[A-List] Iraq: Latest US Attacks Provoke Shiite Outrage

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

1) Najaf: Chief Shiite Shrine Hit, British Troops
Poised For Suicide Attacks, Last Taboo Violated
2) Fierce Fighting In Iraqi Shiite Strongholds Of
Najaf, Nasiriyah
3) British Troops Kill 16 More Iraqis in South Of
Country
4) Iran, Lebanese Shiites Warn US, Britain Over
Crossing 'Red Line' In Desecration Of Religious Sites
5) New Reports Of US Abuse, Sexual Humiliation Of
Iraqi Captives
6) British Soldier Tells Of Beating Iraqis 'For Fun'
7) President Of Italian Lower House Calls For 'Severe
Punishment' Of US, British Torturers
8) Mexico Rules Out Iraq Military Deployment Even With
UN Mandate
9) Philippine Government Readies Plan To Evacuate
4,000 Nationals From Iraq War Zone
10) Iraq Torture Images Evoke Memories In Northern
Ireland




1)
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=554052004

The Scotsman
May 15, 2004

Battle rages for control of Najaf
GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT


-Despite weeks of warnings from British commanders
that an attack on the shrine of Imam Ali, Shiite
Muslims? most sacred site, could trigger widespread
unrest throughout southern Iraq, the golden dome of
the mosque was hit several times as US forces and
militia traded fire.
-"There are no red lines left now that the Imam Ali
shrine, our holy of holies, has been violated."



British troops in southern Iraq are braced for a fresh
wave of suicide bombings after the country?s holiest
Shia shrine was damaged in fierce fighting between
United States troops and supporters of the rebel
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the city of Najaf.

Sadr?s representative in Basra, Sheikh Abdul-Sattar
al-Bahadli, said he would form suicide squads to carry
out attacks against coalition forces, and urged
residents to register for the squads. In the
British-run city of Amarah, a Sadr representative,
Farqad al-Mousawi, warned Iraqi police and civil
defence corps members that they risked assassination
if they helped coalition soldiers fight the cleric?s
Mahdi militia.

Fighting erupted in the heart of Najaf early yesterday
morning as US commanders finally lost patience with
Sadr and ordered troops backed by tanks and helicopter
gunships to assault his stronghold in the Iraqi holy
city.

Despite weeks of warnings from British commanders that
an attack on the shrine of Imam Ali, Shiite Muslims?
most sacred site, could trigger widespread unrest
throughout southern Iraq, the golden dome of the
mosque was hit several times as US forces and militia
traded fire.

Each side blamed the other for the damage, which
punched four holes - each about 30cm long and 20cm
wide - in the dome. They appeared to have been caused
by machine-gun fire.

Qais al-Khazali, Sadr?s spokesman, accused US forces
of crossing a line of no return, and promised
retribution.

"There are no red lines left now that the Imam Ali
shrine, our holy of holies, has been violated," he
said.

But General Mark Kimmitt, the chief US military
spokesman in Iraq, said the militiamen were using
religious sites "much like human shields" and that he
was convinced the damage had been inflicted by Sadr?s
people.

"We certainly understand the strategic significance of
the Imam Ali shrine," he said. "The coalition has
tremendous respect for the Shia religion, the Shia
Islam religion. We want to do everything we can to
avoid widening this concern from Muqtada to something
far greater than Muqtada."

During their crackdown on Sadr?s militia, US forces
have been careful to avoid damage to shrines in Najaf
and other holy cities for fear of enraging Iraq?s
Shiite majority.

However, in some areas, they have attacked mosques
where insurgents have set up fighting positions.

US forces charged into the centre of the city early
yesterday morning, shelling militia positions and
fighting running battles in the city?s cemetery, which
is a maze of footpaths and tombs that offers ample
hiding space.

As the fighting continued, Sadr, delivering a sermon
at Friday prayers in Kufa, another holy city that lies
six miles to the north-east of Najaf, condemned the US
and Britain, describing Tony Blair, the Prime
Minister, and George Bush, the US president, as "the
heads of tyranny".

At least four Iraqis died in the fighting and 26 were
wounded, said Haidar Raheem Naama, an official at the
city?s main hospital.

