WP: U.S. Envoy Calls Torture at Two Iraqi Prisons Severe, Extensive

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121300429.html

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on Tuesday described torture cases discovered in Iraqi police prisons as both extensive and severe, saying more than 120 abused detainees had been found in the two centers run by the Shiite-led government that have been inspected so far.

Khalilzad rejected Interior Ministry officials' suggestion that any mistreatment of prisoners had been mild, saying the abuse found was "far worse than slapping around."

U.S. and Iraqi authorities said the latest search, an inspection of an Interior Ministry special commando unit's detention center in Baghdad on Thursday, found 13 men who required immediate medical treatment among more than 600 detainees in badly crowded conditions. An Iraqi official who U.S. authorities have said had firsthand knowledge of the search said 12 of the men had been subjected to torture that included broken bones, pulled fingernails, cigarettes stamped into skin and electric shocks.

Khalilzad said at a news conference that more than 100 of roughly 170 detainees found last month in the first surprise raid on an Interior Ministry prison had been abused. Officials and witnesses at the time spoke of seeing a number of beaten, emaciated men at that center, a previously secret, underground facility holding mostly Sunni Arabs at an Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad. Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said then that only seven torture cases had been found in the November raid.

[shraby]

1. Why are they referring to it as abuse??

It's torture! There's no way it should ever be referred to as abuse.

[merwin]

2. kick

[Thom Little]

3. Envoy: 120 Abuse Cases at Iraqi Detention Centers

At least 120 abused prisoners have been found in two detention facilities run by the Shiite-led Interior Ministry, the U.S. ambassador said Tuesday.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said U.S. military officers would inspect other centers and join Interior Ministry forces on counterinsurgency raids "so that they can observe ... how raids are carried out, how people are taken into custody."

Iraqi officials say allegations of mistreatment have been exaggerated, but Khalilzad told reporters that "over 100" of the 173 prisoners found last month in an Interior Ministry building in Baghdad's Jadriyah district had suffered abuse.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities visited a separate ministry lockup Thursday and found another 21 to 26 prisoners who had been abused, Khalilzad said.



http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-prisoner-abuse,0,4084459.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[bullimiami]

4. like roaches. if you see 120 you have 12000.

[manic expression]

5. This is the tip of an enormous iceberg

Also, to my knowledge, US military officers are the ones in command of raids in Iraq. Were US soldiers just carrying out raids with no command structure? How in the world is this supposedly new officer supervision going to change anything?

[madeline_con]

6. It's just more "blah blah blah" to make some people feel all

better about the abuses. The "bad apple" syndrome revisited, if you will.