Obama Administration Ignored Torture Warnings and Transferred Detainees to Iraqi Authorities

[Bluebear]

American military commanders knew of more than a thousand reports of Iraqi security forces torturing prisoners, but this didn’t stop officials in the Obama administration from deciding to hand over detainees to the Iraq government.

According to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, U.S. soldiers had reported 1,365 claims of torture by Iraqi forces from 2005 to 2009—information that the Department of Defense possessed when the administration finished transferring 9,250 detainees to Iraqi custody.

In addition to reports from American soldiers, the United Nations and several human rights organizations had published accounts of torture at Iraqi detention centers.

“This adds further weight, if it were needed, that U.S. authorities committed a serious breach of international law when they handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces who, they clearly knew, were responsible for widespread and systematic torture,” Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, told The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. “It is our view that the current U.S. administration is complicit in torture.”

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Obama_Administration_Ignored_Torture_Warnings_and_Transferred_Detainees_to_Iraqi_Authorities_101026

[ZombieHorde]

1. Torture is an ugly and embarrassing stain on the US. nt

[sandnsea]

2. Out Of Iraq - that's what it means

You can't complain about occupying a sovereign nation, and then complain when we leave and that nation engages in human rights violations.

[sabrina 1]

3. Even torture is forgiven when it involves our team?

First, the story being reported concerns the recently released documents by Wikileaks which revealed that U.S. soldiers witnessed and reported incidents of abuse of detainees to their superiors as they were ordered to do only to have them ignored.

Rumsfeld went so far as to correct a U.S. General in public, when the General was asked what the U.S. military was doing about torture in Iraqi prisons and he said, that U.S. troops were ordered to stop it when they saw it and report it. Rumsfeld corrected him to state that they were ONLY to report it, NOT to stop it.

Until the release of those documents even though there were reports of Iraqis abusing detainees, they were always either denied or explained away.

What we now know is that at the highest levels, this was known and allowed.

Knowing this, it was the duty of the U.S. regardless of who the president is, to ensure that detainees were not left in the hands of torturers. This whole CRIME that is Iraq, is OUR doing and we are responsible for the mess that country is now in.

If this administration knew about this abuse, it was their duty and responsibility to make arrangements to make sure those detainees were not abused.

We march into someone else's country, bomb it into oblivion, steal their resources, kill, maim and torture their citizens, and then, once we get what we want, walk away from the mess we made, part of which was to place human beings in the hands of torturers.

It's a bit disconcerting that you can be so complacent about it. That you do not take any responsibility for what this country has done. But now, the excuse is 'well, you wanted an end to the war so, so what if we left behind a couple of torture chambers'.

Is that really what you thought was meant by ending the war? Walking away and taking no responsibility for the human tragedy we created there?

Then speak for yourself, I think most people who wanted the war ended also wanted the U.S. to take responsibility for what it had done. No rational person ever thought that after eight years of destruction of a nation, the U.S. could simply walk away from what it had created.

[sandnsea]

5. Who said it was forgiven?

"No rational person ever thought that after eight years of destruction of a nation, the U.S. could simply walk away from what it had created."

Really?? All I've seen from the left is to get out and leave Iraq to the Iraqis. The people who said we had to get out carefully were called warmongers.

But now that we're getting out, the same people who wanted us out are going to turn right around and complain about every single problem even if they're the same problems that were warned about all along.

I'm so completely not surprised.

[sabrina 1]

7. We are not getting out. We will be there for decades.

We have the biggest Embassy in the history of the world there, and several military bases. We've stolen their oil, slaughtered their people, and now we are moving on to the next phase, working on how to distribute the resources with cover from the puppet government we installed.

There are still 50,000 troops there, and a huge army of mercenaries, all of which is being paid for the American people.

It's interesting that you base your opinion on your perception of what a few people on the internet had to say about 'getting out'.

For most of us with a conscience and any familiarity with the rule of law, we always knew that if this country had any principles or morals left, we owed the Iraqi people more than we could ever pay back in several lifetimes. One of those things was to end torture. To instruct the puppet government we installed that the U.S. under a new president would not tolerate it. That the money we are paying them for their assistance in helping us establish a base in the ME, will stop if there are any reports of torture there. And if that doesn't work, explain to them that if we installed them, we can install someone else.

It seems to me that those who are unrec'ing this post are attempting to protect their own political interests rather than protect human rights.

