Horrific new evidence of soldiers' brutality in Iraq

From The Independent: Horrific new evidence of soldiers' brutality in Iraq:

But a 53-page report, obtained by the renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and published in the forthcoming issue of The New Yorker magazine, makes it clear that the mistreatment went much further than that shown in the photographs.

The report into the military prison system in Iraq, by Major General Antonio Taguba, said there were "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at Abu Ghraib, and listed some of them: "Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees ... beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape ... sodomising a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broomstick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees ... and in one instance actually biting a detainee."

Gen Taguba's report makes it clear that far from being isolated actions by low-level personnel,intelligence interrogators encouraged the military police to "soften up" detainees. He recommended disciplinary action for at least two senior officers apart from Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, whose suspension as chief of military prisons in Iraq was revealed after the photographs were published last week.

The shaming news about British and American abuses in Iraq follows Robert Fisk's revelation in The Independent on Sunday in January that a Basra hotel receptionist, Baha Mousa, had died in British military custody. Possible manslaughter charges are being considered by the military authorities, who are still investigating six other deaths.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

Macedonia--our ally in the fight against terror

It is gratifying that the coalition of the willing has such enthusiastic members; apparently Macedonia killed 7 innocent Pakistanis in a phony raid to demonstrate its willingness take part in the 'war against terror. (CNN story, posted 30 April 2004)
Police spokeswoman Mirjana Konteska described

a meticulous plan to promote Macedonia as a player in the fight against global terrorism that involved smuggling the Pakistanis into Macedonia from Bulgaria, housing them, and then coldly gunning them down.

The killings, she added, were part of an attempt to "present themselves as participants in the war against terrorism and demonstrate Macedonia's commitment to the war on terror."

Since breaking away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has been eager to win U.S. political and economic support in its search for acceptance into the Western camp of nations.

[snip--2 police generals and a former Interior Minister are among those involved.]

The so-called "Rastanski Lozja" action was carried out in March 2002 by special Macedonian police who claimed to have eliminated a terrorist group allegedly plotting to attack international embassies and representatives in Macedonia.

Konteska said that the seven Pakistani men were in fact illegal immigrants who were lured into Macedonia by promises that they would be transferred to Western Europe.

[snip--more on the investigation into the crime]

At the time, senior police officials said the seven men were killed after a police patrol was ambushed. Police claimed that assault rifles, hand grenades and ammunition were found near a van used by the Pakistanis.

Konteska said the plan to set up the Pakistanis and kill them was made by top police officials in February 2002, when the seven men were brought into the country from Bulgaria and housed in Skopje, the capital.

On March 3, they were taken by police to Rastanski Lozja, about three miles (5 kilometers) northeast of Skopje, and gunned down by special police, Konteska said.

"They lost their lives in a staged murder," said Konteska.

After the killings, the U.S. Embassy released a statement that said U.S. personnel were "not aware of any indication that there was a specific threat" to the embassy.

Just when I think nothing can shock me anymore . . .

Tehran Times on abuse of Iraqi prisoners

Here's how the it's covered in Iran--U.S. War Crimes: Torture of Iraqi Prisoners Exposed

These acts of sadism and cruelty constitute a blatant violation of the “UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” and are war crimes as defined by Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of war prisoners. Article 3 prohibits: a. violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; b. taking hostages;

c. outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of military operations in Iraq, told “60 Minutes II” that the torture was “reprehensible” and claimed that those facing charges were “not representative” of American soldiers in Iraq. “Don’t judge your army by the actions of a few,” he said. Americans “need to understand that is not the Army.”

These mendacious comments were refuted by CBS’s chilling interview with Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, one of those facing court martial.

Frederick, a Virginia prison guard, is charged with assaulting detainees, ordering prisoners to strike each other and an “indecent act” for observing one of the sexual abuse incidents. He insisted, however, that his actions were not those of a rogue soldier, but were sanctioned and encouraged by military intelligence and the CIA.

Along with other reservist jail guards, he was directed to physically and mentally “prepare” Iraqi detainees for interrogation. He said that dogs were also used as “intimidation factors” against prisoners. One of Frederick’s email messages said: “Military intelligence has encouraged and told us ‘Great job.’ They usually don’t allow others to watch them interrogate. But since they like the way I run the prison, they have made an exception. We help getting them

[detainees] to talk with the way we handle them.... We’ve had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break. They usually end up breaking within hours.”

