Preserving the Abu Ghraib Culture: The Harrowing Abuse of Iraqi Women | Ramzy Baroud

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Ramzy Baroud -- World News Trust

Feb. 12, 2014

“When they first put the electricity on me, I gasped; my body went rigid and the bag came off my head,” Israa Salah, a detained Iraqi woman told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in her heartrending testimony.

Israa (not her real name) was arrested by U.S. and Iraqi forces in 2010. She was tortured to the point of confessing to terrorist charges she didn’t commit. According to HRW’s “No One is Safe” -- a 105-page report released on Feb. 6 -- there are thousands of Iraqi women in jail being subjected to similar practices, held with no charges, beaten and raped.

In Israa’s case, she received most degrading, but typical treatment. She was handcuffed, pushed down on her knees, and kicked in the face until her jaw broke. And when she refused to sign the confession, it was then that electric wires were attached to her handcuffs.

Welcome to the "liberated" Iraq, a budding "democracy" which American officials rarely cease celebrating. There is no denial that the brutal policies of the Iraqi government under Nouri al-Maliki is a continuation of the same policies of the U.S. military administration, which ruled over Iraq from 2003 until the departure of U.S. troops in December, 2011.

It is as if the torturers have read from the same handbook. In fact, they did.

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