[social_critic]

16. I don´t think we ´ll be in Iraq for decades

The USA won´t exist in a few decades if we insist on behaving this way.

[cliffordu]

15. Exactly right.

[Solly Mack]

10. wrong place/delete

[sabrina 1]

4. I rec'd this post.

It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to suppress this information by unrec'ing it. If the American people do not know what is being done in their name, how can they stop it?

[EFerrari]

6. Amy had two stories about the war on her show today

because of course no one wants to acknowledge it this week.

Jeremy Scahill was devastating on how Special Ops raids continue to wipe out families that the counter-insurgency people try to befriend. And then Justin Elliot had a story about that Teabagger Pantano who was up on murder charges for shooting two Iraqis in the back is now running for Congress.

[sabrina 1]

8. Good for them for not being afraid to air the facts just because

there are elections coming up. People being killed and tortured can't wait until 'after the election'.

The very fact that a murderer can even run for office in this country shows how low we have sunk. And I am sure he will receive many votes, maybe even win.

I sometimes think I must have been very blind until relatively recently because I used to think we were the good guys. People tell me none of this new. And if that's the case, it has to be because nothing was ever done about it or we couldn't talk about it because there was an election coming up or whatever.

Shameful is too good a word, not only for what this government has and is still doing to other human beings, but for the American people who either don't care or worse, support it.

[readmoreoften]

9. Voted up to zero. Let's hide those unpleasant truths people!

:sarcasm:

[Bluebear]

14. At least there's, what, 6 people with consciences here?

[Solly Mack]

11. The article plainly states the torture took place under US occupation.

The torture was taking place with the US there and the US was turning people over to Iraqi forces even when they knew of said torture.

So no one can pretend this came about AFTER the US left because:


1. The reports couldn't have come from US soldiers and US military command IF they weren't IN Iraq when it was happening. The article above, and other articles over the last few years, bear out that the torture is taking place with the US still in Iraq. The articles bear out that the US knew and still continued to turn people over to the Iraqi forces. Like it or not, it's a violation of law to do that...which means the US is violating the law when they do that.

Leaving Iraq in no way relieves the US of any of its obligations to follow the law. Regardless of when they fully leave or how that leaving is accomplished. The US invaded for no reason and got away with it - now the US wants to get away with every crime connected to them because of that initial invasion and continuing occupation. Yes, Iraqi forces also committed a crime - but that doesn't absolve the US of their complicity in that crime or its own crime(s).

2. The US hasn't left. Spare me. I live on an army post and know better. I get so tired of people on DU claiming the US has left Iraq when I have neighbors still in Iraq and neighbors who are scheduled to deploy to Iraq in the coming months. A drawdown isn't a withdrawal. Until a withdrawal is complete, it's a lie - yes, a lie - to claim the US has left Iraq. 'In the process of leaving' might be the phrase people should use. And for the love of sanity, please don't attempt to explain to me the difference between combat and non-combat troops. I'm just going to laugh.

That Iraqi forces (under its so-called new & improved government) have been abusing and torturing people has been coming out for a few years now - both under Bush and under Obama. A simple search proves that for those who haven't paid attention. It's a crime to do that. So no matter how anyone wants to spin it, the US committed a crime when they turned over people to the Iraqis, knowing full well that the Iraqis (also) engage in torture.


The US wants to pretend it did nothing illegal by invading and occupying Iraq. Now the US wants to pretend it did nothing wrong by turning people over to another country's control that engages in torture.

The US doesn't get to pretend ...and neither do American citizens.

[sabrina 1]

12. Thank you. Good post. There are a few people who are pretending that

that at least this administration did nothing illegal despite the evidence to the contrary.

You are correct, the U.S. did commit a crime by handing over those people to the torturers in Iraq. But then, we ourselves don't have much moral authority when it comes to torture. It is probably difficult for the U.S. to issue warnings about torture to Iraqis who I'm sure would be quick to remind us that we are not in a position to talk to them about torture.

[Solly Mack]

13. The U.S. has no moral authority in the matter. America coddles war criminals.

That said... The U.S. is still obligated to follow the law....which it continues to break with impunity. (by turning over people to those who torture and by not holding those who torture accountable....to include Bush, etc.)

I once said that America got into Iraq with lies and will get out of Iraq the same way. The first lies beget all the rest...and America keeps pretending.

I still hold to that.