As these comments make clear, torture in US-run Iraqi prisons is an integral part of the illegal occupation. A systematic process of brutalization is being directed from the upper ranks.

At the same time, the fact that US soldiers are employing methods similar to those used by the Nazis in World War II is indicative of a deep-seated state of demoralization and degradation that the occupation has bred within the US military. Finding themselves in a hostile environment with the vast majority of Iraqis opposing the occupation, many American soldiers have come to see the country’s entire population as the enemy. Fed lies about the colonial intervention in Iraq being part of a global “war on terrorism,” some have also assumed a license to torture and humiliate their helpless captives.

Contrary to Kimmitt’s claims—slavishly echoed by the corporate media—this is the logic and modus operandi of imperialist conquest and colonial occupation. The pictures of torture, brutality and sexual sadism are representative of the entire criminal operation being conducted in Iraq.

Terror in the name of anti-terror

From the Toronto Globe and Mail, a story by Reed Brody, special counsel with Human Rights Watch: Terror in the name of anti-terror (29 April, 2004): The abuse reported on 60 Minutes II might be the tip of an extra-judicial iceberg:

Canadians are familiar with the case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian who was sent by the United States, against his wishes, to Syria, where he was reportedly tortured repeatedly during a 10-month confinement.

But Mr. Arar's case is unfortunately not unique. . .

Mr. Brody then mentions the case before the U.S. Supreme Court about U.S. citizens being held indefinitely as "enemy combatants." In response to 9/11,

a new globalized pattern of human-rights violations led by the United States that includes offshore prisons, cross-border arrests that verge on kidnappings, and the "rendition" of terror suspects to countries where information is beaten out of them.

The classic case in this brave new world has been Guantanamo, Cuba, which the Bush administration deliberately chose as a detention facility for more than 700 detainees from some 44 countries in an attempt to put them beyond the reach of the U.S. courts - and of any courts, for that matter. The U.S. government has argued that U.S. courts would not have jurisdiction over these detainees, even if they were being tortured or summarily executed.

But similar problems are posed by the United States' detention of terrorist suspects in other locations abroad. Indeed, Guantanamo may not be the worst problem; it may even be a diversion from more extreme situations. Perhaps out of concern that Guantanamo will eventually be monitored by the U.S. federal courts, the Bush administration does not hold its most sensitive and high-profile detainees there. Terrorism suspects like Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are detained instead in undisclosed locations abroad, with no access to Red Cross visits or any sort of neutral oversight of their treatment.

In Iraq, too, the United States has failed to provide clear, consistent information on its treatment of some 10,000 civilians it has detained there. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, the United States has provided no information at all for at least 200 so-called "high security detainees," as well as persons under interrogation prior to transfer to prison.

In Afghanistan, the United States is also holding civilians in a legal black hole at separate off-limits detention facilities at Bagram Air Base and other temporary detention locations around the country - with no tribunals, no legal counsel, no family visits and no basic legal protections. A report released by Human Rights Watch in March presents compelling evidence suggesting that U.S. personnel have committed acts against detainees amounting to torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. Released detainees have said that U.S. forces severely beat them, doused them with cold water and subjected them to freezing temperatures. Many said they were forced to stay awake, or to stand or kneel in painful positions for extended periods of time. Three people have died in U.S. custody there. Two of the deaths were ruled homicides by U.S. military doctors who performed autopsies. The Department of Defence has yet to offer adequate explanations.

And then there are the so-called "renditions." The U.S. government has not explained why it sent Maher Arar to Syria rather than to Canada, where he resides; why it believed Syrian assurances that he would not be tortured to be credible in light of the government's well-documented record of torture, and why it did not even attempt to monitor his treatment in Syria.

Similarly, the Bush administration has still not answered charges levelled in The Washington Post which, citing numerous unnamed U.S. officials, described the rendition of captured al-Qaeda suspects from U.S. custody to other countries, such as Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, where they were tortured or mistreated. These countries, like Syria, are ones where the United States itself has criticized the practice of torture. In one case prior to that of Mr. Arar, U.S. operatives were involved in the transfer to Syria for interrogation of a dual German-Syrian national arrested in Morocco, a move protested by the German government.

