Amy Goodman: Torture in Iraq Continues, Unabated

[marmar]

from truthdig:




Torture in Iraq Continues, Unabated
Posted on Sep 21, 2010

By Amy Goodman


Combat operations in Iraq are over, if you believe President Barack Obama’s rhetoric. But torture in Iraq’s prisons, first exposed during the Abu Ghraib scandal, is thriving, increasingly distant from any scrutiny or accountability. After arresting tens of thousands of Iraqis, often without charge, and holding many for years without trial, the United States has handed over control of Iraqi prisons, and 10,000 prisoners, to the Iraqi government. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

After landing in London late Saturday night, we traveled to the small suburb of Kilburn to speak with Rabiha al-Qassab, an Iraqi refugee who was granted political asylum in Britain after her brother was executed by Saddam Hussein. Her husband, 68-year-old Ramze Shihab Ahmed, was a general in the Iraqi army under Saddam, fought in the Iran-Iraq War and was part of a failed plot to overthrow the Iraqi dictator. The couple was living peacefully for years in London, until September 2009.

It was then that Ramze Ahmed learned his son, Omar, had been arrested in Mosul, Iraq. Ahmed returned to Iraq to find him and was arrested himself.

For months, Rabiha didn’t know what had become of her husband. Then, on March 28, her cell phone rang. “I don’t know the voice,” she told me.

“I said, ‘Who are you?’ He said he is very sick ... he said, ‘Me, Ramze, Ramze. Call embassy.’ And they took the mobile, and they stop talking.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/torture_in_iraq_continues_unabated_20100921/

[Mnemosyne]

1. KnR for visibility. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

2. ttt

[Papa Boule]

3. Not quite sure what to make of this story

In this case it's Iraqis doing the torturing, not the US.

Still, it's tragic and outrageous no matter who is doing it.

[glitch]

5. Intentionally greyed area of occupation. Are they sovereign now, or still occupied?

Occupiers are obligated to uphold the rule of law, including Habeas Corpus. Of course that obligation wasn't met anyway.
But are we still occupiers, simply because we are paying for 150,000+ soldiers/mercenaries to reside there and help "train" their allegdly now sovereign state? And are any of those personnel still involved in the prison system?
The re-branding has created some convenient technicalities, allowing more of the same.

[Solly Mack]

4. k/r