Free Iraq

The US's occupation of Iraq will see to it that the Lion of Babylon rises again .. سنـُبعـَث ُ من جَديد ، وإلى ضَـيـرِِهِـم
Iraq'scover72dpi Iraq'scover72dpi

Iraq's Nuclear Mirage ... سَراب السلاح النووي العراقي

Unrevealed Milestones in the Iraqi National Nuclear Program: 1981-1991

معالم وأحداث غير مكشوفة في البرنامج النووي الوطني العراقي 1981-1991

CoverFront CoverFront

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Erring on the side of death


… Where is the free American media and their kind hearted patrons when their G.I. Joes are pumping up Iraq with depleted uranium, napalm bombs, cluster munitions and poisonous gases even as these lines are being written? Is death less camera-friendly in Iraq or is it less worthy of the Americans' attention? Are Iraqis children of a lesser god? Go talk of Schiavo's right to live or die.

… When they were shedding tears on Schiavo like events, not very long back an Iraqi girl Fatima was being repeatedly raped by the beasts that guarded Abu Ghareeb prison. Here is an excerpt from her heart rending letter to Iraqi resistance fighters;

"…I say to you: our wombs have been filled with the children of fornication by those sons of apes and pigs who raped us. Or I could tell you that they have defaced our bodies, spit in our faces, and tore up the little copies of the Qur’an that hung around our necks? ….By God, we have not passed one night since we have been in prison without one of the apes and pigs jumping down upon us to rip our bodies apart with his overweening lust. Kill us along with them! Destroy us along with them! Don’t leave us here to let them get pleasure from raping us….Leave their tanks and aircraft outside. Come at us here in the prison of Abu Ghurayb."
The United Vegetative States of America by Anwaar Huusain, April 6, 2005

A truly fitting title for a poignant article. Did you ask: 'Why do they hate us?'.
===
"Please provide the date, location, and names of persons involved in the abuse and we will attempt to conduct a search"

Last year, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he had viewed the contents of three compact disks containing "blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman" acts of torture and abuse committed by some U.S. personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. After Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) viewed some of them in a classified briefing, he testified that his "stomach gave out." NBC News reported that they show "American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys." Everyone who saw the photographs and videos seemed to shudder openly when contemplating what the reaction would be when they eventually were made public.
But they never were. Almost none of those images have been released into the public domain, and they may never be if the government has its way.
The Pentagon's successful efforts to deflect Freedom of Information Act requests for disclosure of the images – with identifying features obscured if necessary. Most recently, the Army has said that it has no idea what images are being requested, and that requesters must supply more details. "Please provide the date, location, and names of persons involved in the abuse and we will attempt to conduct a search," wrote Phillip J. McGuire, Director of the Army Crimes Records Center on March 7, 2005.

…"We've seen virtually no criminal investigations or criminal prosecutions," says ACLU staff attorney Jameel Jaffer, who plans to challenge the nondisclosure in court. "The vast majority of those photographs and videotapes don't relate to ongoing criminal investigations; on the contrary they depict things that the government approved of at the time and maybe approves of now."
Legalities are one thing, but the real motivation for choking off access is obvious: Torture photos undermine support for the Iraq war. In the words of Donald Rumsfeld, “If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse.” (added emphasis)
"The Pentagon's Secret Stash: Why we'll never see the second round of Abu Ghraib photos," April 2005.

Erring
Erring on the side of deathIt is fun to shoot some people

Comments:
Let’s say Oliver the reason for Iraq occupation was not WMD’s or domination of Iraqi oil resources. Let say the reason was liberating Iraqis and bringing democracy.

Just after the occupation Iraq was rather peaceful and Iraqis happy and optimistic. What did USA do, give democracy to Iraqis? No – they installed an own US born Dictator, who managed to bring the country in a couple month to a total chaos. Later, when other countries forced USA through the UN resolution, USA gave extra limited power to a Quisling government, who had no authority outside Green Zone. And the resistance grew.

Because the UN resolution demanded to transfer the power to Iraqis, USA organized the elections almost on the last possible date in the UN outlaid timetable. The elections where certainly among one of “funniest” ever arranged in the world. Nobody knew the candidates.