Last June, five prominent Muslims - a Kenyan, Sudanese, Saudi and two Turkish nationals - were arrested in the middle of the night in the small African country of Malawi in a joint security operation involving the Malawian police and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Although a Malawian high court judge issued an injunction barring the men's deportation, ordering the authorities to charge them or release them on bail, the five were spirited out of the country. This sparked three days of rioting by Muslims against Christians. Five weeks later, the detainees reappeared in Khartoum, Sudan, of all places, after having been interrogated for a month, apparently by the CIA in Zimbabwe. Bakili Muluzi, the President of Malawi, has apologized to the families, and the BBC reported him as saying that he did not approve of the arrests but acquiesced in order to please the Americans.

In another case, the Bush administration sought the surrender in Bosnia of six Algerian men who were suspected of planning attacks on Americans. After a three-month investigation, Bosnia's Supreme Court ordered the men's release from custody for lack of evidence. When rumours spread of U.S. efforts to seize the suspects anyway, Bosnia's Human Rights Chamber - which was established under the U.S.-sponsored Dayton peace accord and includes six local and eight international members - issued an injunction against their removal. Yet in January 2002, under U.S. pressure, the Bosnian government ignored this legal ruling and delivered the men to U.S. forces, who whisked them to Guantanamo.

Around the world, human rights are being assailed in the name of the international campaign against terrorism, but these cross-border practices pose a unique challenge to the rule of law internationally because many of them fall outside the jurisdiction of established courts.

The United States government under President Bush does not even pretend to believe in the rule of law.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

Amnesty International - Library - Iraq: Torture not isolated -- independent investigations vital

Note to self: read Amnesty International - Library - Iraq: Torture not isolated -- independent investigations vital

Viewers response to CBS 60 Minutes II--abuse of Iraqi prisoners

Read CBS 60 Minutes II Mailbag. Here are some excerpts. The majority express opinions like these:

I am a retired Special Forces soldier. I would like to personally express my deepest gratitude and thanks for 60 Minutes II, for airing a crucial depiction of crimes committed by our American soldiers. Please air this special footage as much as you can, to inform the American public of these atrocities. The inhumane mistreatment, sexual assaults and Geneva Convention war crimes should be dealt with immediately.

Again, I sincerely thank you and the CBS organization for your fairness, sympathy and deep concern of others who experience these types of war crimes.
--Master Sgt. Robert Childs, Jr.

As a U.S. Marine who served our nation for more than 24 years, including multiple tours in Vietnam, I am appalled, ashamed and angry about U.S. servicemen and women torturing Iraqi prisoners. I totally reject any claim that those accused failed to receive adequate training in the handling of POWs or the requirements of the Geneva Convention. Such training would have only reinforced the rules of common decency that should govern the behavior, one human being toward another.

These soldiers, including their commanding officer, a brigadier general, are disgrace to this nation. They, too, should stand before the bar of justice at a war crimes tribunal. They are no better than the evil regime which honorable Americans have fought and died to oust.
--Master Gunnery Sgt. Donald M. O'Neal

Of course, there are people that think torture is good, or at least shouldn't be publicized when our soldiers get caught red-handed:

Why in God's name would you choose to air such a story at this time? This is something our country didn't need to know now. Everyone in this country is hanging on for dear life to support the troops, and you have taken all our faith in goodness away. How many more reports can we watch like this before support fades?

We are losing our fight with other countries to support us, and now you have just sealed it. ... We've just lost the goal of helping anyone over there because of this show, and God help us. You are no better then those who did these horrible acts. Your reports are bringing down this country.
--Betsy Berra

Was I supposed to be horrified by the report of Iraqi prisoners being positioned in "pornographic" positions and humiliated by American soldiers? I was not. During your report, all I could think of was the murder, torture, maiming, burning and beheading of innocent civilians, women and children included, carried out by terrorists and supporters of Saddam Hussein. At least these men were men of war.

They had to pose for pornographic pictures? So what. We cannot imagine sitting at home on our couches the horrors our soldiers must face every day. Why not focus your attention on the unfair practices of our enemy?
--Sally Ainsley

Are you guys nuts? Do you think showing this is going to help the Americans in captivity and our other allies? I fully understand the need for an open and free press, but you have to balance that with the lives of our own people. You are just going to infuriate an already bad situation. How would you feel if your son's life was on the edge of a knife somewhere in a Baghdad hole?
--Ari Kettunen

Ghost Town Orange suggests that American soldiers should think about the consequences of their actions. The guilty parties are the soldiers involved and their officers--not CBS's reporters.

One more letter:

As the sister of a brother who just returned from a year long tour in Iraq, and the wife of a warrant officer currently serving in Iraq, I am disgusted with the soldiers' treatment of Iraqi prisoners. I'm not sure why, but I was especially shocked by the female soldier's behavior. These soldiers bring dishonor to our country. I would be disappointed and ashamed of my husband and brother if I ever discovered that they treated another human being in that manner.

