Troops 'took turns' beating Iraqi detainees, court told (UK-AFP)

[VolcanoJen]

This article is simply chilling.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1538&ncid=732&e=2&u=/afp/20040728/wl_uk_afp/iraq_britain_justice

British troops took turns abusing a group of Iraqi detainees, dousing them in cold water, kickboxing them against a wall and ordering them to "dance like Michael Jackson," one of the detainees said in a chilling statement read out in a London court.

Kifah Taha al-Mutari's graphic allegations emerged at the start of a three-day High Court hearing in London into whether independent inquiries should be called into the alleged deaths of Iraqi civilians at the hands of British troops based in southern Iraq.

<snip>

He said all the detainees were hooded, not once but twice, and "given water by it being poured over the hood so that we had to lick the droplets that seeped through the hood".

"Soldiers took turns in abusing us," he added. "At night the number of soldiers increased, sometimes to eight at a time."

He also described a sadistic "names game" played by the soldiers.

"Soldiers would mention some English names of stars or (football) players and request us to remember them, or we would be beaten severely," he alleged.

"One terrible game the soldiers played involved kickboxing," Mutari added. "The soldiers would surround us and compete as to who could kickbox one of us the furthest. The idea was to try and make us crash into the wall."

More...

[lebkuchen]

1. Barbaric

But then, we knew Bush and Blair always were. There should be no surprises here.

[mom cat]

2. Please rate this story. Yahoo should be told that we appreciate their

courage for telling the truth. This brutality is not acceptabll to most Brits and most Americans and will only be stopped by a heavy dose of sunlight. :cry:

[VolcanoJen]

3. Thanks for the suggestion, soulsick.

I rated it... and I hope more people read this horror story. :-(

[Kukesa]

6. I did. It's 3.68 with 152 votes; we need more! n/t

[BadGimp]

4. kickin ass is hard work -

you need to rest up in between beatins

geezz

[Barrett808]

5. BBC: UK troops 'beat Iraqi to death'

British soldiers killed a 26-year-old Iraqi civilian by repeatedly beating him on the neck, chest and genital areas, High Court judges have heard.

Baha Mousa was one of six Iraqis whose families are challenging the UK Government's decision not to hold an independent inquiry into their deaths.

Fellow hotel worker Kifah Taha al-Mutari said soldiers competed to see who could kick detainees the furthest.

The six test cases include the shootings of four Iraqi civilians.

(more)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3931023.stm

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. One of the reasons to hood prisoners

is so that they can't identify who it is, that is torturing them.

It makes it much harder latter on to prove wrong doing, if no one can ID the people who did it.