[A-List] United States Of Shame: Iraq Abuse Victims May Total Tens Of Thousands

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

1) Najaf: US Troops Slay 41 Iraqis, Four Pakistani
Religious Pilgrims
2) Predawn Explosions Shake Najaf
3) Britain's Blair To Deploy 800 Commandos To Najaf,
3,000 New Troops In Total
4) Heavy Gunfire, Explosions In Karbala As US Forces
Launch Assault
5) Three US Soldiers Killed In Iraq Attacks
6) 'Common Thing To Abuse Prisoners': US Soldiers Tell
Of More Torture, Degradation
7) Christian Rights Group: 80% Of Iraqi Prisoners
Interviewed Were Abused; 40,000 Iraqis Detained
8) Iraqi Prisoner Abuse: The United States Of Shame
9) Abuse Cases Are No Aberration
10) Abu Ghraib Just The Tip Of The Iceberg
11) Canadian Sues US Army Over Torture
12) Polish, Algerian Reporters Shot Dead In Iraq
13) New Polish Prime Minister To Withdraw Troops From
Iraq
14) Ukrainian Prime Minister: Troops May Be Recalled
15) Danish Troops Kill Iraqi At Checkpoint



1)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-5-2004_pg1_1

Daily Times (Pakistan)
May 7, 2004

41 Sadr fighters killed near Najaf

 * US tanks destroy Sadr?s office in Karbala
* Four Pakistani pilgrims dead
* 5 Iraqis, 1 US soldier killed in suicide bombing
* 2 US soldiers killed in Baghdad
* US names new governor for Najaf


-A witness told Associated Press Television News that
troops fired on the insurgents and ended up destroying
four buses from Pakistani pilgrims, which could be
seen burning, sending a plume of black smoke over the
city. The witness said: ?Three or four? Pakistani
pilgrims had been killed.


NAJAF: US troops killed 41 members of Moqtada Sadr?s
militia in a firefight east of Najaf on Thursday and
recaptured the governor?s office in the city, a senior
coalition military official said.

?We have resecured the governor?s building and we
intend to have the governor reoccupy it to have the
coalition retake control of the city,? the official
said of the office on the edge of the Iraqi city,
which is holy to Shia Muslims.

The recapture of the building was largely unopposed,
he said.

US forces also pushed to the east of Najaf, across the
Euphrates River, resulting in heavy clashes with
Sadr?s Mehdi Army militia in which 41 fighters were
killed, the official said. He gave no details of US
casualties there.

US tanks rolled into the Iraqi Shia holy city of
Karbala on Thursday and took up positions close to the
main shrines after destroying the offices of Sadr with
heavy machinegun fire, witnesses said. About eight
heavy armoured vehicles and six lighter vehicles were
positioned in the city centre, about 500 metres from
the Imam Hussain and Imam Abbas shrines.

A witness told Associated Press Television News that
troops fired on the insurgents and ended up destroying
four buses from Pakistani pilgrims, which could be
seen burning, sending a plume of black smoke over the
city. The witness said: ?Three or four? Pakistani
pilgrims had been killed.

A suicide car bomber in Baghdad killed five Iraqis and
a US soldier outside the US headquarters in an attack
apparently claimed by a Muslim militant with ties to
Al Qaeda.

US officials said the checkpoint bombing bore the
hallmarks of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an ally of Osama
Bin Laden.

Another group, the hitherto unheard-of Islamic Rage
Squadrons, released a video on Arab television showing
what it said was a blindfolded American civilian held
hostage in Iraq. Al Arabiya television said he
appeared to be an Iraqi-born engineer. He gave his
name as Aban Elias from Denver, Colorado.

Thursday?s bomb wounded 23 Iraqis, including three
policemen, and two US soldiers at an entrance to the
sprawling Green Zone.

Two US soldiers were killed and two others were
wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the Iraqi
capital, the military said on Thursday.

The casualties were inflicted in ?an improvised
explosive device attack here just before midnight May
5?, it said in a statement, without giving further
details.

Ten militants were killed overnight during four
separate operations in Baghdad?s slum district of Sadr
city, a senior military official said on Thursday. One
US soldier was also wounded during the clashes in an
area where the Mehdi Army of the radical Shia cleric
Moqtada Sadr and where he has some of his strongest
support.

