Red Cross warned UK of Iraq abuse

[Kipper58]

This has just appeared on the BBC website. Radio reports have been coming in over the last hour or so. Note the final paragraph - the last visit by the ICRC was in MARCH


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3694503.stm

[West Coast Democrat]

1. Also on Yahoo: Red Cross Saw 'Widespread Abuse' in Iraq

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040507/ts_nm/iraq_abuse_redcross_dc_1

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iraqi detainees were subjected to "serious violations," with abuse so widespread it may have been condoned by U.S.-led coalition forces, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday.

Breaking with its usual vow of silence, the Geneva-based humanitarian organization said visits to coalition detention centers in Iraq, carried out between March and November 2003, had shown infringements of international treaties on the treatment of prisoners of war.

In some cases, the ill-treatment was "tantamount to torture," particularly when interrogators were seeking information or confessions, the ICRC said in a report, parts of which were published in U.S. financial daily the Wall Street Journal.

snip....

"Our findings do not allow us to conclude that what we were dealing with at Abu Ghraib were isolated acts of individual members of coalition forces. What we have described is a pattern and a broad system," he said.

more....

[Moderator]

2. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=537337