German TV Aired Footage of US abuse of Children in Iraq

[WilliamPitt]

WHOA.

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article249696.ece

Norway reacts to torture of children

Carin Pettersson 06.07.04 11:59

As a reaction to the alleged torture of children, Norwegian authorities state they will address the US both politically and diplomatically and clearly state that it is not tolerated.

German television aired footage of American abuse of children in jails in Iraq Monday.

«Such assaults are unacceptable,» said Odd Jostein Sæter, parliamentary secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, to the Norwegian television channel NRK. «It is against international laws and it is also unacceptable from a moral point of view. This is why we react strongly, as we already have reacted to the abuse which is documented at the prisons in Iraq.»

He said that Norwegian authorities will use its first possible opportunity to respond to the Americans actions both politically and diplomatically. He stressed that jailing and assaulting children will not be tolerated.

...more...

[mike_c]

1. please call for wars crimes investigations....

Please!

[mopinko]

4. the cat is out of the bag

thank god there is a free press in OTHER countries!

[lottie244]

24. The rest of the world should place sanctions on the US.

A taste of our own medicine. Embargo and sanctions we say work so well to bring down terrorist regimes. We now have one of our own.

[VelmaD]

2. Has anyone seen a link...

to what they actually aired on German TV?

[Auntie Bush]

12. This was discussed on DU's latest breaking news earlier this week.

Along with translations and video from German newspapers.

[tabasco]

3. My girlfriend is German and she told me ...

in German newspapers, they have published pictures of Americans urinating on prisoners. I suppose here in the Land of the Free, we're not allowed to see things like that.
How low the criminal Bush cabal has dragged this country. I am saddened that so many Americans continue to support a clearly criminal administration.

[Stephanie]

11. Please ask her to send links to those newspapers

We need those links, please.

[lottie244]

26. He's not only disgraced the WH, Bush has disgraced the nation.

It is time to vote these sleazeballs out of office including those in the Congress who gave them so much support...Dems and Republicans alike.

[burrowowl]

35. Welcome to DU, lottie244!

:hi:

We also have to replace the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Corporations, etc. lots of work to do.

[Doctor_J]

5. man, we're in trouble

the UN is going to turn on us very soon, folks

[Cleita]

6. Thanks for our Norwegian friends.

They have to keep this up front. I don't want us to be the bad guys but evidently we are being used by the bad guys, our resources and name are being used by them.

[jean]

42. The Norwegians are probably as upset as I am that Rove is Norwegian

[xray s]

7. ...and in response, the Rove spin machince focuses on Cuban prostitution

Hey Bush...you want sexual depravity? You don't have to go 90 miles south of Miami to find it. Clean up your own filthy house first.

[lanparty]

13. It didn't work at the State of the Union address ...

... it won't work now. He'd have to pull out the old "White Slavery" rhetoric to get ears perked up.

BTW, I'll caution anyone who finds a foreign link to this footage to NOT save it on your hard disk. It's child pornography and it's illegal to possess.

I daresay that a journalist would have to work the story on a cruise ship in order to not place himself directly in Jon Ashcroft's clutches.

[southernleftylady]

8. Any links to video or pics of this? i keep hearing all these videos and

pics are out there but no one ever has a link to them...

[Sparkly]

9. What else is known about the footage?

Who took it, where was it, who has it, will we see it??

God I hope it's not true. Could this get any worse?!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

10. IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME

Seriously, I want the international community, especially Europe, to start standing up and speaking out against the US. I don't mean the people, I mean their GOVERNMENTS. I don't want them bombing us or anything, but I doubt that's likely anyway. I just want them to start holding the bush administration trollish feet to the FIRE and speaking in very harsh language about those assholes in the White House.

[Disturbed]

18. Not on Amerikan Media then not true?

The Pentagon has these photos and vids and Congress reps have seen them. They will not release them to the public because?