?We will continue to hunt down Sadr?s militia as
intelligence comes in. We go where the intelligence
takes us,? said the official.

A member of Sadr?s militia was also killed in clashes
late on Wednesday with Polish forces in Karbala, the
officials and militiamen said.

US overseer for Iraq Paul Bremer on Thursday named
Adnan al-Zorfi as the new provincial governor for
Najaf and called on the militiamen of Moqtada Sadr
occupying the city to lay down their arms. ?Agencies
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2004-daily/07-05-2004/main/update.shtml#02

Jang (Pakistan)
May 7, 2004

Predawn blasts northeast Iraqi city of Najaf


NAJAF: A series of predawn explosions were heard
coming from the northeast fringes of the
Iraqi city of Najaf as US soldiers closed in on
militia loyal to wanted Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, a
foreign news agency reported on Friday.

A series of explosions was heard at about 3:45 am
(2345 GMT Thursday) coming from the direction of Kufa
and Al-Abbasiya northeast of Najaf.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/07/wirq107.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/07/ixnewstop.html


The Telegraph (Britain)
May 7, 2004

Blair is poised to send in force of 800 commandos
By George Jones, Political Editor

-Up to 3,000 troops have been earmarked for possible
deployment to Iraq, but no decision has been made.


An 800-strong force including Royal Marine commandos
is being prepared to go to Iraq next month to replace
Spanish troops withdrawn by the new Socialist
government in Madrid.

The deployment of the troops from the Taunton-based 40
Commando is expected to be announced next week. The
Royal Marines were already due to go to Iraq in July
as part of the regular rotation of British troops in
the south of the country but their role is now
expected to change.

They are likely to be sent to Najaf, where insurgents
have been regularly engaging coalition forces. Other
troops would need to be found for the regular
rotation, taking the total British military present in
Iraq to close to 9,000.

There are already about 7,000 British Army troops
patrolling in Iraq, with about 1,000 support staff
from the RAF, the Royal Navy and the civil service,
according to the Ministry of Defence.

Downing Street confirmed yesterday that discussions
were under way on the deployment of additional forces
but officials said no final decision had been taken
and refused to be drawn on the number or type of
troops involved or where they would be sent.

During the war on Iraq, 40 Commando was instrumental
in securing the Faw peninsular in the south of Iraq
and also joined 42 Commando in the battle for Basra.
The 600-strong force can be deployed at 20 days'
notice.

Military sources have indicated that even bigger
reinforcements could be sent over the next few months.

Up to 3,000 troops have been earmarked for possible
deployment to Iraq, but no decision has been made.

Poland is to send a third contingent of troops, though
they will replace forces already there rather than
increase numbers, Aleksander Kwasniewski, the Polish
president, told Tony Blair yesterday.

Mr Kwasniewski, who is on a state visit to Britain,
rejected suggestions that his country would follow
Spain's lead and withdraw its 2,500 troops.

His comments came as a boost for Mr Blair and
President George W Bush, who had feared that Spain's
withdrawal could lead to other members of the
30-strong coalition pulling their troops out.

Mr Blair said yesterday the investigation into
allegations of misconduct against British troops was
continuing.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1848169

Associated Press
May 7, 2004

More violence in southern Iraq


Karbala, Iraq - More violence in the southern Iraqi
holy city of Karbala.

U S troops fought with Shiite Muslim gunmen today near
the city center. Heavy gunfire and explosions were
heard near the office of a renegade Shiite Muslim
cleric.

Smoke rose from the area just before the traditional
Friday prayer services.

The fighting follows clashes in several other parts of
the city that went on for hours. No word on casualties
from the latest violence.

U-S troops have been increasing their crackdown on the
renegade cleric's militia, which had earlier taken
over buildings in Karbala and other area towns.
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/06/iraq/main615945.shtml

CBS News
May 6, 2004

3 GIs Die In Iraq Attacks


A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb Thursday
outside the so-called Green Zone that houses the U.S.
headquarters in Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians
and a U.S. soldier.

Twenty-five people, including two American soldiers,
were injured in the blast. The bomb, hidden inside an
orange-and-white Baghdad taxi, exploded outside a
three-foot-high concrete blast wall that protects a
U.S. checkpoint.