He said most were civilians. At least three militiamen
were killed, and their coffins were brought to the
shrine for family and friends to pray for their souls.


The city was rocked by explosions and there were
regular bursts of heavy machine gun fire. Militiamen
armed with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades
and mortar tubes fought on as darkness fell.

An office that belongs to Sadr close to the Imam Ali
shrine took small arms fire, although reports
suggested that the shots came from rival Shiite groups
opposed to Sadr?s presence in the city.

Nearly 300 fighters from Sadr?s militia gathered
outside his office after fighting ebbed in the late
afternoon, chanting slogans in support of their
leader.

Some celebrated from the back of pickup trucks, and
carried what they said were parts of US military
hardware, including what resembled the door of a
Humvee and empty ammunition belts.

"Our morale is sky-high and we are not scared of
anyone," said one militiaman.
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2004-daily/15-05-2004/main/main1.htm

Jang (Pakistan)
May 15, 2004

Fierce fighting in Najaf, Nasiriyah


10 killed; US tanks move into city; shrine of Hazrat
Ali damaged; arms looted from police station in
Karbala


-Four holes, each approximately 30 cms long and 20 cms
wide were visible on the golden dome of the Hazrat Ali
mosque. They appeared to have been caused by machine
gun fire. Militia members blamed American forces for
the damage....


NAJAF: At least 10 Iraqi militiamen were reported
killed in fierce clashes with US troops backed by
helicopters, as American tanks charged into the centre
of Najaf on Friday and shelled positions held by
fighters loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. The Shrine of
Hazrat Ali (RA) was slightly damaged in the fighting.

Heavy fighting broke out in the city?s vast cemetery
about a kilometre northwest of Hazrat Ali?s (RA)
shrine. US tanks were seen in the sprawling graveyard
as black-clad militiamen loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr
fanned out across the area, which was covered with
thick black smoke and circled by US helicopters.

Explosions and heavy machine gun fire rocked Najaf
neighbourhoods for hours. After an afternoon lull,
sporadic shelling and machine gun fire resumed as
night fell. Gunfire and loud explosions were also
heard from an area south of Najaf known as Bahr
al-Najaf, where about 2,500 US soldiers are camped in
the desert. An al-Sadr spokesman said 10 militiamen
had been killed in the fighting.

Four holes, each approximately 30 cms long and 20 cms
wide were visible on the golden dome of the Hazrat Ali
mosque. They appeared to have been caused by machine
gun fire. Militia members blamed American forces for
the damage, but Brig-Gen Mark Kimmitt, the chief US
military spokesman in Iraq, said al-Sadr?s men were
probably responsible. An office that belongs to
Al-Sadr close to the shrine took small arms fire,
according to a man who answered the telephone there.

In nearby Karbala, al-Sadr?s men raided a police
station and escaped with a cache of assault rifles,
police said. The US-led coalition said that Iraqi
police guarding the al-Mokahyam mosque in the city
came under mortar, grenade and sniper fire.

Gunmen believed loyal to al-Sadr attacked the
headquarters of the US-led coalition in Nasiriyah,
trapping some international staffers inside, coalition
officials said. The gunbattle erupted between
militiamen and Italian troops supported by Filipino
security guards, officials said. At least 10
rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the building
over a half hour period.

Earlier, militiamen pushed their way into the
governor?s office and were moving near a hotel, a main
bridge and police stations. The officials said there
were reports of a scuffle at the governor?s office,
and that a security guard there was slightly injured.

The military announced that a marine had died in
fighting in western Al-Anbar province on Thursday,
while a large explosion shook central Baghdad late on
Friday, but the cause was unclear.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3716491.stm

BBC News
May 14, 2004

UK troops kill 16 after ambush


British troops have fought off three ambushes in
southern Iraq, leaving 16 insurgents dead, the UK
military says.
Two soldiers were hurt but their wounds were not
described as life threatening.

The battle came after militiamen attacked a British
convoy 18 miles south of the town of Amara with rocket
propelled grenades and small arms.

Reinforcements had to be called in during the
fire-fight which also wounded one man and led to the
capture of another.

The convoy drove through the first ambush but was
attacked a second and then a third time.

Cleric call

The British military have described the incident as a
significant blow to the militia in the area of Amara.