... At some point, these soldiers need to accept responsibility for their actions. It is not the Army's fault. Being prior military, I know I was taught to bring honor and respect to my country. These soldiers should be sent to prison and dishonorably discharged from the military.
--T. Schurr (emphasis added)

You'll notice that some of the 'pro-torture' letters were written by women. So don't expect women in the military to be any better than the rest of us.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

I thought we invaded Iraq to keep things like this from happening

See what a good job we are doing winning hearts and minds in Iraq. James Risen in The New York Times > Treatment of Prisoners: G.I.'s Are Accused of Abusing Iraqi Captives:

American soldiers at a prison outside Baghdad have been accused of forcing Iraqi prisoners into acts of sexual humiliation and other abuses in order to make them talk, according to officials and others familiar with the charges.

The charges, first announced by the military in March, were documented by photographs taken by guards inside the prison, but were not described in detail until some of the pictures were made public.

Some of the photographs, and descriptions of others, were broadcast Wednesday night by the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" and were verified by military officials.

Courts martial are pending for the soldiers involved.

The CBS News program reported that poorly trained American reservists were forcing Iraqis to conduct simulated sexual acts, among other things, in order to break down their will before they were turned over to others for interrogation.

Charges against the soldiers included assault, cruelty, indecent acts and maltreatment of detainees, Pentagon officials have previously said.

Gary Myers, the lawyer for one of the enlisted men charged, said in an interview that the military had treated the six soldiers as scapegoats and had failed to address adequately the responsibilities of senior commanders and intelligence personnel involved in the interrogations.

[snip]

In one photograph obtained by the program, naked Iraq prisoners are stacked in a human pyramid, one with a slur written on his skin in English. In another, a prisoner stands on a box, his head covered, wires attached to his body. The program said that according to the United States Army, he had been told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. Other photographs show male prisoners positioned to simulate sex with each other.

"The pictures show Americans, men and women, in military uniforms, posing with naked Iraqi prisoners," states a transcript of the program's script, made available Wednesday night. "And in most of the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing, pointing or giving the camera a thumbs-up."

The CBS News program said the Army also had photographs showing a detainee with wires attached to his genitals and another showing a dog attacking an Iraqi prisoner. The program also reported that the Army's investigation of the case included a statement from an Iraqi detainee who charges that a translator hired to work at the prison raped a male juvenile prisoner.

At the Abu Ghraib prison, where the photographs were taken, American forces have been holding hundreds of Iraqis since the American-led invasion of Iraq. The prison is infamous as a site where Saddam Hussein tortured prisoners while he was in power.

I suppose no one remembers the buzz after the invasion when conservatives were arguing that when terrorists are involved, maybe torture is justified.

Torturing the terrorist is unconstitutional? Probably. But millions of lives surely outweigh constitutionality. Torture is barbaric? Mass murder is far more barbaric. Indeed, letting millions of innocents die in deference to one who flaunts his guilt is moral cowardice, an unwillingness to dirty one's hands. If you caught the terrorist, could you sleep nights knowing that millions died because you couldn't bring yourself to apply the electrodes?

Note the gap in logic here: millions of lives were not at stake from terrorist Iraqis. There were no WMD in Iraq. There is no connection between Iraq and 9/11. There is no connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

Sunday Times - Iraq victim was top-secret apartheid killer

One of the mercenaries recently killed in Iraq was an assassin for the apartheid government of South Africa. Read the Sunday Times - 'Iraq victim was top-secret apartheid killer' by Julian Rademeyer:

A security contractor killed in Iraq last week was once one of South Africa's most secret covert agents, his identity guarded so closely that even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not discover the extent of his involvement in apartheid's silent wars.
Gray Branfield, 55, admitted to being part of a death squad which gunned down Joe Gqabi, the ANC's chief representative and Umkhonto weSizwe operational head in Zimbabwe on July 31 1981. Gqabi was shot 19 times when three assassins ambushed him as he reversed down the driveway of his Harare home.

Branfield was a member of the "SA Defence Force's secret Project Barnacle, a precursor to the notorious Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) death squad."