"There was a long line of cars. Fortunately, the blast
barriers worked in this case," said Col. John Murray
of the U.S. Army's Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division.

A suicide bomber also died in the attack, the military
said. Hours later, a roadside bomb in Baghdad injured
two Iraqis.

Also Thursday, the U.S. command said that two U.S.
soldiers were killed and two were wounded when a
roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad. A total of 761 U.S.
service members have died since President Bush
launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

U.S. soldiers backed by tanks and armored fighting
vehicles seized control of the governor's office from
Shiite militiamen in the holy city of Najaf. Heavy
shooting could be heard and plumes of smoke rose over
the city.


The car bomb incinerated three vehicles, reducing them
to hulks of twisted, charred metal. Another five cars
were badly damaged, some turned on their side from the
force of the blast.

The explosion was so strong that it hurled the engine
of the car carrying the bomb some 15 feet from the
site of the blast.

The U.S. soldier who died was the 21st U.S. serviceman
killed in Iraq in May. The injured included two U.S.
soldiers and three Iraqi policemen, the U.S. military
said.

Shattered glass from nearby shops littered the area. A
column of thick black smoke rose from the blast site
and drifted across Baghdad. Residents living in homes
as far as 100 yards away from the blast reported
shattered widows and doors becoming unhinged.

On Jan. 17, a suicide truck bombing at a Green Zone
gate in central Baghdad killed 24 people and wounded
about 120. Three U.S. civilians and three U.S.
soldiers were among the injured in the bombing.

Blast walls and dirt-filled baskets were erected at
that gate and other checkpoints in the Iraqi capital
following the January blast. Murray said U.S. military
checkpoints for car and pedestrian traffic remain
"security worries."

The suicide attack came as U.S.-led forces launched
their biggest assaults yet against militiamen loyal to
radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. At least 15
Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were killed in Thursday
fighting. In later overnight clashes, another 11
militiamen were killed, the U.S. military said.

Moderate Shiites tried to persuade al-Sadr to back
away from his confrontation with the United States ? a
reflection of their growing concern.

Heavy fighting against al-Sadr's militia came in the
holy city of Karbala, where coalition forces raided a
hotel, the local former Baath Party headquarters and
the regional governor's office, where al-Sadr fighters
had been stockpiling weapons, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt
said.

Troops came under fire in the overnight raid on the
governor's office, Kimmitt said in Baghdad. He said 10
al-Sadr followers were killed. The U.S. soldier died
when a dump truck tried to ram a checkpoint in
Karbala, the military said.

Outside the city of Kufa, U.S. forces attacked a van
where Iraqis were seen unloading weapons. The vehicle
was destroyed and five Iraqis were killed, Kimmitt
said.

In overnight fighting in Karbala, one militiaman was
killed, a senior U.S. officer said, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

In Baghdad's Sadr city, an overwhelmingly Shiite
Muslim enclave, militiamen ambushed four U.S. patrols.
Ten attackers were killed in retaliatory gunfire, the
U.S. officer said. There were no reports of U.S.
casualties.

In Najaf, U.S. troops battled al-Mahdi Army fighters
outside a cemetery near the Imam Ali Shrine, Iraq's
holiest Shiite site.

Iraqi Governing Council member Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum
delivered a message to al-Sadr from a group of
influential Shiites calling on his militia to disarm
and leave Najaf, council member Raja Habib Al-Khuzaai
told The Associated Press.
------------------------------------------------------
6)
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=4919722

U.S. soldiers tell of more Iraq abuses
By Adam Tanner


-"It is a common thing to abuse prisoners. I saw
beatings all the time."
-Sindar and fellow military policeman Ramon Leal said
they saw hooded prisoners with racial taunts written
on the hoods such as "camel jockey' or slogans such as
"I tried to kill an American but now I'm in jail."




ANTIOCH, California - Three U.S. military policemen
who served at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison say they
witnessed unreported cases of prisoner abuse and that
the practice against Iraqis was commonplace.

"It is a common thing to abuse prisoners," said Sgt.
Mike Sindar, 25, of the Army National Guard's 870th
Military Police Company based in the San Francisco Bay
area. "I saw beatings all the time.

