US Troops 'Tortured' Man with Rap Music/GulfNews--New WMW

[Gloria]

Excerpts and links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR DECEMBER 22, 2003

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--WHY THE RESISTANCE WILL INCREASE (The resistance will persist because Saddam was never its political, religious, spiritual or moral guide. The mukawama - resistance against foreign occupation - is now a full-blown nationalist, religious movement. The most popular political party on the sprawling campus of Baghdad University is not the widely-despised Ahmad Chalabi's neo-conservative-backed Iraqi National Congress. It is the Iraq Islamist Party…Asia Times Online has ascertained that at least 12 independent guerrilla organizations from different tribes are involved in the mukawama, all vaguely in touch with each other. This loose organization may be about to extend its reach nationwide. But the Iraqi guerrilla movement is extraordinarily complex.)



2//Deutsche Welle/dw-World.de, Germany--THERE’S STILL ROOM FOR EUROPEANS IN IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION (More than $100 billion will be needed to finance the reconstruction, but until now the US Congress has only approved $18.6 billion…But that still leaves a funding hole of more that $80 billion, which Germany and other European countries are free to plug. Considering the long history of the trade relationship between Europe and Iraq, it’s likely many German, French and Russian firms will opt to do so, and transitional Iraqi leaders are eager to court their investment…Failing to secure European help could result in failure, according to Franz Reichwein, the Federal Agency for Foreign Trade and Payments correspondent responsible for the Gulf region. At a conference in September, he pointed out that a number of the reconstruction projects already undertaken by the Americans may fail because the technicians involved don’t know enough about the systems. For example, the telecommunications network is based on European technology, which isn’t compatible with that of the Americans.)



3//The Japan Times, Japan--GROUND TROOPS MAY GO TO IRAQ NEXT MONTH (Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has decided to send a unit from the main contingent of the Ground Self-Defense Force to Iraq late next month at the earliest to help with rebuilding efforts, government sources said Sunday…The government and the ruling coalition are now expected to speed up preparatory discussions in line with the Defense Agency's plan to send an advance GSDF team to Samawah in mid-January. It will be followed by a contingent from the main force in late January that will build lodgings, as well as other units between late February and late March.)



4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--US TROOPS ‘TORTURED’ MAN WITH RAP MUSIC (Lebanese Mohammed Jaber said he went to Iraq on a pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites, he ended up being "tortured" with loud rap music by US troops suspicious he might be a foreign fighter against Americans…But Jaber said he kept one secret from his captors, fearing the treatment could get worse. "I mean I like rap, just imagine them playing jazz."…The International Committee of the Red Cross said three of them were seriously injured while in US custody. Jaber said they had stepped on land mines while clearing up rubbish in a field for US soldiers.)



5//The Guardian, UK--AFGHAN DEADLOCK WEAKENS KARZAI (Karzai defends the powers he seeks by saying that anything less would lead to perpetual in-fighting. If the Jirga refuses to approve them, Karzai says he will step down before elections next year. That would be considered a disaster by America and Afghanistan's other donors. They see Karzai, a Western-friendly moderate of the Pashtun group, as the only man capable of bringing sanity to Afghanistan's factional politics…Two factors have fuelled the Taliban's return, say analysts. By allowing the Northern Alliance, which is composed of smaller ethnic groups including Tajiks and Uzbeks, to grab most government seats, the US deepened Afghanistan's ethnic rift. America's continuing military campaign against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan has enraged the Pashtuns further.)

[sistersofmercy]

1. Well, if one were torture me that would be the way to do,

rap music. No insult intended to the fans of such rhythems but I just don't dig it in the slightest.

[DBoon]

8. wasn't there a convenience store

that used Frank Sinatra music to clear out rowdy late night punks?

They couldn't stand the stuff and vacated?

[stevedeshazer]

2. Japanese ground troops?!

I'm speechless.

[Robb]

6. Less shocking than you might think...

By making friendly with Libya, we're opening the door to back out of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA). Japanese petroleum compnaies want to work with Libya to develop the Libya-Malta shelf, and if we back out of ILSA, we can "let" them (without looking like jackasses for not enforcing our own sanctions).

I expect we asked them to pony up some troops for the effort. :shrug:

[teryang]

3. Using unpleasant and unduly loud recordings

...is a common disorientation technique during capture, along with stress positions, refusing to let prisoners urinate or sleep, restricting food and water intake, isolating them in restricted cold cells without clothing, etc. These are forms of torture which do not leave obvious forensic evidence for Red Cross observers to see.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. The "rest" of the story - plus LINK

. . From the article:

"US-led forces in Iraq freed Jaber and sent him and seven other Arab detainees home on Saturday.

The International Co-mmittee of the Red Cross said three of them were seriously injured while in US custody. Jaber said they had stepped on land mines while clearing up rubbish in a field for US soldiers.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International has said it has heard complaints of torture and degrading treatment including prolonged sle-ep deprivation from detainees held by the American troops.

