AP: Saddam's Officials Got Special Abuse

[maddezmom]

GENEVA - U.S. military personnel singled out senior officials of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime for special abuse in coalition prison, including solitary confinement for months on end, The Associated Press has learned.

~snip~

The report did not specify who the detainees were, but an official who has discussed the document with ICRC officials told The Associated Press that they include many from the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s 55 most-wanted suspects in a "deck of cards" the U.S. military released during the war that ousted Saddam last year.


"Since June 2003 over a hundred 'high-value detainees' have been held for nearly 23 hours a day in strict solitary confinement in small concrete cells devoid of daylight," said the report, which was given to coalition forces in February.

~snip~

"This regime of complete isolation strictly prohibited any contact with other persons deprived of their liberty, guards, family members (except through Red Cross messages) and the rest of the outside world," the report said. "Even spouses and members of the same family were subject to this regime."

~snip~


more:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20040510/ap_on_re_mi_ea/red_cross_prisoner_abuse

[BlueEyedSon]

1. In that case, I support it

:puke:

[cosmicone]

10. War crimes can never be supported

This was an illegal war without the necessary "self defense" doctrine or the necessary security council sanction.

Anyone arrested and deprived of their liberty this way is like arresting without a warrant.

If it is illegal in the US under the fourth amendment, how can it be legal in Iraq when carried out by the US?

Is our hypocrisy THAT grand?

[newyawker99]

17. Hi cosmicone!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. It's all too obvious

too transparent. This is how you counter bad press. Spin it to your advantage.

[xultar]

2. A guest on unfiltered said don't murder someone who is committing suicide

GWB Administration is committing suicide by giving these dumb ass excuses to the press.

Kerry needs to keep it quiet and let GWB and his fellow idiots finish up on the suicide thing.

[Say_What]

15. Feed 'em the rope--they're doing a dandy job of hanging themselves

is another way to put it... :-)

[UpInArms]

3. will the BFEE receive a similar fate? ... ....... .... eom

[dave29]

4. It depends on your definition of torture

how long before we get to see Bush say that under oath?

[truthisfreedom]

5. what exactly is the point of this?

can someone explain to me what justice is served by such inhumane behavior? no matter what these individuals may or may not have done, i don't see how justice is served here.

[Voltaire99]

6. This story is intended to blunt criticism of the US

"Oh, you mean they were only torturing torturers? WELL, IN THAT CASE..."

[daleo]

7. The more important features of the story came later:

"It said some coalition military intelligence officers estimated that "between 70 percent and 90 percent of the persons deprived of their liberty in Iraq had been arrested by mistake. They also attributed the brutality of some arrests to the lack of proper supervision of battle group units."
...
"Sometimes they arrested all adult males present in a house, including elderly, handicapped or sick people," it said. "Treatment often included pushing people around, insulting, taking aim with rifles, punching and kicking and striking with rifles."

"U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said the mistreatment "was the wrongdoing of a few," but the Red Cross report backs up with detail the neutral agency's contention that the abuse was broad and part of a system, "not individual acts.""

How could anyone think this would bring a population on side with an occupation force?

[NNN0LHI]

8. Remember this? Saddam Aide's Family Arrested

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104137,00.html

TIKRIT, Iraq — The U.S. military on Wednesday arrested a wife and a daughter of a top Saddam Hussein (search) deputy suspected of leading the anti-American insurgency. A top general said rebels are bringing in new leaders to help them bounce back from losses inflicted by an aggressive American campaign.

As troops geared up for a first Thanksgiving in Iraq, Jay Garner, the retired American general who first headed the U.S.-led occupation, sharply criticized the coalition's handling of postwar Iraq. Two top leaders of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority also criticized the U.S. plan for a transfer of power to Iraqis, saying elections should occur sooner than March 15, 2005.

The detention of the relatives of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (search), a lifelong Saddam associate who is No. 6 on the list of most-wanted Iraqis, was an apparent attempt to pressure his surrender or gather intelligence that might lead to him. U.S. officials last week offered a $10 million reward for information leading to al-Douri's capture.

Late Wednesday, the Italian mission in Baghdad (search) was hit and damaged by a rocket or mortar, but no one was injured, state-run RAI television reported in Italy. The attack occurred two weeks after a homicide bomber detonated a truck bomb outside the Italian barracks in Nasiriyah, killing 19 Italians and 14 others.

more

[maddezmom]

18. thanks, was looking for the article

gotta wonder how many family members we are holding. :(

[Just Me]

9. "Special" abuse. Give me a freakin' break already.

A war crime is a g-damned war crime for crying out loud!!!

What is the matter with this country?

Have we completely lost it?

Where is the "moral authority"?

BAH!!!! :grr:

Grrrrr!!! :grr:

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. And how do you blow a Crimes Against Humanity Case

You commit War Crimes yourself....

[jasonjay]

12. Washington Post Holding Iraqi Abuse Photos

www.foshoflash.com just published an exclusive. He says the post is holding the photos after a request from the pentagon. I can't start my own thread, but i think this would be a good thread on it's own. If anyone wants to start it.

http://foshoflash.com/exclusives/IraqiPrisonImages/washingtonpost.htm

[Just Me]

14. Why does the Pentagon think "censorship" will remedy anything?

Hell, this sh*t could trickle out for months to come because it is already "out there". Why don't they get it over with, open the book completely so that the,...

,...oh, nevermind,...

We are marked as a brutal, rogue nation. I hold the Bush Regime and its Loyalists totally responsible.

[Say_What]

16. Spinning the GWB WAR CRIMES

by saying the military personnel singled out Saddam's senior officials doesn't f*ck'n cut it. War crimes are WAR CRIMES no matter what. Here the corporate owned media is trying to minimize the WAR CRIMES of GWB's illegal and immoral war.