[LibertyorDeath]

27. I think Seymour Hersh & The New Yorker

Have a Copy !

I base this on everything I've seen & heard Sy Hersh say in the past 3 months.

I think they are going to Crucify * with it.

I wait impatiently. We will owe a lot to Seymour Hersh if he
lays it bare for America to SEE. We already do owe him.

[NervousRex]

34. Well said!

I would like to see some kind of world leadership from the EU, including a stern request for the ouster of US troops from EU soil, and sanctions if necessary. I think (and hope)it will happen sooner than Booshit and his minions had ever thought....Jesus, we have become a pariah nation like the old USSR!

[Stephanie]

14. Holy shit! The whole world knows about this

Except the Americans.

[burrowowl]

37. It has been like this for

around 1904 or so. The rest of the world knows a hell of a lot of things Americans don't, corporatist propaganda and chauvanism have been at work for a looooong time.

[SoCalDem]

15. LBN link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=668288&mesg_id=668288

[donhakman]

22. The FCC will censor and protect us from such filth and atrocity.

They levy $250,000 fines for saying "bull shit" on the air.

What is the fine for child rape torture and imprisonment?

None. Thats war baby.

[Ms. Clio]

28. For weeks, some DUers have been saying we shouldn't view these photos

or the videos, because that would violate the victims' privacy rights.

[Whoa_Nelly]

30. NEVER read about anyone saying anything re: privacy rights

regardless of whether we see or don't see photos or video footage of this purported atrocity is beside the point. The point here is that the US media has not published anything beyond Sy Hersch stating something about children being abused in Iraqi prisons. If these allegations are true, it must be reported and must be investigated. However, currently, rights groups are not being allowed in to interview the current child population in the Iraqi prisons. The fact that there ARE children, some age 9, being held as detainees and/or enemy combatants, (and it has to be a fact since as it is being reported that the rights groups are being denied access), is in violation of International law and International Childs' Rights.

[Ms. Clio]

32. I could refer you to the threads, if you like

I don't agree with that point of view, I'm just reporting it.

I think you are absolutely right.

[LibertyorDeath]

16. Think Sy Hersh is sitting on this powder keg judging by

what he said at the ACLU recently about boys being sodomized.
He said the Audio was heart wrenching.

I think The New Yorker & Sy are getting their ducks in a row
then their coming out all gun blazing.

He (Sy) seemed to want to say so much more to the ACLU gathering &
he said a hell of a lot, but you could tell he was holding back.

I can't put into words my Anger & Disgust with this Criminal Administration.

The blowback will come someday.

[SoCalDem]

17. another LBN link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=689236&mesg_id=689236

[Ann Arbor Dem]

19. This lockdown of our media has to stop!

I know it's a naive thing to think that any of the "mainstream" media in this country will take the iniative to report the abuse of the children as it's been reported in Europe and around the world.

Thank god for the internet.

[wtmusic]

20. No video online for a week?

that's unbelievable.

[Rosco T.]

21. Every UN Amb., Every foreign head of state, needs to get a letter...

demanding the Security Council REQUIRE the US to come clean on this.. I know... I know how most feel about the UN, but WAITING FOR THE US MEDIA TO ACT ON THIS will be too late.. with enough noise coming out of NEW YORK (happy convention Shrubya..) it will drown out everthing else..

every HEAD OF STATE in Europe needs to get the same.. DEMANDING their help in exposing and bringing the people to justice... some will be glad (Germany, France) to hang Shrubya up by his nads...

not just one American letter.. but hundreds.. thousands...

[buycitgo]

23. always remember

[Whoa_Nelly]

25. Hey, Will!

If you want to know more read here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x668288

And in posts #54-59 in that DU LBN link, are many media email addresses to write to about all of this! (THX to maggrwaggr!)


AND the outrageous article about denying rights groups access to the children:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x690827

i am so damn mad that the little bit of reporting about all of this is only from media outside the US! The US needs to know this!
Mail everyone!