The elections were a “success”. Already after a couple of hours after the elections started, the world media was informed about the voting per cent. But what happened after the voting. The counting of votes did take an astonishing long time, compared to the speed of voting estimates. After the results came, US had ensured the failure by demanding astonishing majority rules. With such rules hardy no democratic country could form a government.

In the light of the last two years USA has no reason to brag about it success in Iraq – not on the economical, military or civil rights aspect. If the reason for Iraq US excursion was really a DEMOCRACY, why did USA start not at once the election process and did lay a time table? Why had Iraqis wait for two years? You Oliver really need a positive attitude if you claim that Iraq operation was a success.
 
I that the pro-war and anti-war crowd will have to agree to disagree. Each camp obviously sees the situation differently. Anti-war people jump on every negative aspect, whilst the pro-war bunch jump on every positive aspect. This is natural. However, what is perturbing is the fact that there are many anti-war people out there who relish bad things happening in Iraq, merely to try to prove their point of view. They desperately want to be proved right, even if it that means that they look forward to the next insurgent killing another crowd of Iraqis.

The anti-war crowd will have to face the inevitable though; and that is that Iraq has a better future without Saddam. Iraqi people have now voted in the parties they want. They are represented appropriately. Over the months and years, the American influence, I am sure, will gradually dissolve and the Iraqi influence will gradually strengthen. Iraq is going through a huge transformation. Dictatorship to democracy is not an easy thing to grasp for many.

Things on the ground in many regions of Iraq are now peaceful and stable. Whether you agree with Bush's policies or not (I dont), eventually, his legacy will be a good one. It is inevitable and is something you will all just have to swallow. Its called "eating humble pie", if you have any honesty in you, you'll eat it eventually.
 
This story has made me blurt on, please forgive.
I cannot understand something here and maybe someone can explain?
I have read the letter by the Iraqi girl. It does not shock me because there are alway those in the armed forces who will be nasty (understatement) and take advantage of a lawless situation. However, it shames me to death every time I read of something like this. Any soldier found to be behaving in this way should be handed over to the Iraqi authorities for punishment. The puishment should be hanging or a firing squad (preferably with a torture session beforehand - I say cut their testicles and penis with white-hot butchers knives and then give them the "coca cola bottle treatment"). Apology for being explicit as I am angry. They shoudl get revenge on these men.

What I cannot understand is when Saddam ruled, exactly the same things were happening in Abu Ghrain then, but why did no-one set up blogs then, in order to shame and criticise the Iraqi President and bring such stories to light?
We constantly hear criticism from several sources around the world, and yet these same sources never set up blogs or even sites critical of the regime then. Why why why????????? Were they prepared to accept this behaviour and keep it quiet because on those occasions, Iraqi men were doing the murdering and rape?

I have never read one good thing about the way Iraqi men behaved in the "former Iraq"; I find it hard to read one good thing about the way men behave in the new Iraq.

Can Iraqis living in Iraq now, or those Iraqis living in exile, really feel justified in criticising the behaviour of the American marines?
I am not being combative, I am merely trying to get to the truth.

Yesterday I read book wrote by 2 authors (Iraqi scientists) who were in their book, very critical of the UN weapons inspectors and American foreign policy. But who are they to be critical of anyone when they failed to perform their duties of protecting or helping the Iraqi people, esp. women and kids?

Shock and confusion is dominating since 2003!
 
"Erring on the side of death"
 
Your points Stoned Crow would have sense if the reason for “liberating” Iraq would have been liberating Iraqis from a terrible situation. But in the world are hundreds of millions people living in far worse civil right circumstances than Iraqis in Iraq in the year 2003. Most of them in Africa - Congo and Somalia. Also the human rights situation in North Korea and Burma was then worse than in Iraq. Why did USA not liberate these people if the only driving force was liberating people? What did Iraq have what the others did not have? Yes production ready oil fields.

Will the legacy of Bush be a good one? The amount of chaos and instability USA is presently creating in Middle East and Caucasus doesn’t promise that. If from the chaos emerge friendly responsible governments, you could say that USA is a “winner”. But most probably the progress will not be so easily handled. Latin America will be a real test of US tolerance of DEMOCRACY. Can USA live with Hugo Chavez, who has decided to sell so much Venezuelan oil to Chinese and Indians as possible and buy hi-tech Russian war planes? Probably not very long and we will see again US organized military coup d'etat in Latin America. After that the Bush liturgy about US bringing democracy will have very little credibility. That will bee historically morally more devastating for the superpower than Prague 1968 was for Soviet Union or Chile for USA.