"A lot of people had so much pent-up anger, so much
aggression," he said on Friday. Sindar and the other
military policemen, who have returned to California
from Iraq, spoke in interviews with Reuters.

U.S. treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib has
stirred wide international condemnation after the
publication of photos in recent days showing Americans
sexually humiliating prisoners. Six soldiers in Iraq
have been charged in the case and President George W.
Bush apologised publicly on Thursday.

Although public attention has focused on the
dehumanising photos, some members of the 870th MP unit
say the faces in those images were not the only ones
engaged in cruel behaviour.

"It was not just these six people," said Sindar, the
group's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons
specialist. "Yes, the beatings happen, yes, all the
time."

An officer in their group was reprimanded last year
after holding down a prisoner for other men to beat,
Sindar told Reuters. Sindar and fellow military
policeman Ramon Leal said they saw hooded prisoners
with racial taunts written on the hoods such as "camel
jockey' or slogans such as "I tried to kill an
American but now I'm in jail."

Leal said one female soldier in his unit fired off a
slingshot into a crowd of prisoners. Sindar, who was
familiar with the incident, said one
person was injured.

Another group of soldiers knocked a 14-year-old boy to
the ground as he arrived at the prison and then
twisted his arm, Sindar and Leal said.

"The soldiers were laughing at him," said Leal. "I saw
the other soldiers that would take out their
frustrations on the prisoners."

Until earlier this year prisoners would arrive at Abu
Ghraib with broken bones, suggesting they had been
roughed up, he said. But the practice ended in January
or February, as practices at the prison were coming
under increased internal scrutiny.

Photos obtained by Reuters show U.S. soldiers looking
into body bags of three Iraqi prisoners killed by
870th MP guards during a prison riot in the fall of
2003. One photograph shows a bearded man with much of
his bloodied forehead removed by the force of a
bullet.

"We were constantly being attacked, we had terrible
support ... also being extended all the time, a lot of
us had problems with our loved ones suffering from
depression," said another of the military policemen,
Spc. Dave Bischel. "It all contributes to the
psychological component of soldiers when they get
stressed."

The Californians' remarks were unusual, as U.S.
soldiers have been reluctant to speak out in public on
the issue.

Some say investigators went out of their way to keep
the allegations under wraps. When military
investigators were looking into abuses several months
ago, they gave U.S. guards a week's notice before
inspecting their possessions, several soldiers said.
------------------------------------------------------
7)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=3338

The Daily Star (Lebanon)
May 7, 2004

New photos from Abu Ghraib turn up heat on US
officials
Rights groups say non-military probe essential
Compiled by Daily Star staff


-In some isolated cases the abuse was much worse, they
say, with detainees sodomized or sexually assaulted.
One international rights group, Christian Peacemaker
Teams, which has been operating in Iraq on and off
since late 2002, estimated that around 80 percent of
former detainees it interviewed had suffered abuse of
one form or another.
-The US military estimates it has detained around
40,000 Iraqis since taking over the country last
year....


The release of new pictures of abused Iraqi prisoners
increased pressure on the US administration on
Thursday ahead of a key appearance before lawmakers by
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Battling to quell international outrage over the
treatment of prisoners and falling approval ratings at
home, US President George W. Bush reportedly scolded
Rumsfeld for failing to inform him of the photos.

A day after the president gave interviews to two
Arabic-language news channels to declare the abuse
"abhorrent," the publication of new pictures of naked
Iraqi prisoners in humiliating positions in the Abu
Ghraib jail added new fuel to the fire.

The images, published by The Washington Post, included
one of a young woman soldier holding a leash tied
around the neck of a naked man.

There were also a pictures of three or four men bound
together in a corridor in front of cells at Abu
Ghraib. Another showed a naked man handcuffed to a bed
with women's underwear over his head.

The pictures were among hundreds circulated among
members of the US military police and, seized as part
of the investigation into the mistreatment of Iraqi
detainees.

Human rights groups said on Thursday that the images
of soldiers abusing and humiliating prisoners in Iraq
may be the tip of the iceberg, saying only a
non-military inquiry will expose the full extent of
the problem.