At Friday prayers in Basra, where the majority of UK
troops are based, a senior Shia cleric called for
suicide attacks on coalition forces.

Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli said he would form
militias and asked the city's residents to register on
Saturday.

Mr al-Bahadli is loyal to Moqtada Sadr, the Shia
cleric whose forces are involved in a series of
battles with US troops in Iraq's holy city of Najaf.

Last week British troops had to restore calm to Basra
after clashes with insurgents left a number of Iraqis
dead and British soldiers injured.

The violence happened after Mr al-Bahadli offered
money for the capture or killing of coalition troops.

On Friday in Amarah, Farqad al-Mousawi, another aide
to Mr Sadr, warned members of the Iraqi police and
civil defence corps they risked assassination if they
helped US soldiers fight militants in Najaf.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2004-daily/15-05-2004/world/w2.htm

Jang (Pakistan)
May 15, 2004

Iraqi holy cities ?red line? warns Iran


-"The responsibility for the insecurity in Iraq falls
on the occupiers, and we want the occupying forces to
leave Iraq as soon as possible and give authority back
to the Iraqis."
-In Beirut [Lebanon], a Shiite Muslim leader had a
stern warning for the Americans. "The holy cities of
Najaf and Karbala have been the object for several
days of a barbaric and savage attack by the American
occupation forces.



TEHRAN: Iran and Shiite Muslim leaders warned the
United States on Friday that the Iraqi holy cities of
Najaf and Karbala were "red lines" [that should not
be] crossed. "We are concerned at the intensification
of the fighting in Iraq especially in Najaf and
Karbala, and we condemn the killing of innocent
Iraqis," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid
Reza Asefi.

"The responsibility for the insecurity in Iraq falls
on the occupiers, and we want the occupying forces to
leave Iraq as soon as possible and give authority back
to the Iraqis," he added. Explosions and gunfire
Friday as US forces sought to crush an insurgency by
renegade Shiite cleric Moqtadar Sadr ahead of the June
30 return of sovereignty shook Najaf.

The heaviest fighting occurred in and around Najaf?s
cemetery, considered sacred ground by Shiite Muslims
who form the majority in Iraq and neighbouring Iran.
There were also running clashes this week in Karabala
in which tens of Sadr militiamen were killed, although
the cleric has vowed to continue his fight. Almost 60
percent of Iranians are Shiites, while Najaf and
Karabala are home to some of the sect?s [sic] most
sacred sites.

Iran vehemently opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq to
oust Saddam Hussein, despite having fought an
eight-year war until 1988 with its neighbour in which
more than one million dead were killed on both sides.
In Beirut, a Shiite Muslim leader had a stern warning
for the Americans. "The holy cities of Najaf and
Karbala have been the object for several days of a
barbaric and savage attack by the American occupation
forces.
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=553572004

The Scotsman
May 15, 2004

New claims of maltreatment
FOREIGN STAFF


More than 300 Iraqi detainees, some weeping and waving
to friends, were released from the infamous Abu Ghraib
prison yesterday, a day after the US defence
secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, made a surprise visit and
insisted the Pentagon did not try to cover up abuses
there.

One bus carrying 40 prisoners went to a US military
base in west Baghdad, where tribal leaders awaited
some of them.

One by one, the prisoners got out, kneeled and prayed
beside the bus. Others then left on the bus for other
Baghdad neighbourhoods.

One former prisoner, Mohammed al-Musawi, complained
that he was humiliated by guards at least once during
his 11-month incarceration.

"They forced me to take all my clothes off and female
prison guards were whispering and laughing at me,"
Musawi said while sitting in a room with tribal
leaders. He was arrested in Baghdad?s Hurriyah
neighbourhood, for allegedly participating in an
attack against a US tank.

Musawi spoke of other detainees who left interrogation
rooms with bruises, apparently from beatings.

The US army announced yesterday it has filed criminal
charges including adultery against a military
policeman, Corporal Charles Graner, in connection with
the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said other charges
against Graner also included conspiracy to maltreat
detainees, dereliction of duty, cruelty and
maltreatment of detainees.