[Cleita]

29. What makes you think it will get aired or printed anywhere

in the USA except on little crawlers at the bottom of the TV screen or third page op-ed items that the mainstream don't read. This is disgusting and it needs Brittany Spears coverage.

[Whoa_Nelly]

31. Will keep pushing and emailing media outlets

until it does come to light via US media whores.

I don't take your comment personally, Cleita, and I fully understand your cynicism re: US media acknowledgement. O8)

[LibertyorDeath]

33. Cleita.... Seymour Hersh is going to Sodomize

The mainstream American Media with this horrific tale.

Arron Brown will be reporting it with his Smarmy smile

before the Election. IMO

[Cleita]

39. I hope this doesn't die. Thanks for the hope.

eom

[Eric J in MN]

36. I think they're referring to a report which showed testimony...

..about it, but didn't actually show anyone being tortured.

[homelandpunk]

38. Yeah but didn't Norwegians let 2 environmentalists fuck on stage at a

rock concert, and no one was arrested? THAT IS MUCH WORSE. They need to look in the mirror! ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................oh come on!!! of course it's sarcasm! Christ!

[chaska]

40. kick

[Cleita]

41. Gotta put the old man in bed and myself too, but this can't die.

eom

[LibertyorDeath]

43. kick

The cesspool they have created will drown all of us good bad or

indifferent.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

44. I think this is a link to the transcript of the actual German TV program

It's a show called <<Report Mainz>> which I guess is something like 60 Minutes and it aired on German TV on July 5th. There are a few photos (none depicting abuse) and interviews with US Army Sargent Provance and a representative of Amnesty International. Unfortunately, I don't read German. This I believe is what the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported on and what the Norwegian government is responding to (i.e. the original source). Again, I THINK this is the original story, but as I can't read German, I'm not sure.

http://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/040705/02/frames.html

[ConsAreLiars]

45. Partial translation here

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/000732.html

Part of that translation follows:

One that knows something about this is Sergeant Samuel Provance, from the US Military. He spent half a year stationed at Abu Ghraib. Today, 5 months later, we meet him in Heidelberg. His superiors have strictly forbidden him to speak to journalists about what he experienced in Abu Ghraib. But Provance wants to talk about it nevertheless. His conscience troubles him. He discusses a 16-year old he handled:

"He was very afraid, very alone. He had the thinnest arms I had ever seen.
His whole body trembled. His wrists were so thin we couldn't put handcuffs on him. As I saw him for the first time and led him to the interrogation, I felt sorry. The interrogation specialists threw water over him and put him into a car, drove him around through the extremely cold night. Afterwards, they covered him with mud and showed him to his imprisoned father, on whom they'd tried other interrogation methods.

They hadn't been able to get him to speak, though. The interrogation specialists told me that after the father saw his son in this condition, his heart was broken, he started crying, and he promised to tell them anything they wanted." --Samuel Provance

After this however the son remained in detention, and the 16-year old was put in with the adults. But Provance discusses a special children's section at Abu Ghraib -- a secret detention facility.

One that has seen the children's section with his own eyes is the Iraqi journalist Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz. Our correspondent met with him in Baghdad. He explains how he was picked up while reporting and jailed 74 days in Abu Ghraib:

"There I saw a camp for kids, young, certainly not yet of puberty age. There must have been hundreds of kids. Some were released, others are certainly still there." --Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz

From his cell in the adult's section he hears a girl of maybe 12 years of age crying. Later he found out that her brother was held in a cell on the second floor of the prison. Once or twice he says, he saw the girl himself. <...> "She called out her brother's name. She was beaten, she cried out "they took off my clothes, they poured water on me."" --Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz

He heard her cries every day. <...>

[Kellanved]

46. exactly: and the Page contains the Video

Click on "Video" to watch the show. However there is no actual footage shown.

