Scarletwine
New Yorker
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10383646%5E2703,00.html
Abuse claims rock Iraqi regime
By AP correspondents in Portland, Oregon
August 09, 2004
IRAQ'S interim Government faces fresh allegations of brutality against its own people after US soldiers reported seeing dozens of prisoners being abused at the Interior Ministry in Baghdad.
The soldiers, members of the Oregon National Guard, reportedly intervened to stop the abuse, but were ordered to back off and return the prisoners to their Iraqi jailers.
The claims were reported yesterday in US newspaper The Oregonian. The paper also published photographs purporting to be of the abused prisoners, including one of a 14-year-old boy.
The incident allegedly occurred on June 29, one day after the US-led coalition in Iraq transferred power to the interim Government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
It follows claims that Mr Allawi shot dead six suspected insurgents at an Iraqi police station soon after taking power. Mr Allawi has strenuously rejected the allegation.
The US embassy in Iraq told The Oregonian that the US had raised questions about the June 29 "brutality" with Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib.
The embassy would not comment on what response, if any, was received, but said the soldiers "acted professionally and calmly to ease tensions and defend prisoners who needed help".
The Oregonian, which had a reporter embedded with the Oregon guardsmen, said the incident occurred after Iraqi officials announced a crackdown on crime, when police and security forces arrested about 150 people in a Baghdad neighbourhood.
Captain Jarrell Southall gave the newspaper a written account of the incident and other guardsmen, speaking on condition of anonymity, interviewed in Iraq echoed his account, the newspaper said.
On June 29, while the Oregon guardsmen were on patrol, a scout positioned in a tall building looked through the telescopic sight on his rifle into the Interior Ministry courtyard.
He saw a man beating a prisoner with a rod or a stick, took photographs and radioed battalion headquarters to report the abuse.
Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hendrickson led a group of soldiers to the compound and entered the detention yard unchallenged, according to Captain Southall. The guardsmen then separated the prisoners from the Iraqi policemen.
"Many of these prisoners had bruises and cuts and belt or hose marks all over," Captain Southall said. "I witnessed prisoners who were barely able to walk."
The soldiers freed the prisoners, gave them water and administered first aid. US military police arrived and disarmed the Iraqi policemen, according to Captain Southall.
Colonel Hendrickson led some of the guardsmen into a nearby building and found a room containing "even more prisoners, all in the same sad shape as the prisoners found in the outer area", Captain Southall said. They also found "hoses, broken lamps and chemicals of some variety" that might have been used as torture devices.
But after Colonel Hendrickson radioed for instructions, he was told to return the prisoners to the Iraqi authorities and leave the detention yard. Neither Colonel Hendrickson nor others interviewed by The Oregonian would say who gave the order.
Military police have opened investigations into the suspicious deaths of 48 Iraqis while in the custody of British troops, a jump of almost a third from figures previously disclosed, British newspaper the Independent on Sunday reported yesterday
http://www.oregonlive.com/galleries.../olive/slide_show_wcard.ata?index=6&g_id=2436
This is disgusting. The sSenate is investigating the incident to try to find out who issued the orders to stand down.
Abuse claims rock Iraqi regime
By AP correspondents in Portland, Oregon
August 09, 2004
IRAQ'S interim Government faces fresh allegations of brutality against its own people after US soldiers reported seeing dozens of prisoners being abused at the Interior Ministry in Baghdad.
The soldiers, members of the Oregon National Guard, reportedly intervened to stop the abuse, but were ordered to back off and return the prisoners to their Iraqi jailers.
The claims were reported yesterday in US newspaper The Oregonian. The paper also published photographs purporting to be of the abused prisoners, including one of a 14-year-old boy.
The incident allegedly occurred on June 29, one day after the US-led coalition in Iraq transferred power to the interim Government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
It follows claims that Mr Allawi shot dead six suspected insurgents at an Iraqi police station soon after taking power. Mr Allawi has strenuously rejected the allegation.
The US embassy in Iraq told The Oregonian that the US had raised questions about the June 29 "brutality" with Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib.
The embassy would not comment on what response, if any, was received, but said the soldiers "acted professionally and calmly to ease tensions and defend prisoners who needed help".
The Oregonian, which had a reporter embedded with the Oregon guardsmen, said the incident occurred after Iraqi officials announced a crackdown on crime, when police and security forces arrested about 150 people in a Baghdad neighbourhood.
Captain Jarrell Southall gave the newspaper a written account of the incident and other guardsmen, speaking on condition of anonymity, interviewed in Iraq echoed his account, the newspaper said.
On June 29, while the Oregon guardsmen were on patrol, a scout positioned in a tall building looked through the telescopic sight on his rifle into the Interior Ministry courtyard.
He saw a man beating a prisoner with a rod or a stick, took photographs and radioed battalion headquarters to report the abuse.
Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hendrickson led a group of soldiers to the compound and entered the detention yard unchallenged, according to Captain Southall. The guardsmen then separated the prisoners from the Iraqi policemen.
"Many of these prisoners had bruises and cuts and belt or hose marks all over," Captain Southall said. "I witnessed prisoners who were barely able to walk."
The soldiers freed the prisoners, gave them water and administered first aid. US military police arrived and disarmed the Iraqi policemen, according to Captain Southall.
Colonel Hendrickson led some of the guardsmen into a nearby building and found a room containing "even more prisoners, all in the same sad shape as the prisoners found in the outer area", Captain Southall said. They also found "hoses, broken lamps and chemicals of some variety" that might have been used as torture devices.
But after Colonel Hendrickson radioed for instructions, he was told to return the prisoners to the Iraqi authorities and leave the detention yard. Neither Colonel Hendrickson nor others interviewed by The Oregonian would say who gave the order.
Military police have opened investigations into the suspicious deaths of 48 Iraqis while in the custody of British troops, a jump of almost a third from figures previously disclosed, British newspaper the Independent on Sunday reported yesterday
http://www.oregonlive.com/galleries.../olive/slide_show_wcard.ata?index=6&g_id=2436
This is disgusting. The sSenate is investigating the incident to try to find out who issued the orders to stand down.