In hundreds of interviews with former detainees over
the past nine months, rights groups say a clear
pattern of abuse has emerged, with the vast majority
of prisoners saying they were beaten, hooded, deprived
of sleep and often stripped.

In some isolated cases the abuse was much worse, they
say, with detainees sodomized or sexually assaulted.

One international rights group, Christian Peacemaker
Teams, which has been operating in Iraq on and off
since late 2002, estimated that around 80 percent of
former detainees it interviewed had suffered abuse of
one form or another.

The US military estimates it has detained around
40,000 Iraqis since taking over the country last year,
although most have been released. Around 10,000 remain
in custody.

"Iraqis feel that they have been treated as sub-human
by the Americans pretty much since the beginning,"
said Stewart Vriesinga, a coordinator for Christian
Peacemakers.

"If that is what is finally coming to light, then what
we're seeing now is probably just the tip of the
iceberg." Vriesinga said his organisation had taken
depositions from Iraqis who said they had been
stripped, made to pull their buttocks apart and been
kicked in the rectum. In other instances, he said
female soldiers had detained Iraqis at checkpoints and
forced them to expose themselves and simulate
fellatio.

Some detainees have even been killed, rights groups
and the US military have confirmed. Vriesinga told of
an instance last winter when two young men who broke a
curfew were forced to jump off a dam into the Tigris
river north of Baghdad. One drowned.

US Army officials said two Iraqi prisoners were killed
by US soldiers last year and 10 other deaths in Iraq
and Afghanistan are being investigated.

"Are Iraqis being treated with respect and dignity and
having their rights respected? Certainly not," said
Vriesinga.

"There are very few Iraqis left who feel they have any
rights that match the rights of an American citizen,"
he said.

"The US military is creating enemies by the thousand."

Amnesty International has said repeatedly over the
past year that US soldiers were abusing detainees,
first calling for an investigation last July.

The rights group said it hoped the pictures shown over
the past week of military police in Abu Ghraib prison
forcing naked and hooded detainees to simulate sex
acts and other humiliations would add pressure for a
full, non-military probe.

"We are demanding an independent, public investigation
into this issue because everyone - Iraqis and the
American people - has a right to know," said Nicole
Choueiry, Amnesty's Middle East spokeswoman.

"The kind of investigation we're talking about is much
more than what the military is so far conducting on
itself. I don't know what the military is capable of,
but there's no way the full truth is going to come out
of their investigations."

The new commander of Abu Ghraib, Major General
Geoffrey Miller, apologized on Wednesday to all Iraqis
on behalf of America and its military, saying the acts
perpetrated at the jail were "appalling and
embarrassing," and left him chagrined.

As pressure grows on the US administration to tackle
the issue more aggressively, the Geneva-based
International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said
on Thursday it had repeatedly urged Washington to take
"corrective action" at Abu Ghraib, a prison once
notorious under Saddam Hussein.
....
------------------------------------------------------
8)
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=516172004


The Scotsman
May 7, 2004

United States of shame
BILL ANDREWS


Shocking new pictures showing apparent abuse of Iraqi
prisoners by American soldiers were published today,
adding to the growing crisis facing the United
States-led coalition in Iraq.

The pictures were published by the Washington Post
just hours after President George Bush appeared on
Arab television in an attempt to build bridges
following earlier controversy about the abuse of
prisoners in Iraq.

One image seemed to show a female soldier holding a
leash tied around the neck of a naked man lying on the
floor of an Iraqi prison. Another showed naked men,
apparently prisoners, sprawled on top of one another
with soldiers standing around them.

The International Red Cross increased the pressure on
the United States by revealing it had repeatedly asked
US authorities to take action over abuse of detainees
at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, where the latest
photographs were said to have been handed around by
military police.

Nada Doumani, a spokeswoman for the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), speaking from
Amman, Jordan, said: "We were aware of what was going
on and based on our findings we have repeatedly
requested the US authorities take corrective action."

The ICRC, which visits prisoners held by coalition
authorities in Iraq, had previously refused to comment
publicly on conditions at the prison.

The Washington Post said it had obtained about 1000
digital pictures which it claims were taken last
summer and winter.

