead of the story by leaking it first. That way they have more control of the first impression.
If it’s a true whistleblower event then I usually look to something/someone related by a few degrees of seperation. It could be different but usually this only happens (Iraq-recent) when someone else has something to gain and they want others out of the way.
I was reading some newsgroup postings and found a transcript of a show interview on the WP-Fallujah atrocities. The basic news of that was out almost right after it happened, 2004 but it’s just now in the MSM. It was weird to hear the high level officer justifying it’s use.
I found an article from ABC news US distances soldiers from secret Baghdad prison and this part jumped out at me
The United States Government says it does not believe American soldiers were involved in the Iraqi prison where more than 170 detainees were found starving and mistreated.
US troops took control of an Interior Ministry building in Baghdad on the weekend and found the traumatised prisoners inside.
Investigations into the abuse have started, but US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli says the prison was controlled by Iraqi forces not Americans.
"There's no issue of American involvement in this. Were there to be, then obviously our procedures and regulations would apply," he said.
emphasis mine
I would like to wrap this around the head of whoever wrote it.
Haven’t we been battling the wrong justification for this war as SACRIFICING LIVES TO STOP THE TORTURE OF IRAQIS BY THEIR OWN PEOPLE? Isn’t that why the hell we’re there in the first place?
What’s wrong with people?
Taken from the BBC story:
This is fucking outrage! Like it or not, the USA is responsible for these actions because they are the occupying country.
Whoops! Link to the BBC story
Somebody needs to grab Chalabi out of one of the meetings with Rice-Cheney and have him testify while he’s in town.
Does the procedure exist to do something like that?
Good question.
I would suspect that as a foreign ‘diplomat’ he has immunity from prosecution, or arrest in the US.
(how convenient eh)
I figured he would have that protection. I’m wondering if it could be some matter of accountability questioning procedure tied to the funding or something. Chalabi is one of the main Ministry officials there isn’t he? Isn’t he referred to as Prime Minister or future Prime minister?
What about hauling in the ones responsible for training the guards, the private contractors? US funds have paid that bill.
I believe there is…
It is called RENDITION…
Pretty scary, huh?
Chalabi would end up owning the building he’s sent to and would likely persuade his interrogators to defect.
If ever there were people to portray the ‘deal with the devil to ensure material success on earth’ it would be Chalabi and several of the neocons. Stuff like this just reinforces the select ‘Illuminati chosen ones’ lore.
Something that is documented from the past and supported by many of the diehards in power is the use of mind control-psyops- establishing loyalty/control through torture and abuse.
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Posted earlier in diary by Carnacki ::
The Man Responsible for the Iraq War Is ID’ed
To Go To College?
I Need You
To Kill Some Iraqis!
Enlistment has become a choice of morality, not of being patriotic to your country. The surge of men and women joining the U.S. Armed Forces after the attacks of 911 has ended – see Pat Tillman.
BTW it is always a moral choice, and depends on trust in leadership and your government.
The Vietnam War depended also on telling the American people as it was, or living by deceit & lies. In 1966 for the careful listener and in 1967 one could understand the goals set were not being met, DoD McNamara lost credibility. The following crucial year, set in motion by the Viet Cong in the TET offensive, demoralization of the home front started. In the end, the men and women fighting on the frontline of a dirty war were abandoned by all.
Looks like Donald Rumsfeld has read the Vietnam files of his predecessor McNamara and begins scapegoating his innocence. A bigger fool cannot be imagined. In any size corporation his ass would have been booted a long time ago.
“This war is probably a really big deal historically in terms of America’s perspective on the world,” says John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State University. “What you’re going to get after this is ‘We don’t want to do that again — No more Iraqs’ just as after Vietnam the syndrome was ‘No more Vietnams.’ “
Flowers are laid at a memorial to the Kent StateUniversity shootings, one of the divisive events of 1970s.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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Thx Oui, as always, for providing us with comprehensive research.
[sigh] the horror never ends.
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“I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating, one or two detainees were paralyzed and some had their skin peeled off various parts of their bodies.”
Hussein Kamal, Deputy Interior Minister
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has ordered an investigation.
Washington is backing the Iraqi inquiry – but the US is itself facing pressure to be more transparent about the treatment of its prisoners.
The Iraqi abuse allegations came to light when prisoners, many malnourished and some showing signs of apparent torture, were found by US troops on Sunday. I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating, one or two detainees were paralyzed and some had their skin peeled off various parts of their bodies
The Islamic Party spokesman said Iraqi-led investigations into past cases of abuse had not produced results, and only an international inquiry would get to the bottom of the alleged abuse.
It is in U.S. interest to step in now, as the underlying abuse by Shia led Iraqi government is a risk that may lead to a civil war already raging underneath the surface of daily life. The nightly death squads led by militia have strong ties to officials at the Interior Ministry. The links of the present government to Iranian influence does not align with U.S. interests.
The nightly executions have upset large parts of both Shia and Sunni communities.
See reports earlier this year by –
Human Rights Watch – A Face and a Name
Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq
Human Rights Report :: 1 Sept. – 31 Oct. 2005 presented by UNAMI
In UK backing Iraq invasion: MP Ann Clwyd – odd mix of war supporter plus human rights advocate.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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