The other major problem for Bush is how he can save the USD. The amount for dollars (=US federal bonds etc) held by foreign central banks and other investors has reached its critical mass. It is not any more the question if the panic starts, it is when. USA has to raise more and more the interests to keep the foreigners buying dollars. Then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be more in troubles and the housing financing bubble will “explode”. Even Greenspan warned of this. Well let’s see how good US citizens see the Bush legacy, when the panic on the currency markets starts. Probably then even the most fanatic pro-war people will be reconsidering the Bush junior era.
 
Jessop -
Regarding your heartfelt response to this hideous story, no forgiveness is required. Why would you or anyone else NOT respond with fury?

But you say you have never read one good thing about the way Iraqi men behaved before or after the invasion.
1. Do you really suppose the behaviour and aspirations of the human beings inhabiting Iraq, past and present, differ so greatly from "the rest of us" (whoever we may be)?
2. Have you ever lived in a society where political opposition could lead to imprisonment, torture or death?
3. As for what you read, do you believe that what gets published reflects the world as it is, free of bias?

You also question the right of Iraqis, whether in or out of Iraq, to criticise the behaviour of the American marines. Why would they lose that right? Under what circumstances do you or I lose our right to hold power structures accountable or to protest abuses?

For years the American government saw fit to prop up Saddam. Deliberately they turned a blind eye to his human rights abuses because it suited their larger political purpose. But then their focus and game plan changed. And now, all of Iraq is paying the price.

Human rights consistently must be defended and advanced. It is imperative that we stop using people like pieces on a chess board, pretending, for public consumption, that we are acting on their behalf while in the process of plundering their country.

Where you see abuses, for goodness sakes, do make your voice heard. By all means, protest, set up a blog, petition your government, write to your paper, or whatever!

You are right to be angry, and I am glad that you are. I only ask that you challenge your assumptions.
 
From the link that was provided: "The Pentagon realizes that it's images that sell the story," Aftergood says. "The reason that there is a torture scandal is because of those photographs. There can be narratives of things that are much worse, but if they aren't accompanied by photos, they somehow don't register....

Narratives don't register because they contain no proof in and of themselves, no matter how terrible the accusations. That is why I don't believe that it is reasonable to expect the world community at large to react to the contents of a letter, no matter how terrible the alleged crimes or how plausible they may be.

It is certainly possible that the "Powers That Be" in Washington have chosen withhold the worst of the abuse photographs. Still, given the sheer number of people that were involved in process (those that took the pictures, those that compiled and handled the pictures and those Congressmen and staff that saw them) leaves quite a bit of doubt in my mind as to how long such a scheme could work.

At the risk of upsetting the Dr. Khadduri with yet more of my "plentiful advise", I would dare to suggest that a video cameras, press conferences and mass demonstrations might serve the Iraqi insurgency better than RPGs and resistance cells. One could easily imagine a two-pronged approach where video documentation of coalition abuses, corruption, etc are combined with demonstrations demanding that Iraqis vote on whether to approve coalition troops at the same time that they vote on whether to approve the new constitution.
 
I have also read this letter from this person carefully and am not totally convinced that it is genuine. If this person can go into such detail about her attackers and their method of attack, why hasn't she given any names? Surely this girl has become aware of this man's name? even if is just his first name? Or even his rank? I am not saying these claims are defintitely false, but they could be, given the lack of info in the letter. The insurgents have used all manner of tricks in order to spread the attacks on the coalition.

I do however truly support the use of severe punishment for any troops caught engaging in brutalizing the Iraqi people and I agree the Iraqis should decide their fate. The sooner the occupation ends, the better. But the occupation should only end if and when the Iraqi PM and President says so.

As for Iraqis criticising the troops for bad behaviour? Well I say this as it says in the Bible

"let him who has no sin, cast the first stone"

The scientists that I think Jessop is referring to are nuclear scientists and I do agree that they are not in a position to criticize anyone, considering their past behaviour.

ps - thank you deleting Red Rums rude letters
 
You have to question this story about the girl supposedly raped in Abu Ghraib. Without the second name (or christian name) of the attacking guard, the letter could be construed as a hoax which is designed to propel the insurgency.