? Two Britons freed from detention at Guantánamo Bay
have written an open letter to President George Bush
detailing torture that they allege was inflicted upon
them at the US camp for suspected terrorists in Cuba.

Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, from Tipton in the West
Midlands, detailed a string of abuses allegedly
inflicted upon them by US interrogators including
being shackled for hours on end, made to stand in
stressful positions, being subjected to threatening
dogs and freezing cold temperatures and being made to
stand naked.
------------------------------------------------------
6)
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2927592

The Scotsman
May 14, 2004

Soldier 'C' Tells of Iraqis Beaten 'For Fun'
By James Lyons, Political Correspondent, PA News


-?You would be scared if you were kept up all night ?
God knows how many beatings in all ? and then he?s
going to be interrogated.
?He didn?t know what?s going to happen to him.?



Solider ?C? tonight tells how colleagues beat Iraqis
?for fun? in his first TV interview since making
allegations of abuse.

The Territorial Army solider has been quizzed by Royal
Military Police after going public with his claims in
the Daily Mirror.

Now he has given a first hand account of abuse of
prisoners he says he witnessed on a posting with the
Queen?s Lancashire Regiment in southern Iraq.

Speaking from shadows, the anonymous soldier told
ITV?s Tonight with Trevor McDonald: ?They were beaten
for fun.?

The soldier says: ?I saw prisoners being punched,
slapped, kicked, pushed around. Sand bagged, zip tied.

?I saw them in those sand bags for hours and hours on
end. And then water would be poured over them.

?I know that some of them had trouble breathing.?

The victims were often ?beyond? screaming or crying
out, he added.

Soldier C came forward after two colleagues made
allegations of abuse and produced photographs to back
their claims, pictures yesterday branded fakes by
defence chiefs.

He said the abuse ?wasn?t all the army, it wasn?t
systematic, but it did happen?.

?They would think it funny to get a prisoner to get
into a certain posture, and then just punch him in the
mid-section, and they just do it over and over again.

?I mean, that is in my view far beyond what is
necessary.

?The stress postures and sand bags, to be honest with
you I felt that was okay because ? as long as it?s not
for an extreme amount of time.?

The soldier added: ?I knew that it was going on for
long periods of time, and seeing the state of the guys
that were in captivity, you knew that it was getting
to a dangerous level.?

The soldier blamed lack of supervision by senior
officers for the abuse.

?I?m sure at the top level, you know, they don?t
condone all these sorts of acts. I believe that.

?But when it gets down to the lower levels, it?s hard
to control.

?I mean, when you leave privates and corporals in
charge of prisoners then things do go wrong.?

However, despite the violence he claims was meted out
by British soldiers it is the humiliation of a captive
by US forces that has stuck in Soldier C?s mind.

?It was in front of everybody, everybody was
laughing,? he said.

?I put myself in his mind, I suppose, at that time and
you can?t imagine what he was going through.

?You would be scared if you were kept up all night ?
God knows how many beatings in all ? and then he?s
going to be interrogated.

?He didn?t know what?s going to happen to him.?
------------------------------------------------------
7)
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200405142100-1218-RT1-CRO-0-NF82&page=0&id=agionline-eng.italyonline


Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
May 14, 2004


CASINI, SEVERE PUNISHMENT FOR TORTURERS


Vibo Valentia, Italy - The President of the Lower
House, Pier Ferdinando Casini, has called for "severe
punishment" for those responsible for the torture that
took place in the Iraqi prisons. The President spoke
on the subject during a speech given in front of civil
and military authorities in the city of Vibo Valentia,
where, in his presence, several representatives of the
Italian Red Cross were given an award for their work
during the massacre in Nassiriya. "I believe - The
President affirmed - that the values of the Red Cross
were passed on in that dramatic emergency and that
they haven't stopped being spread throughout the whole
population of Nassiriya. We should remind ourselves of
these with even greater conviction at a time as
difficult as this in which the news has brought us
repugnant evidence of the tragic and unjustifiable
events which have taken place in the Iraqi prisons. To
create the conditions to affirm and spread - Casini
continued - the highest values of the human being, of
their dignity, of their liberty: these are reasons
that motivate the men and women of our Red Cross to
stay in Iraq; these are the reasons why children,
women, old people of that country can today count on
an important resource, made of concrete gestures and
of the readiness to listen".
------------------------------------------------------
8)
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=34&NEWS_ID=99315

Vietnam News Agency
May 14, 2004


Mexican president rules out military involvement in
Iraq


Mexico City - Mexican President Vicente Fox, currently
on tour of Switzerland, said on Wednesday he had ruled
out the possibility of sending troops to Iraq for a
peace-keeping mission.