The newspaper says it cannot eliminate the possibility
that some of the images were staged, but Washington
Post reporter Christian Davenport has said he believes
the pictures are authentic.

The newspaper says the pictures were passed around
military police who served at Abu Ghraib prison and
some of them are similar in content to those shown in
the US media which shocked the world last week.

Among the photographs are images of naked men,
apparently prisoners, sprawled on top of each other
with soldiers standing around; a naked hooded man
handcuffed to a door; and another naked man with
women?s underwear over his face handcuffed to a bunk
bed.

The pictures were reportedly seized by military
investigators probing conditions at the prison.

The most shocking images were found in a batch of
photographs which also depict ordinary military life.

Mr Davenport said today: "We believe that they are
authentic. We have had family members of some of the
soldiers pictured in the photos confirm it is their
relative."

The new pictures will fuel fears of a backlash against
the coalition forces in Iraq from locals. A number of
US troops at the Abu Ghraib prison are already facing
criminal charges over allegations of abuse.
....
------------------------------------------------------
9)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/662731.cms

The Times Of India
May 7, 2004

Iraq abuse cases are no aberration
SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN


-In Iraq, the general remit to use force while
interrogating anti-American captives has fused with
the violent logic of military occupation to produce a
deadly cocktail of humiliating prison rituals, sexual
sadism and torture. Far from being aberrations, the US
soldiers shown smiling next to their stripped trophies
are the logical product of the ?gloves? coming off.



President George W. Bush declared on Wednesday that
the evidence of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in
US-occupied Iraq is "abhorrent" and "does not
represent the America that I know".

The reality, say US-based human rights groups and
legal scholars, is that the Bush administration's `war
on terror' has spawned a set of aggressive detention
and interrogation practices that have broken down the
time-honoured taboo against torture and exposed
prisoners to the depredations of interrogators and
guards who know the usual rules no longer apply.

>From the notorious black hole of Guantanamo to the
numerous detention centres run offshore by the CIA so
as to exclude the oversight of US courts, it is
routine for prisoners to be humiliated or subjected to
physical abuse and violence. "Many of the detainees at
Guantanamo Bay and the US mainland have also been
victims of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment by the US government," says
Marjorie Cohn, professor of international law at the
Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.

One of cornerstones of the Bush administration's new
approach towards suspects is the policy of
?rendition?, where the US outsources the job of
interrogating individuals believed to have terrorist
links to countries where torture is routine ? like
Syria, Egypt or Morocco. "We don't kick the %&@# out
of them," an unnamed US official told the Washington
Post in December 2002. "We send them to other
countries so they can kick the %$@# out of them."

Asked what exactly was meant by "operational
flexibility" in the interrogation of terrorist
suspects, J Cofer Black, then head of the CIA
Counterterrorist Center, told a Senate intelligence
committee in 2002: "This is a very highly classified
area but I have to say that all you need to know:
There was a before 9/11, and there was an after 9/11.

After 9/11 the gloves come off." Black is now the Bush
administration's ambassador-at-large on
counter-terrorism.

In Iraq, the general remit to use force while
interrogating anti-American captives has fused with
the violent logic of military occupation to produce a
deadly cocktail of humiliating prison rituals, sexual
sadism and torture. Far from being aberrations, the US
soldiers shown smiling next to their stripped trophies
are the logical product of the ?gloves? coming off.
------------------------------------------------------
10)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/6/2004&Cat=14&Num=002

Tehran Times
May 7, 2004

Abu Ghraib Just the Tip of the Iceberg
By Ismail Salami


The recent scandal of U.S. soldiers blatantly crushing
the spirits and pride of Iraqi inmates at the Abu
Ghraib prison by stripping them naked and performing
sadistic acts upon them adds to the many crimes
committed by the U.S. government. It?s too naïve to
think the CIA and the Pentagon were unaware of such
activities or that such crimes were committed only by
a rogue element of sadistic-voyeuristic reservists who
knew nothing about the Geneva Conventions. Crimes are
crimes, but nothing can be compared to the sight of a
broken spirit.

