Iraq military continues to violate the rights of civilians

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, 9 October (IRIN) - Raid Othman al-Dulaimi, a 36-year-old engineer, still vividly recalls his suffering on a night last winter when his five-month ordeal with the Iraqi army began. The army raided his house in Baghdad in late December 2005 following a roadside bomb attack nearby.

"They accused me of having links to the attackers. They put all of us in the garden and beat me in front of my wife and children. They overturned all the furniture and stole my private computer, money and gold," al-Dulaimi said, adding that he was taken to prison and beaten to elicit a confession.

"After five months of insults and bad treatment they said, 'We are sorry, you have nothing to do with the terrorists,'" he said.

Human rights groups say the rights of citizens, especially those who live in restive areas, are often violated by Iraq's national army and US-led coalition forces searching for terrorists and criminals. They say this has undermined support for the government as a whole.

(more)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/6fe35da19298e3660cb9929f59fcbff4.htm

[leftchick]

1. It happens every day and night all over Iraq....

these poor people never asked for this. :(





House owner Majid Nawaf , left, tries to clean up helped by his neighbor Moundhir Abdullah in Baghdad's al-Jihad area Saturday Oct. 7, 2006. Nawaf was arrested along with his brother in a raid by the US forces Friday morning and released 24 hours later. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed )

[twaddler01]

2. The problem is...who can you trust?

You go door-to-door and see all sorts of people not knowing if they are the enemy or whether they are just an innocent civilian. Its just a crazy mess there. Sickening. This is coming from my brother who was doing search and rescue on an Air Force mission to Afganistan (not too far off from Bagdad). Can you image the situation INSIDE Bagdad? :scared:

Look at how many innocent lives we've ruined?