Explosion Rocks Western Baghdad (Abu Ghraib )

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An explosion rocked the western suburb of Baghdad that is home to the controversial Abu Ghraib prison on Tuesday, a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.
It was not clear what caused the blast, which was followed by a column of smoke in late morning.

U.S. soldiers blocked the main western highway leading out of the capital near Abu Ghraib, about 3 miles east of the prison itself. U.S. military spokesmen said they were checking the cause of the blast.

snip
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5025857§ion=news

Did you watch Charlie Rose last night? This was the big subject with Robert Baer former CIA, Sy Hersh, and a Professor of ME studies. They all agreed this story is worse than any of us can imagine and that it will force us out of the middle wast. If you missed it you can listen to it here.

Pay special attention to the part at the end where they discuss the WINGS where women and juveniles are being kept.

You can listen to the show here

=====

TacticalPeak (1000+ posts) Mon May-03-04 09:48 PM
Response to Original message

8. Dismal. Dismal.Dismal.


The professor says if there are Iraqi women in the prison, it is all over.

Hersh says there is a whole wing for women and . . . juveniles.

The professor says that is catastrophic. It is all over for us. About ten days ago, there was a mortar/rocket(?) attack on the prison, in which the attackers targeted the inmates. The 'rumor' was that Iraqi women prisoners were being raped and tortured. Death would be preferable under some cultural/religious codes, so the attackers were attempting "mercy killings". The prof said that if this rumor turned out to be true or close, it was the end of the road.

Baer concurred and said it was a pivotal event in the course of the war, and that this would shorten the war/occupation(US).

Hersh said this was like My Lai in that it will erode Shrub's ability to keep the 'middle' people supporting the war, as with Nixon. A limit reached. Hersh said stay tuned for more.

Heads up if your time zone is in the future.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1523950

=====
03 05 2004 (Note the date)

The newspaper reminds that militants attacked the (Abu Ghraib) prison several days ago. 22 prison guards and inmates were killed and 51 injured. The reason for this was probably a leaflet that can be seen on the outside of the prison's wall...similar leaflets are now appearing in many mosques in Baghdad... cry for help from the hostages of that Iraqi prison...

«We are held in the northern sector. Attack this prison and put an end to our disgrace, and if you cannot do this for the love of the Most High, tell someone who can stick up for us or give us some 'Bahe Maneh al-Hamel'. May Allah and Iraqi patriots put an end to our tortures». 'Bahe Maneh al-Hamel' is the Arab for 'contraceptive pills'.

The women detained in Abu Ghraib are feeling ashamed when they evasively tell about the desperate situation that they are in (which any Eastern woman would experience in the conditions of constant violence committed by prison guards, new Iraqi policemen and the Americans). Any Muslim who read this message will feel his blood curdle from indignation.

<snip>

One of the Iraqis working on a contract with the US administration told La Stampa about one of such terrible episodes. He says that almost 2,500 inmates are held in that prison. The prison is divided into 4 sections. 600 inmates are women. One of them is a bank teller from Baghdad. She was put in jail in January for financial fraud. She could only be released on bail. The family collected $15,000 and this person was sent to discuss the details of release. When he saw her in a room, she had a big stomach. She was sobbing and telling that she was raped by Iraqi prison guards and American soldiers each night, and she does not want to get out of the prison. She told not to say anything to her relatives, because if she returns to Baghdad she will die from shame.

The same person said that two women already hung themselves in their cells. Another woman gave a birth in confinement. The newborn baby was a mulatto. Allegedly, the US military authorities conducted an internal investigation, but no guilty have been found.

Amnesty International is calling on the complex investigation of all cases of violence against the inmates in Iraq.

<snip>

http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/article.php?id=2730


=====

If you haven't done so yet, please read the information in this thread: The Women of Abu Ghraib
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1517119

This is the end of those neo-cons. Their entire show is crashing & burning. Let's just hope they don't burn the entire house down first because they're in panic mode now.