According to reports, the U.S. military has admitted
to 25 deaths in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan,
including two murders. Yet, the reports are not
complete. And realities that are more horrific will
soon emerge to shock public opinion and shatter the
image of the Mr. Nice Guy who has embarked on quixotic
adventures in quest of an imaginary enemy. U.S.
President George W. Bush is feigning innocence, as if
such crimes are beyond his imagination. Now he intends
to apologize to the Muslim/Arab world and say, ?Well,
things did not happen the way I preferred. Torture is
a strange word in our dictionary. It?s only to be
found in other countries, particularly in those I
branded as members of the axis of evil.?

Commenting on the pictures depicting torture at Abu
Ghraib prison, Bush said, "These images do not
represent what America stands for, nor do they
represent the high standards of conduct that our
military is committed to upholding." Well, he is
right. These images do not represent the true nature
of the U.S. government, but rather are a microcosm of
their myriad crimes. We still do not have a clear
picture of what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, the evil record of the U.S. government leaves
no doubt that more will be revealed. One wonders why
Mr. Bush even bothers to try to conceal the shameful
history of the U.S. government.

An inquisitive person can always discover the truth.

The notorious Iranian intelligence service SAVAK was
the brainchild of the U.S. government. The
U.S.-sponsored SAVAK agents, who committed extremely
barbaric acts of torture, were trained by the CIA and
even studied CIA torture manuals.

In Vietnam, thousands of prisoners held by the U.S.
died under torture. In Latin America, U.S.-backed
dictatorships systematically tortured political
prisoners. Most of these torturers were also trained
by U.S. personnel.

Optimism is a good feeling which helps people stay
alive spiritually. Yet, unfortunately, there is no
reason to believe the U.S. government will bother to
delve into the heart of the matter and diagnose the
root causes of such inhumane treatment in order to
eradicate the evil, since the United States thrives on
evil. Rather, they will try to bury the matter in the
cavernous archives of their crimes.
------------------------------------------------------
11)
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2004-daily/07-05-2004/world/w14.htm

Jang (Pakistan)
May 7, 2004

Torture in Iraqi jail

Canadian sues US Army

-"The most alarming form of torture was when the
interrogators put gun muzzles at his head or body,
which put Shaltout in great fear of imminent death."



TORONTO - With the White House on Wednesday under
heavy fire over the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, a
Canadian businessman is claiming he endured daily
torture by American soldiers after being seized in
Baghdad. Hossam Shaltout, 57, an Egyptian-born
Canadian who lives in Los Angeles, is demanding
damages of 350,000 dollars, in a complaint filed with
the US Army.

He says his five-week ordeal, which ended when he was
deported to Egypt, left him suffering from depression,
flashbacks, and an obsessive desire for death.
Shaltout says he was arrested by US soldiers outside
his hotel in Baghdad during a riot in April 2003, and
taken to the Bucca detention facility in Umm Qasr,
southern Iraq. He had travelled to Iraq on behalf of
his peace group "Rights and Freedom International" in
a bid to convince Iraqi leaders to step down to avoid
a war with the United States. After he was taken to
Bucca in an armoured personnel carrier, Shaltout
claims he was subjected to a daily diet of
interrogation and torture.

" Shaltout was accused of being both a speechwriter
for Saddam Hussein as well as his ?right-hand man,?"
said Shaltout?s Portland, Oregon-based lawyer Thomas
Nelson in the complaint lodged with the US Army last
week. "When Shaltout refused to confess, he was beaten
in a variety of ways - he was hit with open hands,
fists, shoes, and gun butts. "The most alarming form
of torture was when the interrogators put gun muzzles
at his head or body, which put Shaltout in great fear
of imminent death."

Shaltout, who is in Saudi Arabia and could not be
immediately, contacted on Wednesday claims that he was
kneed in the groin and hit about the face while in leg
irons and handcuffs after he launched a hunger strike.
He is claiming 350,000 dollars in damage, claiming he
now suffers depression, post traumatic stress disorder
and other physical and mental ailments. Shaltout is
also claiming compensation for loss of property and
the damage to his business while he was in detention.

