Warnings of abuse in Iraq's prisons that were ignored

[FreakinDJ]

The Observer
Photographs of American and British troops humiliating prisoners could change the public mood across the world. But the coalition has brushed aside similar complaints for six months
Photographs of American and British troops humiliating prisoners could change the public mood across the world. But the coalition has brushed aside similar complaints for six months

Peter Beaumont and Kahal Ahmed in London, Edward Helmore in New York and Jason Burke in Baghdad
Sunday May 2, 2004
The Observer

Suddenly the two major Allies have been tarred with the same awful brush - charged with beating and abusing Iraqis in their care. After weeks of bad news from Iraq the pictures have threatened to explode the fragile and contentious legitimacy of UK operations in Iraq.

In the images published in the Mirror newspaper yesterday, a hooded Iraqi, allegedly a thief, is sitting in the back of what looks like a canvas-sided vehicle, stripped to his underpants and a T-shirt with an Iraqi flag on it. In one photograph a soldier urinates on his head. In another a kick is aimed at his head, while in a third an assault rifle is jabbed at his genitals.

It is a story whose details were filled in by two unnamed soldiers - A and B - who told the Mirror how the young man had been picked up from the nearby docks for stealing. 'As we took him back,' said soldier A, 'he was getting a beating. He was hit with batons on the knees, fingers, toes, elbows and head ...

'Because it was so hot we put him in the back of a four-tonner truck which has a canopy over it. That's where the photos were taken. Lads were taking turns to give him a right going over, smashing him in the face with weapons and stamping on him. We had him for about eight hours ...

http://www.worldrevolution.org/article/1273