Beyond Abu Ghraib (New Amnesty report published today)

[Stockholm]

Amnesty International Press release, 06/03/2006

Thousands of detainees being held by the US-led Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq are trapped in a system of arbitrary detention that denies them their basic rights, Amnesty International said in a report published today. At the same time, there is increasing evidence of torture of detainees by the Iraqi security forces that the MNF underpins.

"Three years after it toppled Saddam Hussain, the US-led alliance has failed to put in place measures which respect the basic rights of detainees under its control and to safeguard them from possible torture or other abuses. The system of detention that has been established is arbitrary and a recipe for possible abuse," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

Some detainees have now been held without charge or trial by the MNF for more than two years without being given an adequate opportunity to challenge the reasons for their imprisonment. They face the prospect of being held for years more on the basis of information to which they do not have access. The systems the US and UK use to review detainees' cases fail to meet international standards, including the requirement for court oversight. Detainees are also routinely denied access to lawyers and their families.

The report Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq focuses on human rights violations for which the MNF is directly responsible but points also to mounting evidence of torture by Iraqi security forces operating alongside the MNF, including the so-called Wolf Brigade that reports to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. There have also been cases in which detainees have died in the custody of Iraqi forces. Amnesty International is concerned that these cases and torture allegations have not been properly investigated and those responsible held to account. US and UK investigations into abuses by their forces have also generally focused on junior military personnel and sentences have failed to reflect the gravity of the offences.

The report http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140012006?open&of=ENG-IRQ

[rodeodance]

1. oh-the WH is going to have another tissy fit.

[primavera]

11. Yeah, right, like they give a shit

The fascist thugs will probably boast about it.

[peacebird]

2. no worries - MSM will focus on OSCARs

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. That's fine

the Free Press on the internet will get this story out there. We don't need no stinking Corporate Media.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. BBC World Service radio led with this report last night

See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2147333

though I admit the Oscars are now higher on the BBC website than the report.

[Stockholm]

10. It is growing...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2072363,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1724837,00.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3218,36-747905@51-748004,0.html

It is just the start. Many still carry the story about the newly released DOD Report on the identities of the prisoners of Guantanamo.

By tomorrow, it will be everywhere.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Arbitrary detentions...what BUSH blamed HUSSEIN for doing.

Saddam arbitrarily arrested Iraqis; tortured Iraqis;
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect4.html

So does bush...

70% to 90% of Iraq Prisoners 'Arrested by Mistake'
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0511-04.htm

Detainees Suffer Terror at US Hands; Red Cross Says Torture Part of Deliberate Tactic
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0512-10.htm

Military Analyst Describes Abuse of 16-Year-Old in Iraq Prison
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0520-07.htm

Iraq's child prisoners
http://www.sundayherald.com/43796

"90% obviously innocent" U.S. Interrogator in Iraq
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/interviews/lagouranis.html

Five Chinese Muslims the U.S. military admits were captured by mistake want the U.S. Supreme Court`s help in getting out of the Guantanamo Bay military prison. Their capture and detention in the Cuban facility for more than four years has created a legal dilemma for the Bush administration, which fears releasing them back to China where they could face torture, yet refuses to grant them asylum for fear of opening floodgates to others.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1097256.php/%60Mistake%60_captives_languish_at_Guantanamo

Compiled from declassified Defense Department evaluations of the more than 500 detainees at the Cuba facility, the report says just 8 percent are listed as fighters for a terrorist group, while 30 percent are considered members of a terrorist group and the remaining 60 percent were just "associated with" terrorists.

55 percent of the detainees are informally accused of committing a hostile act. But the descriptions of their actions ranged from a high-ranking Taliban member who tortured and killed Afghan natives to people who possessed rifles, used a guest house or wore olive drab clothing.
http://scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0602/S00253.htm

The New America, where torture is official government policy.

[saigon68]

14. Just a few Bad Actors

[Solly Mack]

4. America: The War Crime Nation - the Album & More

In Torture We Trust (all others we bomb)
Out of many, torture (them all)
The Torture Splattered Banner (Oh say can you bleed some more blood for me?)
This Torture is Your Torture (this torture is my torture - from Abu Ghraib to the Cuban islands)
God Bless Torture (abuse that I love, stand beside them and burn them - with the light from the cigarette above)
One if by lash(of the whip), two if by water-boarding
Land of the oppressors, home of the torturers
If I had a hammer,I'd bash you while you're kneeling, I'd bash you in groin - (then you'd talk)
This little fist of mine, I'm gonna make you bleed - oh, this little fist of mine, I'm gonna make you bleed - Oh, this little fist of mine, I'm gonna make you bleed - watch you die, watch you die, watch you die
America, America - Bush shed his hate on thee, and crowned thy good with torture hoods from sea to bloody sea

and many more!!!!


Get yours now!

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. I knew when Bush was selected that he was going to bad

but I never in my wildest imagination ever dreamed that because of Bush, the US would become worse then the Nazis.

[Solly Mack]

7. I didn't anticipate the torture policy - gotta admit

Wars for no reason? Yes
Civil right abuses? Yes
attacks on women/gays/minorities? Yes
Bankrupting America? Yes
and more...



but a torture policy? I didn't see that coming. I honestly didn't. I'm not surprised(all things considered) - but I still didn't expect to be discussing how America tortures people in the present tense

[Mnemosyne]

9. .

[grytpype]

12. Hey, if it wasn't for all this torture, we would be losing in Iraq!

Uh... waitaminnit...

[Up2Late]

13. From AFP: "Arbitrary" detention fueling "dire" situation in Iraq: Amnesty

(French speaking world, check. You want to know what is fueling the Iraqi Rebellion, read this report.)

'Abritrary' detention fueling 'dire' situation in Iraq: Amnesty

06/03/2006 11h16

LONDON (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people have been held "arbitrarily" in Iraq since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003, creating a situation that is ripe for abuse, Amnesty International said. Most of those held were neither charged nor faced trial and had no basic right to challenge their detention, the London-based human rights group said as it launched a new report "Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and Torture in Iraq".

"Nearly three years after the US and allied forces invaded Iraq and toppled the government of Saddam Hussein, the human rights situation in the country remains dire," it said. "The deployment of US-led forces in Iraq and the armed response that engendered has resulted in thousands of deaths of civilians and widespread abuses amid the ongoing conflict."

At least 13 people were killed Monday in a series of bombings and shootings across Iraq, while Iraq's President Jalal Talabani announced that parliament would hold its inaugural meeting on March 12 -- nearly three months after the general elections. Amnesty's report detailed what it called "human rights violations for which the US-led MNF (multi-national force) is directly responsible" as well as those increasingly committed by Iraqi security forces.

"The record of these forces, including US forces and their United Kingdom allies, is an unpalatable one," it noted. "Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, tens of thousands of people have been detained by foreign forces, mainly the US forces, without being charged or tried and without the right to challenge their detention before a judicial body." Quoting MNF figures, Amnesty said there were more than 14,000 security detainees in coalition custody at the end of November 2005.

(more at link below)

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060306110837.309ieaq8.html>