New documents: US desecrated koran systematically

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New documents: US desecrated koran systematically

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Date: 5/20/05 at 9:45AM

From the American Civil Liberties Union site:

U.S. Soldier Instructed Iraqi Detainee to Dig Own Grave, According to New Army Documents

May 19, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@aclu.org

Documents Indicate Soldiers Used Religious Icons to Degrade Muslim Detainees, ACLU Says

NEW YORK — New documents released by the Department of Defense reveal more cases of abuse including mock executions and use of a religious symbol to taunt detainees, the American Civil Liberties Union said today.

Documents Indicating That Religious Icons Were Used to Degrade Detainees: (pdf)

• Sworn statement of civilian interrogator stepping on Koran to disorient detainee

• Sworn statement of civilian interrogator on using “Pride and Ego Down” technique

• Army memo detailing use of “Star of David” to taunt Iraqi detainee

• Detainee claimed soldiers ordered military dog to pick up the Koran in its mouth

• Detainee claims soldiers threw the Koran on the floor and stepped on it

“While the White House blames Newsweek magazine for damaging America’s reputation in the Muslim world, the Army’s own investigations show systemic abuse and humiliation of Muslim men by U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.

“If we are to truly repair America’s standing, the Bush Administration must first hold accountable high-ranking officials who allow the continuing abuse and torture of detainees.”

Almost 2,000 pages of Army documents were released Tuesday in response to a federal court order that directed the Defense Department and other government agencies to comply with a request under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace.

So, apparent abuse not just of the Islamic Koran, but also of the Jewish Star of David.

Abuse of religious symbols in torture should not just concern religious Muslims, or religious Jews, but also everyone else, of other or no religion.

US government agencies have a bad history in Iraq of trying to deflect anger on their own policies “safely” for themselves away from themselves, into anti-Semitic channels, against “the Jews”.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Red Cross backs claims of Koran abuse in US prison camp

By Cam Simpson and Mark Silva in Washington

May 20, 2005

The Pentagon was made aware three years ago that US personnel might have been desecrating or mishandling Korans at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.

Credible information on the issue had been given to the Pentagon in confidential reports in 2002 and early 2003, Simon Schorno, a Red Cross spokesman, said.

Representatives of the Red Cross, who have played a key role in investigating abuse allegations at Guantanamo Bay and other US military prisons, had never witnessed such incidents first-hand during visits, but Red Cross delegates had gathered and corroborated enough similar, independent reports from detainees to raise the issue several times with Guantanamo commanders and with Pentagon officials, Mr Schorno said on Wednesday.

See also here.

US “Reverend” Fred Phelphs pro Quran flushing: here.

Torture, deaths of prisoners, at US prison of Bagram in Afghanistan: here.

More on Bagram here.