(More than 140) Iraqis take fight for 'torture' inquiry to the (British) High court

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Lawyers acting for more than 140 Iraqi civilians who allege they suffered torture and inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of British soldiers and interrogators go to the High Court today seeking a wide-ranging public inquiry.

They will complain their ill treatment occurred during the period from March 2003 to December 2008 in British-controlled detention facilities in Iraq in the aftermath of the war to topple Saddam Hussein.

Their lawyers are challenging a refusal by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to order the sort of investigation they say is now necessary "to bring the full facts to light."

The lead claimant is Ali Zaki Mousa, from Basra, who alleges he suffered months of beatings and other abuse in the custody of British soldiers in 2006/07.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/05/iraq-torture-inquiry-high-court

[sabrina 1]

1. I am so glad to hear that.

This crime should not ever be allowed to go away. I will never forget the way I felt when I read that a few U.S. troops had been questioned about abuse of Iraqi detainees. That was in January of 2004. Robert Fisk and others were also reporting that there were stories of torture by the U.S. at Abu Ghraib. They were attempting to verify the stories at the time. With all my heart I hoped it was not true. Much as I despised Bush and his gang, I really thought they would not want this to happen.

But several months later, the photos were published and it was devastating to decent people everywhere. Even then, I thought it ws just some low level lunatics who were out of control. But I remember a commenter on a blog I was participating on, who claimed to be a military veteran telling me that from what he could gather from the news, this was policy. He went into detail about howas different it would be if it was simply a few soldiers who were out of control and if it was condoned from higher up in the military.

At the time, I was skeptical, but as it turns out he was right.

I hope there are many more cases like this until the whispers for justice turn into roaring demands across the globe. These crimes were so brutal, so inhumane and barbaric, they simply cannot be ignored. I don't know how the U.S. Congress can simply turn a blind eye to our own war criminals, but they have. However, in other countries after decades, war criminals have been held accountable. They should never be allowed to believe they are home free. The families of those who survived and of those who did not will be seeking justice forever I'm sure.

No wonder war criminal Tony Blair cannot go out in public in Europe without being reminded of his complicity in those crimes.

Thanks for the link, Turborama. It's a shame that this issue has not remained at the top of the news in this country and that Congress has appararently decided to 'move on'.

[laconicsax]

2. Didn't you get your marching orders?

We're supposed to "move forward." "No looking back."

[sabrina 1]

3. I heard about them, but I'm not very good at marching orders.

I never changed my mind about torture. Seems to have lost its significance lately though. I remember when it was a big issue for Democrats. What a sad world we live in when something that is generally agreed upon by the entire civilized world, to be a monstrous violation of all that is decent, suddenly becomes irrelevant, for political reasons.

I remember fighting with Rightwingers over this issue. They defended it because they loved Bush and he could do no wrong. The hypocrisy was stunning coming from 'The Rule of Law' Republicans (when it was Clinton they were talking about). They tossed the rule of law though as soon as their team was in power.

And as this thread demonstrates, there's not much interest in it on the left either since our team won. Every empty utterance of Sarah Palin gets more attention these days on democratic boards.

[Turborama]

5. As Einstein said...

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

http://www.quoteworld.org/quotes/4054

[sabrina 1]

17. Great quote from Einstein.

"killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder"

"all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism"

It's too bad that intelligence and decency are no longer in style in this great empire. Same thing happened in Germany, ignorance reigned supreme, mostly due to their excellent propaganda machine.

[EFerrari]

4. It was pretty clear, when you think about it, that those kids

from West Virginia didn't bring their dog leashes from home let alone, knowledge of the taboos they forced prisoners to break involving dogs and feces and women's undergarments.

[sabrina 1]

18. Yes, although at the time I wasn't informed enough to

realize that. The military guy I mentioned, did point that out. That they could not have access to the tools they used if someone higher up had not made it possible.

He also informed me that that the focus on their culture, using it to torture them with, was standard policy for those who believe in torture as a weapon.

Sanchez, who was named by Taguba in his report as being complicit in this crime, received a medal from Bush. This too was a signal to those who carried out these policies, that they had nothing to fear.

[EFerrari]

19. I went back and watched the CSPAN video of the Taguba hearing

where all those high ranking Pentagon criminals sat there and lied their asses off. We have them on tape.

[sabrina 1]

20. Yes, they had no fear of prosecution.

What does that say about this country? Cheney and Bush both have publicly confessed to crimes. Each time we let criminals get away crimes, it just emboldens them to do far more evil things in the future. When the Iran Contra crowd were pardoned, rather than slink off in shame and gratitude, they simply picked up where they left off and continued the destruction of this democracy.

And if the Watergate gang of criminals had been properly prosecuted, Iran Contra would not have been so easy.

Now, they've gone even further and are more blatant about the crimes. There simply has to be an accounting or we may as well simply get used to living in a third-world country where the rule of law exists only for the little people.

There were heroes, some of the Republicans even, who tried to stop the Bush crimes. But they got no support.

[No Elephants]

13. And our Democratic Congress and our Democratic President were unanimous in that.

[indimuse]

KNR! n/t

[SpiralHawk]

11. + 1,000

k and r

[indimuse]

6. KNR! n/t

[Enthusiast]

7. Those damn dummies!

Don't they know they are to look forward. :sarcasm:

[Solly Mack]

8. K&R

[City Lights]

9. R&K! nt

[fasttense]

10. Why is it that the bushes can look backward and gloat over their war crimes

but President Obama can not look back to prosecute those same war crimes?

The bushes have clearly stated in their books that they ordered the torture. They have openly admitted to breaking the law and yet nothing happens to them.

We are no longer a nation of laws but a nation that answers to the whims of our leaders.

[grahamhgreen]

12. It's not too late for Pelosi to open investigations, or Holder. Not doing so makes one complicit.

[BlueMTexpat]

14. Drip ... drip ... drip ...

Today, Julian Assange is testifying in Geneva before the Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx> as a guest of the International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (IPJ) <http://www.ipj.ch/>.

He has so far been surrounded by bodyguards and is under police protection here. At a press conference yesterday, he denounced the US for its failure to conduct meaningful investigations into the allegations of torture in Iraq. In an interview given to local Swiss TV last evening, he stated that he is seriously thinking of requesting asylum in Switzerland. http://www.tdg.ch/actu/monde/julian-assange-fustige-etats-unis-geneve-2010-11-04

The article is in French but your computer translation program should make it readable - even if some of the translations can be hilarious. Here's a report from yesterday's Guardian about the press conference. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/04/wikileaks-founder-urges-us-investigation

Of course, the mere fact that the US is even appearing before the UN Human Rights Commission is giving Republicans fits. But if we don't get serious about investigating ourselves in any meaningful way, the world will do it for us. For shame!

[BlueMTexpat]

15. And here is one of the videos that the High Court is seeing ...

also from the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/05/interrogation-techniques-iraq-inmates

[Oilwellian]

16. This is THE issue...

The rest of the world will indeed investigate and prosecute the horrendous crimes OUR government committed in OUR name. These crimes against humanity must be brought to justice or we will be leaving our children and grandchildren a world of lawlessness. This will be THE issue that will define Obama's presidency.