Jaber said he and his friends were first held for six days handcuffed and hooded. They were not given food or allowed to sleep."



Just more of the same - "winning the hearts and minds" - Murikkan style

HECK - don't the BFEE realize they are just making MORE enemies over there ?

or don't they even care?

. (sigh) .

[Devils Advocate NZ]

5. Stepped on landmines while cleaning up rubbish?

more like the US soldiers wanted a minefield cleared but told the men they were cleaning up rubbish.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Hmmm - now you have me thinking -

. . yes indeedy!

WHY would the soldiers care about some rubbish ?

in a FIELD, no less !

There's still "rubbish" strewn all over Iraq from Gulf War One !

I could understand cleaning out latrines or garbage from a mess hall -

but this ?

- hmmmmm

[Devils Advocate NZ]

10. What about the guards? Where were they, and were THEY injured?

I mean, if they suspected these men were "Al Qaeda" or something like it, surely they wouldn't have sent them off into an empty field to pick up rubbish (and anything else they might have found - like something that could be used as a weapon) without a guard nearby?

Unless of course no guards wanted to be in that field that is...

Hell, was this field even NEAR the camp? I mean surely they would have cleared all areas in and around their camps of mines, right?

Or was it a case of "Hey there is this empty field down the road that no-one has checked for mines yet. Why don't we get a couple of prisoners to 'clean it up' for us?"

[ThomC]

9. It would take a really low opinion of our soldiers to say that

Why would you think such things about US troops?

[Devils Advocate NZ]

11. Yes it would, wouldn't it?

Of course it's not like US troops wouldn't do it though, is it?

After all, I have seen footage of US troops killing wounded Iraqi soldiers who presented no threat to them, so what would they do to men they thought might be linked to Osama Bin Laden?

Edited to add link to footage mentioned:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5365.htm

[ThomC]

13. Sorry, that source is not credible

"The views expressed in the Information Clearing House News Wire and Daily Email News Digest are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster or the transmitter."

Got a mainstream or credible source?

[Devils Advocate NZ]

14. The video is from CNN. Although normally I wouldn't call them credible...

But if you viewed the video, what does it matter which website is hosting it?

You can clearly see an Iraqi lying wounded (and writhing in agony) some distance away from US troops who then take great delight in killing him (after the first shot missed that is).

Oh, by the way, you can see CNN's onscreen logos in the video.

On edit: Here is your "credible" mainstream source:

CROWLEY: Wounded, another Iraqi writhes on the ground next to his gun. The Marines kill him -- then cheer.

RIDDLE: Like, man, you guys are dead now, you know. But it was a good feeling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!

CROWLEY: When the battle is over and you are still standing, the adrenalin rush is huge.

RIDDLE: I mean, afterwards you're like, hell, yeah, that was awesome. Let's do it again.
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/26/cp.00.html

[ThomC]

15. Thanks for the transcript

The small portion taken out of context does not convince me that our soldiers would march people through minefields.

The other 99% of the story shown that our soldiers have honor and feeling. Why this snippet would be taken out of context to flame the men and women in combat has no good excuse or reason.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

16. How about this...

Well if they would commit war crimes in front of camera crews, what would they do in private?

By the way, how can you say it is taken out of context? A man lies wounded on the ground, and is presenting NO THREAT. In fact he has his back to the troops who are in cover some distance away.

THAT is the context. What happened before that man ended up wounded is irrelevant. The fact remains he is wounded and presenting no threat. By international law he must be provided medical treatment, NOT EXECUTED!

It is clear from the tape that the US soldiers are not being fired upon, and that they KNOW that the man presents no threat to them. What that tape shows is murder.

If the roles were reversed, and that was an American soldier writhing in agony, would you support Iraqi troops killing him? Of course you wouldn't! So why do you support it when it is an Iraqi soldier?

Do American troops deserve special rights? Not by law they don't!

Now tell me, what happened to Jessica Lynch? Was she executed by Iraqi troops? No! In fact she was taken to hospital and her life was saved.

Now, having seen this video, you ask me why I should feel that some US troops would be capable of knowingly sending people they consider to be terrorists in to a minefield?

[ConcernedCanuk]

12. "Why would you think such things about US troops?" - because I read ?

. .

After US massacre of Taliban POWs:

the stench of death and more media lies

. . "An Associated Press photographer who wandered into the area saw the dead bodies of 50 prisoners, who appeared to have been executed with their hands tied behind their backs with black scarves. Alliance soldiers were busy removing the scarves with knives and scissors.

The BBC reported that alliance troops continued to shoot at Taliban bodies in case any of the prisoners were still alive."

/snip/

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/WHI112A.html

also - I had a hard time finding this article
- the WH has been accused of "sanitizing" Googles site, as well as it's cache
- now I believe it ( the sanitizing ) I had to dig into the cache to find this again

So yah read the rest of the article
- or just google for US and massacre - or any like combination
- you'll get lots of hits.

Better yet, talk to vets from Vietnam (if they will talk, there is no pride there)