This is where my stepson is as an MP and this is whats going on

[Mari333]

or, as I was told today, one of the top 3 most dangerous places in Iraq. Bring the troops home now.

"There are 23,000 prisoners in Abu Ghuraib, and 4000 in Um Qasr prison in southern Iraq, most of them held without charge," al-Dulaymi said. "What is really worrying us is we have heard unconfirmed reports that the US authorities in Iraq have moved some Iraqi prisoners to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba."

Wide resentment

Wide resentment has been increasing among Iraqis who say the US is not taking enough care in its treatment of Iraqis.

A recent survey carried out by Al-Mustaqil Institute for Management and Social Studies, in Baghdad, has revealed that 60% of Iraqis reject the US occupation of Iraq. The percentage was 35% in November 2003.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7AF6D9CA-C897-4636-AFCA-44C93A66A9DA.htm

[xultar]

1. I am praying for your Son's Safety and the Safety of all the Troops...

We are doing all we can by exposing the most corrupt and lying administration ever.

We will ELECT KERRY AND we BRING the TROOPS HOME

[Dhalgren]

2. I pray to the Gods you are right.

But, I am afraid that a Kerry administration will find it politically impossible to "bring them home." I truely hope that I am wrong, but if what Kerry says is what his intentions actually are, then our troops will be there for a long, long time.

[Malva Zebrina]

9. yes, we are stuck there

because of Bush's greed and desire for empire. There is little to be done now but to try and patch it up and it will take a man of exceptional strength, honor and integrity to do it and to give the country and it's assets back to the Iraqi's to whom it rightfully belongs.

I have a feeling that Halliburton is not going to do that voluntarily. Halliburton and others who got the lucrative contracts are really the winners here. Bush will be also once he leaves office, and has no responsibility any more for anything that goes on. He can sit on the couch and watch baseball and laugh at how he pulled the wool over the eyes of his own people and count the money in his offshore accounts. He will have his presidential museum and when he gets a twinge of conscience, or needs a little lift, he can go there and gaze at all his costumes that will say George Bush, President on the upper left corner.

Rice can do the same and Powell also and all the rest of the neo cons who perpetrated this fraud upon the American people. They will be sitting in the lap of luxury for the rest of their lives chuckling over how they put it over on us.

[TacticalPeek]

3. "most of them held without charge"

Say hello to the new boss (who really does have vast stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons).




Iraqi women shout anti-US slogans
in front of Abu Ghuraib prison

[Mari333]

4. More on the prison

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/iraq/abu-ghurayb-prison.htm


bring the troops home
give Iraq back to the Iraqis.

[anarchy1999]

5. More...

http://www.cpt.org/archives/2004/mar04/0005.html

CPTnet March 3, 2004 IRAQ: Conversation with American soldier outside
Baghdad prison
by Art Gish

Saddam Hussein's infamous prison just west of Baghdad is still full, except
now the U.S. military is running the prison. The prison contains over
10,000 detainees and is being expanded. The U.S. authorities allow few
visits; the detained have no right to due process, and only recently have
families been able to visit their loved ones.
For the rest see above link.


http://vitw.us/weblog/
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
(read it all)

http://www.wildfirejo.org.uk/feature/display/87/index.php
08 Feb 2004
It has nothing to do with liberation or ensuring a free election in Iraq. No way that will ever really happen. If you could see how they are parceling out the Iraq resources to the contractors there right now, you would understand what I mean. I have seen the profiteering on a first hand basis. I have never seen that level of outright greed even around the Pentagon at budget time.
Feb 6, 2Ö04

By Jay Shaft- Coalition For Free Thought In Media

The following interview was conducted with a US Army high level commander who has been back from Iraq less than two weeks. I was shocked that someone of his rank would be so open and willing to speak out, but he told me he has lost over 100 soldiers from his command since the war started.

The man I spoke too had spent months with a front line combat unit and had seen terrible and horrific sights. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to get his tale of the horrors in Iraq.

I have taken every precaution to insure his identity remains a secret for reasons he details in this article. In this time of war and reprisals against soldiers who speak out, he has exhibited extreme bravery and true valor.

JS- Good morning sir, are you enjoying your time back in the states?

USO- No, to be honest, I am not enjoying being back here. I keep seeing the soldiers dying every time I turn on the news or pick up a paper. I can’t get a sense of relief at being home when many of my fellow soldiers will not ever be coming home. It is hard to feel good about no longer being in Iraq. I just can’t seem to put my feelings in any kind of perspective.

http://indybay.org/news/2004/03/1672358.php



Outside Abu Ghraib prison, surrounded by other Iraqis hoping to get information about imprisoned relatives, a former detainee tries to find out why his brother, arrested at the same time, wasn't released when he was.

