Posted on 09/09/2006 5:33:23 PM PDT by saquin
The notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors.
Inside the 100-yard long cell block the smell of excrement was overpowering. Four to six prisoners shared each of the 12ft by 15ft cells along either side and the walls were smeared with filth. The cell block was patrolled by guards who carried long batons and shouted angrily at the prisoners to stand up.
Access to the part of the prison containing terrorism suspects was denied, but from that block came the sound of screaming. The screaming continued for a long time.
"I am sure someone was being beaten, they were screaming like they were being hit," the witness reported. "I felt scared, I was asking what was happening in the terrorist section.
"I heard shouting, like someone had a hot iron on their body, screams. The officer said they were just screaming by themselves. I was hearing the screams throughout the visit."
The witness said that even in the thieves' section prisoners were being treated badly. "Someone was shouting 'Please help us, we want the human rights officers, we want the Americans to come back'," he said.
Prisoners interviewed in the presence of their jailers said they were frightened for their safety. They complained that chicken and milk had been cut from their rations, leaving them on rice and water. They also complained about the oppressive heat.
Outside the prison, relatives of some of the inmates said they were being tortured by their captors. One woman, who gave her name as Omsaad, said: "My son Saad [who was arrested in Fallujah as a suspected insurgent] said he is being tortured by the Iraqis to confess the name of his leader. I met my son and he told me they were being treated badly by the Iraqis."
Haleem Aleulami, who was released from the jail last week, three weeks after being arrested in Ramadi for carrying a pistol in his car, said the Americans had treated him better when they ran the jail. He claimed that visits from the International Red Cross staff had dried up and accused local human rights workers of being members of Shia groups who turned a blind eye to problems in the jail.
"The people are Iraqis and they are members of the Sciri and al Dawa parties. They have a good relationship with the leaders of the jail and they keep quiet," he said. The guards swore at the ordinary prisoners, he said, but those in the terrorist section were treated more brutally.
"The guards were swearing at us, but in the terrorist section they were beating them. I heard it all the time. Everyone knows what is happening."
And Khalid Alaani, who was also picked up in Ramadi suspected of involvement in Sunni terrorism, said: "We preferred the Americans. We asked to move with them to Baghdad airport because we knew the treatment would be changed because we know what the Iraqis are. When the Americans left everything changed."
Staff at the jail said that the prisoners were allowed out from their cells for only 15 to 20 minutes a day because of the danger from the regular mortar attacks. They are no longer allowed access to the main hall where the Americans had allowed them to watch television and the room is now reserved for the use of officers and guards. Staff explained that the air conditioning in the cell blocks had broken, although it was working in their quarters.
One officer, Capt Ali Abdelzaher, said: "We have a problem with the financing for the food, not like the Americans, and there is a technical problem with the air conditioning."
Capt Abdelzaher also confirmed that a number of inmates had been transferred from the Jadriyah detention centre, along with their guards and interrogators.
Graphic stories of abuse at that previously secret facility emerged after US soldiers found 169 prisoners showing signs of torture last November.
Most of the prisoners held by the Americans at Abu Ghraib were either released in recent months or transferred to a new £32 million detention centre at Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport.
Yesterday, the International Red Cross confirmed that its visits to the prison had been suspended since January 2005 on security grounds.
Poor babies.
Sorry bout that.
BOO-HOO!
Cry me a river... what gall these pro-terrorist media outlets have, bashing the US for abuses and then years later finding out - what - it wasn't so bad.
Somehow I think the Iraqis are going to get a handle on these traitors. "No more Mr. Niceguy."
Where are the women's panties now?
They need to take a look at the real world.
what? party's over.. now you're in the court with the tough boys. sorry man
Now who will Kofi Annan deride? Both sides are muslim, no evil Americanos involved. Hmmmm...
Well well. From what I heard, Americans were worse than Satan himself. Panties on the head and all, you know.
you wont hear the media reporting on this
You won't see that on ABCNNBCBS.
Wonder what "Dickey Durban" has to say about this...
They want to go back to the days of panties on their heads and Korans being flushed down the toilet?
Why do I not feel sorry for them?
"I'm sure someone was being beaten."
"It sounded like someone was being burned by a hot iron."
These witnesses can get a lot of detail out of a scream, can't they?
How about, "They knew we were here so they screamed to make us think they were being tortured."
One wonders what makes these assertions newsworthy.
That pantie and dog show the libs have been so up in arms about for the last three years is so lame. It just proves that liberals are really the outcasts from society.
About this time all over America, freshmen in college go through worse treatment pledging a frat.
The Iraqis will restore order. It will be a Shiite order, however, and we'll wind up fighting them again in ten years or so.
Yeah, and bring back that S&M chick with the leash.
Interesting how these prisoners keep refering to the
"Iraqis" as though they (the prisoners) were perhaps not from Iraq?
Well don't let Senator Rockefeller hear that news.
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