He has also complained that the government in Ottawa
did little to get him freed from Iraq, leaving the
possibility open that he may seek legal redress
against Canada. Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary
to the Canadian foreign ministry told CBC on Wednesday
that Shaltout should first exhaust means of complaint
already open to him - before taking legal action.
------------------------------------------------------
12)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5071331

Reuters
May 7, 2004

Polish, Algerian Reporters Shot Dead in Iraq

WARSAW - One Polish and one Algerian journalist were
shot dead and a Polish reporter was wounded in an
attack in central Iraq on Friday, a source close to
Poland's public television said.
Poland's embassy in Iraq confirmed that two people,
including one Pole, were killed on the road between
Baghdad and Babylon -- the headquarters of the Polish
military force in the country.

"According to the information we have, this
morning...south of Baghdad a car was attacked.
Everything indicates that it was carrying a reporting
team from (public television) TVP," said Tomasz
Gielzecki, charge d'affaires at the Polish embassy.

"Two people were killed, including one Pole, and
another Pole was injured," he told private television
TVN24.

Poland, a staunch backer of the U.S.-led invasion and
occupation of Iraq has about 2,400 troops in the
country and commands a multinational stabilization
force in south-central Iraq. To date, two Polish
soldiers have died in Iraq.
------------------------------------------------------
13)
http://itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=783785&PageNum=0


Itar-Tass (Russia)
May 6, 2004

New Polish PM plans to withdraw troops from Iraq


-According to the vice-premier, a pullout of Polish
troops from Iraq may be completed by the year-end. ?I
personally was against dispatching our troops to Iraq,
from the very beginning, without a U.N. sanction. They
are treated now as invaders," the vice-premier added.


WARSAW - New Polish premier Marek Belka plans to pull
out Polish troops from Iraq, said Polish vice-premier
Izabella Jaruga-Novacka. Belka promised that he would
draft a schedule for withdrawing Polish troops from
Iraq or a change in their status for a U.N.
peacekeeping force, the vice-premier said in an
interview with the Zycie Warszawy newspaper.

The prime minister intends to do so, since many
deputies of the legislature from the ruling coalition
insist on a withdrawal of Polish troops from Iraq,
Jaruga-Nowacka explained.

According to the vice-premier, a pullout of Polish
troops from Iraq may be completed by the year-end. ?I
personally was against dispatching our troops to Iraq,
from the very beginning, without a U.N. sanction. They
are treated now as invaders," the vice-premier added.

Belka took the premiership after the Leszek Miller
cabinet which decided to dispatch the Polish
contingent to Iraq, resigned on May 2. Belka had
worked as an economic adviser to the Iraqi interim
government over the past few months. The SLD/UP
nominated him to the premiership, and President
Alexandr Kwasniewski approved his candidacy. The
voting in parliament on the new cabinet is planned for
May.

Kwasniewski, now on a visit to London, said on
Wednesday that ?Polish soldiers will not be withdrawn
from Iraq?. However, he added that they ?will not
remain there not a single day more than necessary?.
------------------------------------------------------
14)
http://itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=785497&PageNum=0


Itar-Tass
May 6, 2004

Ukraine may recall peacekeepers from Iraq ? Yanukovich


KIEV - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said Ukraine
might recall its servicemen from Iraq whether the U.N.
did not exercise control over the situation in this
country.

Yanukovich told journalists on Thursday, ?Ukraine may
recall its peacekeepers from Iraq whether the U.N.
does not exercise control over the situation in the
country.?
------------------------------------------------------
15)
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-denmark-iraq-shooting,0,6465544.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines


Associated Press
May 7, 2004

Danish Soldiers Kill Iraqi at Checkpoint


COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Danish soldiers killed an Iraqi
man after the truck he was driving didn't slow down as
it approached their checkpoint, the military said
Friday.

The soldiers, part of the nearly 500-man Danish
military contingent in Basra and nearby Qurnah, 250
miles southeast of Baghdad, were manning the
checkpoint when the shooting happened Thursday night.

A spokesman for the Army Operational Command said the
soldiers fired warning shots at the truck to make it
slow down. When it didn't, they opened fire, killing
the driver. A passenger in the truck was wounded and
taken into custody.

Danish military officials didn't say what the truck
was carrying but said a team would investigate the
matter.

Denmark supported the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam
Hussein. Its troops operate under British command.
Since their deployment last year, one Danish soldier
has been killed, the victim of friendly fire while on
patrol in August 2003.





	
		
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