====

On edit: On second thought... Who caused this explosion? And how bad is it?

Several artillery shells were earlier fired in the same area, which the Americans say was a response to gunfire aimed at US aircraft. http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0504/iraq.html

doesn't seem to be working.

There goes that repug talking point. Saddams rape rooms and torture chambers.

Is 600+ mass enough for ya?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040503/photos_ts/mdf555499

Feel free to rate it.

Donate a camel,you get your name on a rock.

said it's all over for the US in the Middle East. He said those pictures would do it for the Arabs.

Sy Hersh was also on the NewsHour, on the same segment as the Lebanee journalist. He absolutely condemned the attitude of the military towards this. The soldiers involved were doing what they were told. This was a systematic abuse by the US military; now, the leaders, all the way up to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, are trying to lay this off on those kids. Bullshit! The military should at least have the stones to stand up and admit what they are doing.

Something I haven't heard talked about with respect to this. I remember at the beginning of the occupation, there was a law rammed through Congress that gave contractors in Iraq blanket immunity from civil and criminal charges for whatever they did there. Will this immunity apply to the contractors in the prison? And, if so, does anyone think this is a coincidence?

Edit grammar.

That again is (predictably) right-wing spin about why they aren't doing anything. That and the fact that it's not just "contractors", it's the CIA, the DIA and "allies" in the Middle East. So far we know that they were Egyptians there too, I am sure we'll be hearing more about the involvment of allies. Myers and the CIA have already admitted to CIA presence during these interrogations.


Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 1999"

Opening Statement of Chairman Bill McCollum
on H.R. 3380, the "Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 1999"

Today the Subcommittee will consider H.R. 3380, the "Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 1999." This bill was introduced by Congressman Saxby Chambliss and I was pleased to be the original cosponsor of the bill. H.R. 3380 would amend the Federal criminal code to apply it to persons who commit criminal acts while employed by or otherwise accompanying the U.S. Armed Forces outside of the United States. It would also extend Federal criminal jurisdiction to persons who commit crimes abroad while a member of the Armed Forces but who are not tried for those crimes by military authorities before being discharged from the military.


Civilians have served with or accompanied the American Armed Forces in the field or ships since the founding of the United States. In recent years, however, the number of civilians present with our military forces in foreign countries has dramatically increased. Many of these civilians are nonmilitary employees of the Defense Department and contractors working on behalf of DOD. In 1996, there were more than 96,000 civilian employees of the Department of Defense working and living outside the United States.

Family members of American service personnel make up an even larger group of the civilians who accompany U.S. forces overseas. In 1999, there were almost 300,000 family members of military personnel and DoD civilian employees living abroad.

While military members who commit crimes outside the United States are subject to trial and punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, civilians are not. In most instances, American civilians who commit crimes abroad are also not subject to the criminal laws of the United States because the jurisdiction for those laws ends at our national borders. As a result of these jurisdictional limitations, American citizens who commit crimes in foreign countries can be tried and punished only by the host nation. Surprisingly, however, host nations are not always willing to prosecute Americans, especially when the crime involves acts committed only against another American or against property owned by Americans.

Because of this, each year incidents of rape, sexual abuse, aggravated assault, robbery, drug distribution, and a variety of fraud and property crimes committed by American civilians abroad go unpunished because the host nation declines to prosecute these offenses. And this problem has been compounded in recent years by the increasing involvement of our military in areas of the world where there is no functioning government -- such as Somalia, Haiti, and the Balkans. Because, in those places, no government exists at all to prosecute crimes, American civilians who commit crimes there go unpunished.

The bill before us today would close this gapping hole in the law by extending Federal criminal jurisdiction to crimes committed by persons employed by and accompanying the U.S. Armed Forces overseas. Specifically, the bill creates a new crime under Title 18 that would make it a crime to engage in conduct outside the United States which would constitute an offense under Title 18 if the crime had been committed within the United States. The new crime would apply only to two groups of people. First, persons employed by or who accompany the Armed Forces outside the United States. This group includes dependents of military members, civilian employees of the Department of Defense, and Defense Department contractors or subcontractors and their employees. This group also includes foreign nationals who are relatives of American military personnel or contractors, or who work for the Defense Department, but only to the extent that they are not nationals of the country where the act occurred or ordinarily live in that country.