Begging the question

Juan Cole shows us how to respond to fallacious questions that supporters of the war like to ask. Christopher Hitchens asked a series of questions (scroll down to find the post 'Hitchens Questions on Iraq') [no link to single post?] which led to this reply:

My reply would be simple. If you are arguing for war, you don't have to ask all these fancy questions. There are really only two questions you have to answer. The first is, would you yourself be willing to die fighting for this cause you have espoused? The second is, would you be willing to see your 18-year-old son or daughter killed for this cause? (I do not ask if you would be glad or satisfied; I ask if you would be willing).

My answer with regard to the aftermath of September 11 and defeating al-Qaeda in Afghanistan is, yes, I would have been willing to go fight and die myself to protect my country from another such attack. And, had my son been of age and had he enlisted after September 11, I could have accepted that and everything it entailed.

With regard to Iraq, the answer to both questions in my case is "no." I would not have been willing to risk my own life to dislodge Saddam Hussein from power. And, I would certainly not have been willing to see my son risk his, nor would I like to see him ever sent to Iraq as a draftee, because I believe the entire aftermath of the war has been handled with gross incompetence, and I certainly don't want my flesh and blood mauled by the machinations of Richard Perle and his buddies.

With regard to Mr. Hitchens's questions, most of them are logical fallacies, of the same form as "have you stopped beating your wife?" There are some questions that are traps. For instance, there are many reasons for which Saddam might have harbored one person wanted in connection with the first world trade center bombing that are not particularly sinister. It certainly is untrue that Saddam had anything to do with that bombing. It was done by al-Qaeda. The question is a trick because it tries to lead the reader in a particular direction, even though the evidence does not.

Wen questions have false, misleading, or fallacious (link to Positive Atheism website) premises, they don't have to be answered. But what do we do when the majority of Americans still believe there was a connection between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein?

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

Cats

Archaeologists on Cyprus have excavated the 9,500-year-old remains of a cat (at bottom in top photograph) buried with a human (at top in top photograph) and decorative artifacts. At bottom, the cat skeleton is shown in a plaster shell during excavation.
Top photograph courtesy P. Gérard/Science, bottom photograph courtesy K. Debue/Science [caption and pictures from National Geographic]
Oldest Known Pet Cat? 9,500-Year-Old Burial Found on Cyprus

The carefully interred remains of a human and a cat were found buried with seashells, polished stones, and other decorative artifacts in a 9,500-year-old grave site on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This new find, from the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos, predates early Egyptian art depicting cats by 4,000 years or more.

Dogs were domesticated earlier--burials of dogs with people have been found that are 12,000 years old.

The report of the discovery was published in the 9 April 2004 issue of Science. Supporting online material available here (full text only for subscribers!)

Blogs from and about Iraq

Note to self: read some of these.
In no particular order--
Iraqis:

• Salam Pax
• Iraq the Model
• A Family in Baghdad
• Raed in the middle
• Secrets in Baghdad
• Me vs. Myself
• Healing Iraq
• Riverbend
• G in Baghdad
• Ishtar
• The Mesopotamian
• Ays
• Hammorabi
• Nabil
• Baghdadee
• Fayrouz
• Baghdad Burning
• Iraq at a glance
• Iraq and Iraqis
• Road of a nation
• Ihath - Losing myself
• Sun of Iraq
• Kurdo's world
• Iraqi spirit
• The Iraqi Agora
• Shlonkom Bakazay?

Soldiers:

• turningtables
• Chief Wiggles
• Baghdaddy
• Bear
• Boots on the ground
• Letters from Baghdad
• Chromedomezone
• Iraq Now
• Sgt. Omar Masry

other Arabs:

• Babel On
• Deeds
• From my rock
• Big Pharaoh
• Mahmood's den
• Free Arab Forum
• Angry Arab
• Blogs by Iranians
• The Religious Police
• Arab Street Files
• Kuwait Unplugged

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

Gravity Probe B

I've mentioned Gravity Probe B before, but here is the latest from Nature --Gravity probe to test Einstein: Satellite will measure how the Earth warps space.:

A spacecraft designed to test Einstein's general theory of relativity is set to blast off today.

NASA's Gravity Probe B will orbit the Earth's poles for about 16 months, looking for tiny distortions in the fabric of space caused by the mass of our planet.

This test of general relativity theory will be 100 times more sensitive than any previous efforts, says Sasha Buchman, science mission manager for the experiment at Stanford University, California.

The experiment was first proposed in 1959. It has cost US$700 million, and has been threatened with cancellation numerous times. The results are expected in 2006.

According to the Gravity Probe B website, the satellite was successfully launched today.