It is true though that Saddam's "time" is ever closer. I am sure the new powers in Iraq are planning the celebrations the day Saddam is hung.

He is being charged with war crimes including

1. genocide of the Kurds,
2. "ethnic cleansing" in which tens of thousands of Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians ("Arabisation programme" as they called it)
3. mass civilian executions after the uprisings in 1991
4. religious persecution.

Amazing how him and his buddies swaggered around in military fatigues and yet had not one grain of courage to face one American marine. Amazing how the rubbish of the Tikiriti lot could rule a nation.
 
TELawrence -
1. Regarding the credibility of Fatima's letter, perhaps it also could be argued that the whole matter of torture at Abu Gharib would be more credible if the full names of the prisoners photographed atop one another were released. As it happens, rape and humiliation are standard features of imprisonment and war. Rarely are the victims' cases documented and the perpetrators prosecuted. Just standard features that go with the terrain, I'm afraid.

2. As one who celebrates the liberating democracy brought to Iraq, do you recommend that Saddam be "hung" with or without benefit of an open trial at which he is allowed full legal representation?
 
Evelyn are you seriously saying that this girl would smuggle out a letter detailing everything but leave out the assailants name or even physical appearance???? Comon, be rational about this. Any person who has been repeatedly abused by a man in there, on smuggling a letter, would definitely put some description in there of the assailant, whether it be name, nickname, or physical description.
Sorry, but it just doesn't ring true at all.

As for the pyramid of naked men that you describe photo'd...I have no idea why this is deemed as 'torture'. Piling a few naked men on top of each other is hardly the worst thing in the world to do.
 
TE
Thanks. You've clarified your standards.
 
Yo!
You brave American soldier trying to rape me, what is your name?
Wha??
Show me your badge and Dog Tag.
What the f_ _ _ you are gonna get, for?
Well, there are the sorts like TELawrence and UKCitizen who think this is the appropriate time to ask for this information so I can write a letter to my British Lawyer to take you to court in an American Court since your Allmighty country does not recognize the International Criminal Court in the Hague, as they believe themselves to be above all that nonsense. I warn you, If you don't tell me your name, you will get two severe eye lashes from your President Bush.
 
It is not unrealistic to expect some nature of description of the prison guards who are supposedly behaving in this way. If this girl wanted her story to ring remotely true to anyone, she would have given some type of description.

Where people spend lots of time locked up together, they are bound to know each others names, or have some description of them. Prisoners will know things about their guards because they spend so much time locked up with them.

I have read many accounts of Iraqis being abused in Saddam's prisons and they have given very detailed accounts of who abused them, what these people look like, even whether they had tatoos!

I would agree, a lack of detail does raise my suspicions too.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

Archives

01/12/04   01/01/05   01/02/05   01/03/05   01/04/05   01/05/05   01/06/05   01/07/05   01/08/05   01/09/05   01/10/05   01/11/05   01/12/05   01/01/06   01/02/06   01/03/06   01/04/06   01/05/06   01/06/06   01/07/06   01/08/06   01/09/06   01/10/06   01/11/06   01/12/06   01/01/07   01/02/07   01/03/07   01/04/07   01/05/07   01/06/07   01/07/07   01/08/07   01/09/07   01/10/07   01/11/07   01/12/07   01/01/08   01/02/08   01/03/08   01/04/08   01/05/08   01/06/08   01/07/08   01/08/08   01/09/08   01/10/08   01/11/08   01/12/08   01/01/09   01/02/09   01/03/09   01/04/09   01/05/09   01/06/09   01/07/09   01/08/09   01/09/09   01/10/09   01/11/09   01/12/09   01/01/10   01/02/10   01/03/10   01/04/10   01/05/10   01/06/10   01/08/10   01/09/10   01/10/10   01/11/10   01/12/10   01/01/11   01/02/11   01/03/11   01/04/11   01/05/11   01/06/11   01/07/11   01/08/11   01/09/11   01/10/11   01/11/11   01/12/11   01/01/12   01/02/12   01/03/12   01/04/12   01/05/12   01/06/12   01/07/12   01/08/12   01/09/12   01/10/12   01/11/12   01/12/12   01/01/13   01/02/13   01/03/13   01/04/13   01/05/13  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?