The second group of people to whom the bill would apply are persons who are members of the Armed Forces at the time they commit a criminal act abroad but who later are discharged from the military without being tried for their crime. This portion of the bill is designed to authorize the government to punish persons who are discharged from the military before their guilt is discovered and who, because of that discharge, are no longer subject to court-martial jurisdiction.

We simply cannot allow violent crimes and crimes involving significant property damage to go unpunished when they are committed by persons employed by or accompanying our military. The only reason why these people are living in foreign countries is because our military is there and they have some connection to it. And so, our government has an interest in ensuring that they are punished for any crimes they commit there. Just as importantly, as many of the crimes going unpunished are committed against Americans and American property, our government has an interest in using its law to punish those who commit these crimes.

I wish to point out that both the Defense Department and the Justice Department support the legislation before the Subcommittee here today. The legislation is the product of close collaboration between the staff of the Subcommittee on Crime and the representatives of these agencies, and I am pleased that both Departments have seen fit to send representatives to our hearing today. I welcome all the witnesses before the Subcommittee today and look forward to receiving their testimony.

http://www.house.gov/judiciary/mcco0330.htm

That bill was passed...

-----------------------------

Office of the Command Counsel

UNCLASSIFIED
AMSEL-LG POINT PAPER 1 NOVEMBER 2002

SUBJECT: The Status of Contractors on the Battlefield
PURPOSE: To summarize the rules and regulations concerning the use of contractors on
the battlefield.
FACTS:
· The contract establishes the responsibilities of the Government and the
support contractor with respect to the use of contractors on the battlefield.
Every effort should be made, therefore, to specifically incorporate the
respective duties of the two parties from the outset of that agreement. AMC
has issued AMC-P 715-18 ‘Contracts and Contractors Supporting Military
Operations’. This pamphlet seeks to integrate operations and contracting for
support of operations. Included at Appendix C of the pamphlet is a
compilation of suggested contract special requirements. Specific contractual
areas that should be addressed include: pay, accounting for personnel,
logistics, risk assessment and mitigation, force protection, legal assistance,
central processing and departure point, identification cards, medical coverage,
clothing and equipment, weapons and training, vehicle and equipment
operation, passports/visas and customs, staging, living under field conditions,
morale, Status of Forces Agreement, tour of duty, health and life insurance,
management and next-of-kin notification.

<snip>

As a general rule, the UCMJ does not cover contractor personnel although
court-martial jurisdiction may be expanded to cover contractors in time of war.
The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 does provide for federal
jurisdiction over crimes committed outside of the United States. This
jurisdiction covers members of and persons employed by or accompanying the
Armed Forces. The Act allows the Secretary of Defense, under specified
conditions, to authorize DOD law enforcement personnel to arrest suspected
offenders outside the United States involved with crimes punishable by
imprisonment of more than one year.
BRIEFER: John Reynolds, AMSEL-LG-B, ext. 29780.
REVIEWED/APPROVED BY:

Mark Sagan
Deputy Chief Counsel

http://www.amc.army.mil/amc/command_counsel/resources/documents/newsletter03-2/encl01.pdf

From JAG

Civilians and dependent family members accompanying US forces abroad are normally considered subject to the terms of the applicable SOFA



--- While the HN may exercise its jurisdiction, the US commander does not have UCMJ authority over these persons.? Until very recently, the US had no way of obtaining jurisdiction over these personnel



--- If the HN waives primary jurisdiction to the US, the options of the commander are limited.? (See articles entitled Debarment and Family Member Misconduct, Chapter 9, this Deskbook.)