[Cleita]

57. Links here to a couple of blogs that have other links.

http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2004_07_04.html
<snip>
German TV news report (and take a deep breath, folks): Children at Abu Ghraib
(Note: this entry posted by Bob Harris)

Three days ago, a German TV newsmagazine called Report Mainz broadcast an eight-minute segment reporting that the International Red Cross found at least 107 children in coaliton-administered detention centers in Iraq.

The report also quotes from a yet-unpublished June 2004 UNICEF report, which (as near as I can tell through my crappy German) confirms that children were routinely arrested and "interned" in a camp in Um-Qasr. UNICEF seems particularly vexed with the "internment" status, since that means indefinite detention.
<snip>

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/000732.html

<snip>
Children in Iraqi prisons
Yesterday, we posted the video from a German TV report about alleged abuse and detention of children in Iraqi prisons. While the US media remains silent (as far as we know,) this story is getting some coverage outside of Germany. Pete from The Dark Window sends us this link from Norway:

Norwegian authorities reacted with shock and disgust Tuesday to a documentary on German TV that American soldiers allegedly have been holding children in prisons in Iraq, and abusing them as well. The Norwegians joined the Red Cross and Amnesty International in calling for an immediate end to the abuse, and release of the underage prisoners, some of whom are as young as 12 years.<snip>

[VolcanoJen]

47. Monday??? This was first aired in Europe on MONDAY JULY 5th?

Judging by the European-format date of the linked-to article (06.07.04), Monday, July 5th, 2004 should be the date the footage first appeared on German television. Am I reading this correctly?

And not a peep since from the US Media about this excruciating development, one in which most of us here have anticipated since the initial Abu Ghraib allegations were revealed?

The American Free Press is ABSENT.

ON EDIT: Much like the US Media, I had my dates a little mixed-up.

[WilliamPitt]

49. Right?

[Kellanved]

55. Correct

And the Press Release about it is even older.

Here is the first LBN Thread about it, several others followed (both in LBN; GD and the Lounge). :
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=664988
Some Threads include complete translations of the whole Report; translated by DUer Allemand .



Press Release:

http://www.swr.de/report/presse/04070501.rtf

Transcript:

http://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/040705/02/frames.html
The video can be watched by clicking on the round "Video" button. However, contrary to the Norwegian story, the show did not include actual footage.

[VolcanoJen]

56. Sheesh.

I'm incredibly disappointed that this story isn't getting any traction in the US yet, especially considering that it's practically ancient by US news cycles.

:grr:

[ozymandius]

48. Denmark pressed to seek probe into reports of Iraqi child torture

Dated July 10 -

The Danish-based International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) has urged the Copenhagen Government to demand an investigation by the US-led coalition forces in Iraq into allegations that children there were being imprisoned and tortured.

The demand comes three days after a similar appeal to the Danish Government, which is part of the US-led military coalition in oil-rich Iraq, from the Danish section of the international aid agency Save the Children.

That appeal received no response.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1150938.htm

[Union Thug]

50. We have an obligation to those children...

... To skewer ANYONE who supported this slaughter, be they republican or democrat. These people should be evicted and locked out of this country, ostracized... oh I don't really care where... so long as its painful.

[The Flaming Red Head]

52. They'll just go back to work here

as jailers.

[The Flaming Red Head]

51. Private juvenile prisons in this country have a bad track record as well

The guards beat a kid in a wheelchair half to death in a juvenile facility in Louisiana. Could your kid be next?

[bobthedrummer]

53. The people that did this should be tried, and if found guilty-shot.

Ditto for the people that recorded these crimes against humanity.
The people that authorized extreme methods of interrogation that led to this evil should be locked up forever.

[Hubert Flottz]

54. Bush is proud that no child in Iraq will be left behind!

He'd waste them all to get the right one! GOPstapo no child left behind policy 101!

[LittleApple81]

58. This is ironic but so plausibly representative of Bush*'s brain....

n/t