Rape in Abu Ghraib torture jail

This video from the USA is the trailer of the film GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB.

War crimes do not just happen in Afghanistan.

Also in Iraq.

This is from the British Conservative Daily Telegraph (before any pro war reader of this blog starts yelling about “liberal media” etc. etc.). Maybe “old news”. However, as the cover-up described in this item is still going on, it is not really old news.

Abu Ghraib abuse photos ‘show rape’

Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent and Paul Cruickshank

Published: 8:02PM BST 27 May 2009

At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.

Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.

Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed. He has now confirmed their existence in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

The graphic nature of some of the images may explain the US President’s attempts to block the release of an estimated 2,000 photographs from prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan despite an earlier promise to allow them to be published.

…

In April, Mr Obama’s administration said the photographs would be released and it would be “pointless to appeal” against a court judgment in favour of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

But after lobbying from senior military figures, Mr Obama changed his mind saying they could put the safety of troops at risk.

…

It was thought the images were similar to those leaked five years ago, which showed naked and bloody prisoners being intimidated by dogs, dragged around on a leash, piled into a human pyramid and hooded and attached to wires.

Mr Obama seemed to reinforce that view by adding: “I want to emphasise that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib.”

The latest photographs relate to 400 cases of alleged abuse between 2001 and 2005 in Abu Ghraib and six other prisons. …

Maj Gen Taguba’s internal inquiry into the abuse at Abu Ghraib, included sworn statements by 13 detainees, which, he said in the report, he found “credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses.”

Among the graphic statements, which were later released under US freedom of information laws, is that of Kasim Mehaddi Hilas in which he says: “I saw [name of a translator] ******* a kid, his age would be about 15 to 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [name] who was wearing the military uniform, putting his **** in the little kid’s ***…. and the female soldier was taking pictures.”

The translator was an American Egyptian who is now the subject of a civil court case in the US.

Three detainees, including the alleged victim, refer to the use of a phosphorescent tube in the sexual abuse and another to the use of wire, while the victim also refers to part of a policeman’s “stick” all of which were apparently photographed.

This is not old news, but today’s news: 4 Iraqi Prisoners Escape US Prison In Baghdad: here. Hey, that does not really sound like “withdrawal” from Iraq, if you have your own prisons for Iraqis?

Journalist: Women raped at Abu Ghraib were later ‘honor killed’: here.

The US Court of Appeals has said that torturers (alleged of course) can not be sued because to talk about torture committed by agents, employees or contractors of the US government is a state secret. But everyone knows that there has been a systemic torture regime in place, that is not a secret. Accountability is the secret sauce that prevents or at least minimizes torture: here.

A federal appeals court’s dismissal Wednesday of a lawsuit on behalf of victims of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program represents a victory for the Obama administration’s defense of torture and dictatorial executive powers: here.

On Tuesday afternoon, Soran Rahman Taleh Wali, a Kurdish Iraqi soldier, opened fire on US troops at an Iraqi commando base near the city of Tuz Khurmatu: here.

Palestinian-Iraqi refugees — the forgotten victims of Iraq war: here.

Related articles

• Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (kitskinny.wordpress.com)
• Torture at Abu Ghraib (mpoirierblog.wordpress.com)
• Torture in U.S. Custody: Why It Will Happen Again If We Don’t Address It Now (huffingtonpost.com)
• Declassify Senate torture report (politico.com)