--- To remedy this problem, Congress passed the Military Extraterritoriality Jurisdiction Act of 2000. The Act criminalizes behavior that would have been a crime in the US punishable by more than one year in confinement. The provision applies not only to military members, but also to civilian dependents of military members as well as civilian contractors.

http://milcom.jag.af.mil/ch15/foreign.htm

I can't find the actual Executive Order, but an excerpt from a news story on it:

That same day at the White House, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13303, which appears to give immunity from any judicial process to every entity with direct or indirect interests in Iraqi petroleum and related products. "The threat of attachment or judicial process against the Development Fund for Iraq, Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein ... constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," reads the executive order. It continues, "… any … judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void."

Executive Order 13303 went unnoticed outside the government until July, when it was spotted by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank.

Since then, accusations have been flying over whether or not the Bush administration has given blanket immunity to the oil industry in Iraq. "The Executive Order is a blank check for corporate anarchy," Tom Devine, legal director of the non-profit Government Accountability Project, wrote in a July 2003 assessment of the order for the Institute. "Its sweeping, unqualified language places industry above domestic and international law for anything related to commerce in Iraqi oil."

(my bolding)

more

I guess the contractors involved would have to have some type of involvement with the oil industry. But, if they can claim they have such involvement, would the Executive Order override the existing law?

,...through by the administration. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I also have a vague recollection that the contracts have like an indemnity (hold harmless) clause in them, exempting the companies their agents and employees from at least civil (maybe criminal, too, although that shouldn't hold up) suits.

But you know what Georgie-boy? You're going down anyway. You and your slick little games aren't slick enough!

Thanks Jim___ I was not aware of that EO

the dems screaming bloody murder, which it is.

Thanks for the link, Jim.

going on? How is this carp getting passed? I know a lot gets buried in 200+ page reports, but our reps should be going over every friggen page with a fine tooth comb.

I am so glad for him and Hackworth. Hackworth absolutely b!tch slapped Joe Scarborough last night on his own show, and Scar actually just sat there and took it. Hackworth said that this would go down as the worst military blunder in American history, and that it was over in Iraq for us because of this

desensitized to male on female rape. It would be just a ripple on the surface of the media here. But men put in postitions that simulate sex? Now THAT'S a crime, THAT'S really torture.

I fear for the future of the women in these prisons, especially the ones that are from islamic fundamentalist families. I don't know what the status of honor killings is in Iraq, as opposed to more extremist countries. I bet any woman held in any of these prisons will have a stigma attached to them forever.

I think the reaction will be totatly different for the women, it will be covered up, no Iraqi women will EVER talk about it, and ironically, no pictures will be shown on the evening news, because both there and here it is believed that the woman's body that contains the sex, i.e. obscenity.

Thanks to Tinoire for posting all these links and info

I'm listening now.

I hope this is the end of those neo-cons. I'm so pissed I want to see the fuckers in a criminal court and then in prison, I'm talking about the administration and junior in particularly.

~snip~
The blasts came in bunches of three or four, spaced in 10-minute intervals. They appeared to be at the edge of the city.

A U.S. military spokeswoman said the blasts likely were not controlled detonations.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040503/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_blasts_1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There has been a large explosion in a western suburb of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where the Abu Ghraib prison complex is located.

The prison is the scene of alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US military personnel.

Several artillery shells were earlier fired in the same area, which the Americans say was a response to gunfire aimed at US aircraft.

~snip~
more: http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0504/iraq.html

I don't trust the sanity of the people in charge. They KNOW this will take them down and I imagine they're in full panic mode.

Fallujah may end up like Jenin soon- crimes buried under the rubble and a sham investigation to cover up what really happened.

Problem for Bush is that he's not quite as bright as Sharon and won't get away with it.

or testify anywhere about their experiences?

I'm sure they'd do anything to make sure that DOESN'T happen. If it's possible to blow the entire place up and claim it was "insurgents," there's probably no way the prisoners who can condemn them will walk away.

I believe you're 100% right. This could become Jenin instantly.

