Soldiers Back in U.S. Tell of More Iraqi Abuses

Kenadian · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 7

Soldiers Back in U.S. Tell of More Iraqi Abuses
By Reuters

Thursday 06 May 2004

Three U.S. military policemen who served at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib
prison said on Thursday they had witnessed unreported cases of
prisoner abuse and that the practice against Iraqis was commonplace.

"It is a common thing to abuse prisoners," said Sgt. Mike Sindar,
25, a National Guardsman with the 870th Military Police Company based
in the San Francisco Bay area. "I saw beatings all the time.

"A lot of people had so much pent-up anger, so much aggression."

U.S. treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib has stirred wide
international condemnation after the publication of photos in recent
days showing Americans sexually humiliating prisoners. Six soldiers in
Iraq have been charged in the case and President Bush apologized
publicly on Thursday.

Although public attention has focused on the dehumanizing photos,
some members of the 870th MP unit say the faces in those images were
far from the only ones engaged in cruel behavior.

"It was not just these six people," Sindar, who shaves his head
and wears a large tattoo on his forearm, told Reuters. "Yes, the
beatings happen, yes, all the time."

Ramone Leal, 25, said one female soldier in his unit fired off a
slingshot into a crowd of prisoners, injuring one. Another group of
soldiers knocked a 14 year-old boy to the ground as he arrived at the
prison and then twisted his arm.

"The soldiers were laughing at him," said Leal, who like the
others interviewed for this article has since returned to California.
"I saw the other soldiers that would take out their frustrations on
the prisoners."

Until earlier this year prisoners would arrive at Abu Ghraib with
broken bones, suggesting they had been roughed up, he said, but the
practice ended in January or February.

A sergeant in their group was admonished last year after holding
down a prisoner for other men to beat, both Leal and Sindar said. They
said they saw hooded prisoners with racial taunts written on the hoods
such as "camel jockey' or slogans such as "I tried to kill an American
but now I'm in jail."

Photos obtained by Reuters show U.S. soldiers looking into body
bags of three Iraqi prisoners killed by 870th MP guards during a
prison riot in the fall of 2003. One photograph shows a bearded man
with much of his bloodied forehead removed by the force of a bullet.

"We were constantly being attacked, we had terrible support ...
also being extended all the time, a lot of us had problems with our
loved ones suffering from depression," said MP Dave Bischell. "It all
contributes to the psychological component of soldiers when they get
stressed."

When military investigators were looking into abuses several
months ago, they gave U.S. guards a week's notice before inspecting
their possessions, several soldiers said.

"That shows you how lax they are about discipline. 'We are going
to look for contraband in here, so hint, hint, get rid of the stuff,'
that's the way things work in the Guard," Leal said.

-------

Jump to TO Features for Saturday May 8, 2004

Archived from group: alt>religion>christian

Qolon · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 21

As bad as it all is "Kenadian" with the possibility
of it getting worse, please don't be myopic about it--power corrupts and
absolute power, corrupts absolutely. Although I find it an extra-ordinary
dichotomoy, that claims to religious and civil sovereignty are often
accompanied by the most abhorent sexual abuses.

"Torture victims in Iraq have been blindfolded, stripped of their clothes
and suspended from their wrists for long hours. Electric shocks have been
used on various parts of their bodies, including the genitals, ears, the
tongue and fingers. Victims have described to Amnesty International how they
have been beaten with canes, whips, hosepipe or metal rods and how they have
been suspended for hours from either a rotating fan in the ceiling or from a
horizontal pole often in contorted positions as electric shocks were applied
repeatedly on their bodies. Some victims had been forced to watch others,
including their own relatives or family members, being tortured in front of
them.

Other methods of physical torture described by former victims include the
use of Falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), extinguishing of
cigarettes on various parts of the body, extraction of finger nails and
toenails and piercing of the hands with an electric drill. Some have been
sexually abused and others have had objects, including broken bottles,
forced into their anus. In addition to physical torture, detainees have been
threatened with rape and subjected to mock execution. They have been placed
in cells where they could hear the screams of others being tortured and have
been deprived of sleep. Some have stayed in solitary confinement for long
periods of time. Detainees have also been threatened with bringing in a
female relative, especially the wife or the mother, and raping her in front
of the detainee. Some of these threats have been carried out." [Systematic
torture of political prisoners -- Amnesty International, INDEX: MDE
14/008/2001 15 August 2001 IRAQ]

Now that Iraqi's appear to be daily finding their voice in protest and
outrage, it is beyond my comprehension how nearly 100% of the population
could have voted for Saddam's Baath-party's return in the mistaken belief
they were exercising their autonomous political rights as democray. And the
family, as the elite of Iraqi society, who were reputed to have a mechanical
thresher for the liquidation of opponents.

Could you tell me whether in some small degree, it was not at all convenient
and expedient to deliver neighbour and brother to death: "And the brother
shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the
children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to
death." [Matthew 10:21]

- dolf

"Kenadian" wrote in message@posting.google.com...
Soldiers Back in U.S. Tell of More Iraqi Abuses
By Reuters

Thursday 06 May 2004

Three U.S. military policemen who served at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib
prison said on Thursday they had witnessed unreported cases of
prisoner abuse and that the practice against Iraqis was commonplace.

"It is a common thing to abuse prisoners," said Sgt. Mike Sindar,
25, a National Guardsman with the 870th Military Police Company based
in the San Francisco Bay area. "I saw beatings all the time.

"A lot of people had so much pent-up anger, so much aggression."

U.S. treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib has stirred wide
international condemnation after the publication of photos in recent
days showing Americans sexually humiliating prisoners. Six soldiers in
Iraq have been charged in the case and President Bush apologized
publicly on Thursday.

Although public attention has focused on the dehumanizing photos,
some members of the 870th MP unit say the faces in those images were
far from the only ones engaged in cruel behavior.

"It was not just these six people," Sindar, who shaves his head
and wears a large tattoo on his forearm, told Reuters. "Yes, the
beatings happen, yes, all the time."

Ramone Leal, 25, said one female soldier in his unit fired off a
slingshot into a crowd of prisoners, injuring one. Another group of
soldiers knocked a 14 year-old boy to the ground as he arrived at the
prison and then twisted his arm.

"The soldiers were laughing at him," said Leal, who like the
others interviewed for this article has since returned to California.
"I saw the other soldiers that would take out their frustrations on
the prisoners."

Until earlier this year prisoners would arrive at Abu Ghraib with
broken bones, suggesting they had been roughed up, he said, but the
practice ended in January or February.

A sergeant in their group was admonished last year after holding
down a prisoner for other men to beat, both Leal and Sindar said. They
said they saw hooded prisoners with racial taunts written on the hoods
such as "camel jockey' or slogans such as "I tried to kill an American
but now I'm in jail."

Photos obtained by Reuters show U.S. soldiers looking into body
bags of three Iraqi prisoners killed by 870th MP guards during a
prison riot in the fall of 2003. One photograph shows a bearded man
with much of his bloodied forehead removed by the force of a bullet.

"We were constantly being attacked, we had terrible support ...
also being extended all the time, a lot of us had problems with our
loved ones suffering from depression," said MP Dave Bischell. "It all
contributes to the psychological component of soldiers when they get
stressed."

When military investigators were looking into abuses several
months ago, they gave U.S. guards a week's notice before inspecting
their possessions, several soldiers said.

"That shows you how lax they are about discipline. 'We are going
to look for contraband in here, so hint, hint, get rid of the stuff,'
that's the way things work in the Guard," Leal said.

-------

Jump to TO Features for Saturday May 8, 2004