Documents detail wider abuse of Iraqi prisoners

[floda]

Pentagon papers indicate probe of assaults outside of Abu Ghraib prison

By Miles Moffeit and Arthur Kane

DENVER POST

Iraqi prisoners allegedly were stripped of their clothing and exposed to harsh conditions at two war-zone detention facilities separate from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, according to Pentagon documents obtained this week by The Denver Post.

The Army is investigating whether a detainee was sexually humiliated during an interrogation at Forward Operating Base Summerall near Bayji, Iraq, and whether several prisoners were forced to stand naked in the rain for 12 hours at a Balad, Iraq, base earlier this year, records show.

The documents bolster the view that sexual degradation of Iraqi prisoners was not isolated at Abu Ghraib, where reservist soldiers have been accused of stripping inmates and forcing them to perform sexually demeaning acts, often in full view of other prisoners and personnel.

Until now, Abu Ghraib has been the only Iraq detention facility where sexual abuse allegations have been investigated by Army officials, according to a review of law-enforcement summaries obtained by The Post. In Muslim culture, nudity can be shameful and conflicts with many religious principles.

more...

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2285067,00.html

[Disturbed]

1. War Crimes-System Wide Policy

The Pres. VP and Rumsfailed and all involved are accountable.

Will they be held accountable?

[Larkspur]

The only way to really do so is to impeach Bush and send him

to the ICC for war crimes trial. Booting him out of office is not enough, in my book, because he can still live free to cause more damage.

[jimshoes]

2. That's not important any more!!! Sandy Berger took a paper

out of a room. Seriously though, how much air time do you think this new revelation will get on the blab shows? We really need a liberal news network.

[daleo]

3. After reading an article like this

It is absolutely amazing that some people still think the occupation can succeed. Imagine if a foreign army invaded your country and pulled some of these stunts. Not to mention the tens of thousands killed.

[roguevalley]

4. I wonder when they will get to the videos where they are sodomizing

little boys. God. I could just melt with abject sorrow.

[2Design]

5. they aren't talking about this in the news....instead talking about

absent minded messy desk guy who in gathering up his things....gathered up photo copies along with his other papers.....and he willingly acknowledged his mistake unlike bushCO

[louis-t]

6. Kobe, Laci, Martha........

24/7

[2Design]

9. yes I am so tired of the peterson thing.....they do now how to waste

our money on so many useless trials....and not on the criminals running the government

[Spazito]

7. More proof of the trashing of the Geneva Convention....

dispicable.

[nosmokes]

8. dammit. how much more is there?

and how much is still going on?

and why the fuck has no one but a single star general lost their job over this? there should be some wholesale housecleaning going on, fcol.

goddammit.

[Ms. Clio]

10. Probably much more than we will ever know

Historians will be writing about it all years from now.

But Chimpy doesn't care, because we'll all be dead by then, anyway.

[Disturbed]

11. War Crimes

War Crimes are not important to the Repubs that control Congress. They were angry about the photos coming out then they suppressed the other photos and videos. The Pentagon investigates the military. That's like a corupt police dept. allowed to investigate itself. We live in The Twilight Zone!

Rumsfailed admitted on Natl. TV that he violated the Geneva Convention, thus the Constitution of the USA. Not a ripple in the pond from either Repubs or Dems about this adimission of guilt. Note that this was after the hearings when a few called for his resignation. He also implicated Tenet in this admission.

[Keirsey]

12. "Why Are We Surprised?"

June 12/13, 2004

Over the past few weeks, just about everyone has expressed shock and outrage over the treatment of the Iraqi prisoners. Why are we so surprised? Look at the people selected to create and run the Iraqi prisons.

In May 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft hand-picked a small group of former prison officials to re-make the Iraqi prison system. Many of those chosen, including former Connecticut Department of Correction Commissioner John Armstrong, left their state jobs under a cloud of scandals involving inmate deaths, brutality and unconstitutional practices. All of the men chosen hold extreme correctional philosophies that are in stark contrast to modern concepts of humane and dignified treatment...

In calling recently for an investigation into Armstrong's service in Iraq, U.S. Sen. Charles Shumer (D-NY) reminded us of Armstrong's ill-fated decision to transfer Connecticut inmates to Virginia, where some of them died and others were abused. While Armstrong was not directly responsible for conditions in the Virginia prison, he knew about them and he did nothing to transfer our inmates out of that abusive system until a neutral government investigation threatened to uncover it.

http://www.counterpunch.org/ponvert06132004.html

[Ms. Clio]

14. You're right

Apparently degradation and torture begin at home.

[Ms. Clio]

13. I know--it's breathtaking, the scope of these criminals' activities

And how much they can get away with, time and time again. And I know this will upset the purists, but I blame the Dems for much of it--you probably already saw this article:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/dems-m15.shtml

Will I live long enough to see some of these evil killers prosecuted for war crimes?

I can only hope and pray!