Hard to forget what _Bush did concerning the International Criminal Court:United States "Unsigning" Treaty on War Crimes Court
White House Move Is "On the Wrong Side of History"
(New York, May 6, 2002) The Bush Administration's decision to effectively withdraw the U.S. signature from the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court is an empty gesture that will further estrange Washington from its closest allies, Human Rights Watch said today.

In an unprecedented diplomatic maneuver, Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman
is expected to announce today that the Bush administration does not consider itself bound by President Clinton's December 31, 2000 signature on the treaty to create a permanent war crimes tribunal.
"The administration is putting itself on the wrong side of history," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "'Unsigning' the treaty will not stop the court. It will only throw the United States into opposition against the most important new institution for enforcing human rights in fifty years."

The International Criminal Court treaty has already received more than the requisite number of 60 ratifications, and its jurisdiction will commence after July 1, 2002, with or without the U.S. signature. The court will try people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. All of Western Europe and virtually every major U.S. ally are strong supporters of the court. The only states still actively opposing the court are the United States and Libya.
(snip/...)http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/05/icc0506.htm

This came up a few years ago, I guess in anticipation of this shit going on in Iraq. Somewhere, amongst the other Executive Orders, etc.. is an authorization and plan to attack the Hague if a member of the US military or government is charged and held in Int'l War Crimes Court. Wish I could find the details.. it was scary. We did discuss it at length here on DU when it slipped by the mainstream media radar.

I'll remember this odd bit, you can be sure.

Brutal, and unbelievably stupid. _Bush has become our own Washington based Ghengis Khan.

http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/08/aspa080302.htm

(New York, August 3, 2002) A new law supposedly protecting U.S. servicemembers from the International Criminal Court shows that the Bush administration will stop at nothing in its campaign against the court, Human Rights Watch warned today.

U.S. President George Bush today signed into law the American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002, which is intended to intimidate countries that ratify the treaty for the International Criminal Court (ICC). The new law authorizes the use of military force to liberate any American or citizen of a U.S.-allied country being held by the court, which is located in The Hague. This provision, dubbed the "Hague invasion clause," has caused a strong reaction from U.S. allies around the world, particularly in the Netherlands.
In addition, the law provides for the withdrawal of U.S. military assistance from countries ratifying the ICC treaty, and restricts U.S. participation in United Nations peacekeeping unless the United States obtains immunity from prosecution. At the same time, these provisions can be waived by the president on "national interest" grounds.

"The states that have ratified this treaty are trying to strengthen the rule of law," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "The Bush administration is trying to punish them for that."

more...

have to admit, I'd had not heard this before.

maladmin is totally disgusting and needs to be impeached and tried at the Hague NOW!

Soon we will be the population crying to the UN to free us from the tyranny of a dictatorship. I'm thinking it's way past time to hit the streets over this shit.

:scared:

They have abused their power in so, so many ways it is absolutely mind-boggling and really causes rational people a LOT of concern about just how far these corrupt, arrogant wackos will go.

at their defeat a decade ago, they looked upon it as minor set back and apparantly used the time to refine their strategy, covering what now seems like every contingency. Once the selection of Shrub was complete, they put it all on the fast track. I am tending to lean more and more toward the LIHOP/MIHOP theory with each revelation.

strategists. I am definitely with LIHOP and open to the possibility of MIHOP because these guys have played this country and this world like it is their own personal chess board. Moreover, their radicalism is pretty freakin' evident to me.

Very scary!!! :scared:

tell everything. It cannot be stopped. The whole sordid truth will come out and it is going to suffocate the life out of the neo-con movement and then the whole despicable movement can be relegated to the trashbin of history where it rightfully belongs.

Outside the walls of the prison, flyers have been posted, purportedly containing messages from the women prisoners inside, asking the insurgents to end their shame (having been repeatedly raped)

Or so I've read. Can't remmeber the link now...

Heart-breaking isn't it.

GOD DAMN YOU BUSH & GOD DAMN EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED THIS WAR!