Pentagon investigating link between US military and torture centres in Iraq
Defense Department says 'it will take time' to respond to 15-month investigation by BBC Arabic and the GuardianThe Pentagon is investigating allegations linking the US military to human rights abuses in Iraq by police commando units who operated a network of detention and torture centres.
A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic, published on Wednesday, disclosed that the US sent a veteran of the "dirty wars" in Central America to oversee Iraqi commando units involved in some of the worst acts of torture during the American-led occupation.
The allegations, made by US and Iraqi witnesses, implicate US advisers for the first time in these human rights abuses. It is also the first time that the then US commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, has been linked through an adviser to the abuses.
Colonel Jack Miller, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Guardian on Thursday: "Obviously we have seen the reports and we are currently looking into the situation."...
/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/07/pentagon-investigating-link-military-torture
James Steele: America's mystery man in Iraq - video
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A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic reveals how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centres in Iraq. Another special forces veteran, Colonel James Coffman, worked with Steele and reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had been sent into Iraq to organise the Iraqi security services
/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/mar/06/james-steele-america-iraq-video
= new reply since forum marked as read
I haven't watched it yet. A treat for tomorrow.
Probably people like Steele thought they were doing what had to be done.
They made a big mistake.
You will not be respected for your strength if you abuse that position. Even fear, you know, can get transformed into absolute fearlessness, with consequences, when you push that hard, cornering.
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