US raid finds 200 victims in secret Iraqi 'torture' jail

[Judi Lynn]

The Times November 16, 2005

US raid finds 200 victims in secret Iraqi 'torture' jail
By Catherine Philp
The discovery of 'tortured' prisoners recalls Abu Ghraib scandal and excesses of Saddam era

UP TO 200 half-starved Iraqi detainees bearing signs of torture have been found in an apparently secret jail in Baghdad in circumstances reminiscent of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The discovery came after American troops surrounded and took control of an Interior Ministry building in the Jadriya neighbourhood of Baghdad on Sunday night. The raid was carried out after reports that detainees were being illegally held and tortured there.

When US forces arrived, officials said that only 40 detainees were being held. But as troops moved through the building, opening door after door, they found at least 200 prisoners, many in very poor health. The Americans had apparently been tipped off to the prison’s existence by relatives of those being detained there.

It appears to be the country’s new Abu Ghraib, the notorious Baghdad prison where Iraqis were pictured being humiliated by American soldiers.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1874245,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Some Detainees Found in Baghdad Tortured

Some Detainees Found in Baghdad Tortured

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 15, 2005

(AP) Iraqi and U.S. officials disclosed Tuesday that more than 170 malnourished Iraqi detainees had been found in a weekend raid at an Interior Ministry detention center and that some appeared to have been tortured.

U.S. and Iraqi forces discovered the inmates when they went into the facility suspecting that individuals there may have been mistreated, the Pentagon said.

A Sunni politician said the prisoners were Sunni Arabs and accused the Shiite-led government of long ignoring the abuse.

Coalition forces "found things that concerned them," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. He did not say when the inmates were found, but U.S. troops took control of the Interior Ministry building on Sunday.
(snip/...)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/15/ap/world/mainD8DT3TUG0.shtml

[pinniped]

2. So, did the US remove the alleged prisoners from the alleged "torture"...

jail and place them into their "torture" jail?

I sense the wannabe Goebbels at work again.

NO, the Iraqis will never be able to secure their own country again. Every article likes to mention the fact. They will never be ready, have a nice stay.

--But the discovery of the jail once again throws up more questions about the suitability of Iraqi forces for taking on the task of fighting the insurgency while respecting the human rights of suspects.--

[ewagner]

3. So who was running it?

Was it the current Iraqi government?

Was it one of the fundamentalist organizations?

Who?

[daleo]

7. The U.S. installed government - the current one, I mean.

"The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq expressed concern about the large number of detainees being held in the country’s prisons and suggested that Iraqi police and special forces had abused the human rights of suspects during security sweeps. But the discovery of an apparently illegal detention centre has raised even more questions over the behaviour of the security forces in Iraq, which are being primed to take over duties from a withdrawing coalition force.

It also revived memories of how the security forces behaved under Saddam Hussein, who routinely had people arrested and tortured at secret prisons and detention centres around the city, many of which were not discovered until after his regime had fallen."

I don't know - this could be for propaganda purposes, so Bush can claim "we don't torture people, we rescue people from torture".

[Tom Joad]

9. The government Bush and Congress is supporting... Both Dems and Repubs

The Dems want to bring stability to Iraq, to a point where people are not resisting this government (a pacification program). That will, supposedly, be a sign we can withdrawal our troops.

The alternative view is to recognize the currently installed government has little legitimacy, and the United States military has no right to prop it up. NO RIGHT!

We do not want some timetable, some plan for "success", we want the troops home NOW!

[speedingbullet]

4. America to the Rescue

Do as we say, not as we do.

[FlemingsGhost]

5. Oooooops .... Negroponte is going to be pissed!

Don't they coordinate these efforts? Didn't the U.S. Army get the memo?

Eight months of "frat pranks" down the drain.

[matt819]

6. I think the Americans were pissed

because they though they had the franchise on secret torture jails.

[tatertop]

8. Sounds like Big Bologna to me

The kind that comes on rye with mustard and a pickle

[wordpix2]

10. black sites (prisoner camps) up next on Hardball NOW, also Fitz probe