UN raises alarm on death squads and torture in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The United Nations raised the alarm on Thursday about mounting violence in Iraq blamed on pro-government militias and urged the authorities to look into reports of systematic torture in police stations.

In a bi-monthly human rights report, released on a day when 14 more victims of "extrajudicial executions" were found near Baghdad, the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq also said "mass arrests" by U.S. and Iraqi forces, and long detentions without charge, could damage support for the new political system.

"Corpses appear regularly in and around Baghdad and other areas. Most bear signs of torture and appear to be victims of extrajudicial executions," it said, noting incidents reported after arrests by "forces linked to the Ministry of Interior".

MORE. . .

:grr: :nuke:

:kick:

if BushCo gets their wish.

they don't like going back a long time, unfortunately. There has been a lot written about it, and it's something you have to look for or you won't know it's there.

It doesn't blend in well with the heroic, "compassionate," adorable image of supreme perfection some of our most ignorant citizens appear to worship as "Americans" while looking down on and hating the rest of the world.

There was a movie made about Dan Mitrione which has been surpressed, but it's around, somewhere. Nixon sent his son-in-law, David Eisenhower and Ron Ziegler to Mitrione's funeral after he was murdered, but you may find learning about Mitrione a real eye-opener. Here's a piece written all the way back in 1979:

THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1979 A19

Torture’s Teachers


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By A.J. Langguth


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LOS ANGELES – A few months ago, I received some clippings of interviews with a former Federal Intelligence agency official. That operative, Jesse Leaf, had been involved with the agency’s activities in Iran, and well into the stories Mr. Leaf made some damning accusations.

He said that the C.I.A. sent an operative to teach interrogation methods to SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, that the training included instructions in torture, and the techniques were copied from the Nazis.

Reading through the clippings, I could think of several reasons why the accusations had not been featured prominently. Mr. Leaf could not, or did not, supply the name of the instructor, his victims would be hard to locate; and the testimony from opponents of the Shah would be suspect.

But there is still another reason that I take to be the truest one: We – and I mean we as Americans – don’t believe it. We can read the accusations, even examine the evidence and find it irrefutable. But, in our hearts, we cannot believe that Americans have gone abroad to spread the use of torture.

We can believe that public officials with reputations for brilliance can be arrogant, blind or stupid. Anything but evil. And when the cumulative proof becomes overwhelming that our representatives in the C.I.A. or the Agency for International Development police program did in fact teach torture, we excuse ourselves by vilifying the individual men.
(snip/...)

http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/langguthleaf.html