Relatives wait in vain for word on Iraqis jailed by U.S.

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15314059.htm

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, Jan 19 (Reuters) - At the barbed wire fence around Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, Safia Shamri pleaded with a U.S. soldier to be allowed a glimpse of her only remaining son, who she says has been in jail since October.

"I come here just to cry and beg them to see my son. It's as if we are animals, not human beings," said 45-year-old Shamri as she waited next to the guard house towers outside the complex. "Are these the human rights that Bush is talking about?"

Shamri says her two sons were in a car on the way to the town of Kerbala in October when they were fired on by U.S. troops after a nearby checkpoint had been attacked. She saw the body of Haidar, 17, in the morgue, riddled with bullets. She has been told that 20-year-old Ali was imprisoned after the incident.

Shamri is one of the many Iraqis who flock to the prison -- women clutching scraps of paper with identification numbers and photos, fathers looking for their sons, wives for their husbands, robed trial chiefs inquiring about villagers.

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[Name removed]

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[raifield]

2. Sarcasm?

If not, prove it isn't happening. It very probably is happening. Hell, we have innocents jailed in the US daily, though not often and that's with a functioning, if a mite flawed, judicial system.

And how are the people to be arrested identified? Remember Afghanistan, where American commanders were told by tribal chiefs, most of whom were at odds with one another, where to attack to further their own goals and ambitions.

I would say it's definitely happening.

[Name removed]

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[Kathy in Cambridge]

4. Mistakes are made in war

innocents are jailed wrongly sometimes. That's what happens. Not to blame the soldiers, because they're over there doing their best. But you have to admit mistakes are made, especially in the heat of the moment.

[Name removed]

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