"Guantanamo on steroids"
Abu Ghraib was an infamous prison under Saddam. Now, for Iraqis seeking relatives detained by the U.S. military, it is still a place where men disappear.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Jen Banbury

March 3, 2004 | BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Abu Ghraib prison became famous in Saddam's time as the place where men disappeared. Behind its high ochre-colored walls and looping spans of barbed wire, prisoners faced miserable living conditions, regular torture, and (in some cases) execution. Now the U.S. military controls Abu Ghraib, calling it the Baghdad Correctional Facility (though no Iraqis I've met seem to be aware of the name change). And for many Iraqis seeking information about relatives detained by the American military, Abu Ghraib is still a place where men disappear.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/03/prison/index_np.html

if you want more just google it.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Abu+Ghraib%5D+prison&btnG=Google+Search



Here is the one to make you hurt the most.

http://www.cpt.org/archives/2004/jan04/0026.html
CPTnet
January 19, 2004
IRAQ: A Mother at Abu Ghraib

by Le Anne Clausen

I visited Abu Ghraib prison camp for the first time in late November. Her son, Aus, had been detained inside since June 27th.


Aus' mother was only successful in obtaining her son's prisoner number and location after Aus had been detained three months and fifteen days. His mother got in to visit him only once, ten days earlier. Under U.S. policy, she isn't allowed to visit again for another two months. Only six detainees are allowed visits on visiting days, which only occur three times per week. Visits are limited to one hour each. There are thousands of detainees in Abu Ghraib.


Abu Ghraib was the most feared prison under the Saddam regime. Even still, remarked a bystander, most prisoners' families could come to visit once a week.


U.S. Forces detained Aus in the middle of the summer, when he was wearing only light weight clothing. Now the temperatures hover just above freezing every night. "We can't bring anything in to our sons in the camp," cried his mother. "He has nothing to wear in the cold." Reports from several detainees formerly held at Abu Ghraib whom we have interviewed have said the U.S. guards provide them with a blanket, and sometimes two pairs of underwear, but they had only the clothes they were wearing when they were first detained for the duration of their imprisonment.


The same bystander said, "It's impossible to get information about our relatives. We go to the Iraqi Assistance Center. They give us a number and tell us to wait five days. Then we come here. The guard says, 'This number is fake.' So we go back to the IAC. They give us the same number."


Later, my teammates and I were able to speak with Col. Ralph Sabatino, who has "oversight responsibility" for the prisons in Iraq. We told him how difficult it was for families to be unable to see their loved ones for months at a time, and how important it was to increase the visitation rights of detainees held in the camp. Other U.S. prison camps, such as Bucca in southern Iraq, allow visitation every three weeks. Sabatino seemed unmoved. He said the U.S. military had no plans to increase either the size of visiting facilities or the security staff to allow more families to visit more often. "In reality, this isn't going to change," he said. "In fact, when we close Camp Bucca and ship all the inmates back to Baghdad, families will be waiting four to six months between visits."


We left the meeting disappointed and a little stunned by the Colonel's nonchalance. Yet he alone is not to blame. His words echo the prevailing sentiment we have experienced so far from the Coalition Forces occupying Iraq.




I don't know about everyone else, but I do know how I would feel if the same thing were happening here in the US, and I was a relative standing on the outside trying to find my loved one. Is this democracy? Is this what we "Americans" stand for and believe in? Is this how we win hearts and minds and make them want to be more like "us"?

Sick and sorry.

[boobooday]

12. Here is to the swift and safe return of our soldiers

We must get out of Iraq. It was the only way to end the Vietnam war, and it is the only way to end this one. Our troops must come home, and peacekeeping forces must help the Iraqis pick up the pieces. Our soldiers are trained to fight, not to keep the peace in a devastated country (even if we did devastate it).

But that would involve extricating the big money-sucking machine that is the Bush Corporate Looter Administration. If we did achieve this amazing feat, others would be willing to help. There will never be peace while we are there, but BushCo doesn't care. His goal was to set up his shop smack dab in the middle of CRUDE CENTRAL.


The imposter must GO!

My heart goes out to everyone who has family over there right now. Here is to their swift and safe return. :loveya:



http://www.wgoeshome.com

[jpak]

6. 27,000 Iraqis in detention without charge????

How many did Saddam have in prison before the war???

How many Iraqi civilians killed in the war - 10,000+?????

I would wager that Bush has killed and imprisoned more Iraqis this last year than Saddam has in the last 10.

and Saddam was the "bad man" in this fight????

[G_j]

7. It so upsets me that many people here continue

to state that "we can't just bring them home" Many soldiers have related over and over that most Iraqis they talk to wish they would leave, that the troops are not trained in peacekeeping and that resentment grows daily, thus putting both the troops and Iraqis in increasing danger.
If we are there to "liberate" the Iraqi people, I'd be interested to know why we have no intention of honoring the wishs of the majority of the people.

[anarchy1999]

8. Guess maybe we are still waiting for flowers on the street.

n/t
and sorry for the sarcasm.

[sangh0]

10. Very confused argument

I don't think you're going to find many DUers saying we liberated the Iraqis. And though the Iraqis might not want us there, that does not mean an abrupt pullout is the right way to go.

[G_j]

11. perhaps I wasn't clear

it is Bush who is saying we "liberated" Iraq.

I wonder if you can demonstrate to me how we are making life safer for the Iraqi ppl. Multiply the bombings in Spain many times over and you have only a glimpse of what the Iraqi ppl have been experiencing.