Fox affirmed "the Mexican Government will not send
troops for peace-keeping actions in Iraq even if it is
requested by the United Nations (UN), or other
international organizations or countries."

Fox's statement refuted the announcement of Mexico's
Foreign Minister Ernesto Derbez, who earlier said
Mexico would consider military participation in
peace-keeping missions in Iraq.

The Mexican Foreign Minister's announcement made
during a visit to Spain was strongly denounced by the
Mexican people.
------------------------------------------------------
9)
http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl100361.htm

Philippine Headline News
May 15, 2004


FORCED EVACUATION OF OFWs IN IRAQ EYED
By Marichu Villanueva


-A Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said
yesterday around 600 Filipino workers in Iraq have
signified their intention to return to the
Philippines, after they either resigned from their
jobs or refused to work for fear of their lives.
-Military camps were previously thought to be safe
from insurgent attacks.
-Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign
relations, warned that attacks against US forces and
their allies may increase following the exposé on
abuses committed by American soldiers against Iraqi
prisoners of war.


MANILA - Plans are in place for the "forced
evacuation" of some 4,000 overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs) in various post-war reconstruction projects in
Iraq.

In a statement issued yesterday at Malacañang,
President Arroyo assured the OFWs that the Philippine
government is ready to facilitate their safe departure
from the strife-torn Middle Eastern country.

"We will not hesitate to undertake forced evacuation
should our security assessments so dictate," the
President said.

A Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said
yesterday around 600 Filipino workers in Iraq have
signified their intention to return to the
Philippines, after they either resigned from their
jobs or refused to work for fear of their lives.

The DFA official said the OFWs, who were based in the
United States? Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq where a
mortar attack took place last Tuesday, have asked that
they be repatriated.

Mrs. Arroyo said she had told foreign affairs
officials and the Iraq task force headed by special
envoy Roy Cimatu to "speed up the identification of
areas of high risk to Filipinos" and to apprise US and
Iraqi authorities of the country?s plans.

Plans for an emergency evacuation gained added urgency
with the death of two OFWs Wednesday. The OFWs were at
work when Camp Anaconda came under mortar attack from
suspected Iraqi insurgents. The camp employs more than
1,300 OFWs.

Military camps were previously thought to be safe from
insurgent attacks.

The President said Cimatu had assured her that the
risks to OFWs in Camp Anaconda had been greatly
reduced by the construction of underground bunkers.

"It was a stroke of bad luck that (the two OFWs) were
exposed and unprotected at the time of the attack,"
she said.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the option
for a last-minute evacuation will be reserved only for
those OFWs who refuse to leave Iraq despite threats to
their lives and safety.

"Those OFWs who feel that they have to go must be
extended all the assistance they need," he said.

Bunye said the government is also prepared, through
the Department of Labor and Employment and the
Overseas Workers? Welfare Administration, to help the
repatriated OFWs to find new employment here or
abroad.

Bunye added that the suspension on the deployment of
new workers or troops remains in effect while the
government waits for the final recommendation of its
Iraq task force.

But an administration senator has questioned the
government?s ability to mount an emergency evacuation.


In a statement Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. said that the
government cannot "afford to dilly-dally" with its
evacuations plans.

"We are not like the Americans who have all the
resources to pull out its troops quickly. We must
start evacuating our people by batch and decide if
they would be brought back to the Philippines or to
another country in the Middle East," he said.

Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign
relations, warned that attacks against US forces and
their allies may increase following the exposé on
abuses committed by American soldiers against Iraqi
prisoners of war.

"It is clear that Iraq is no longer a safe place for
our Filipino workers and troops, but I doubt if the
government has the ability to evacuate them
immediately," he said.

Villar urged the government to implement any
evacuation plan before the US relinquishes its control
of Iraq on June 30. ? With Marvin Sy
------------------------------------------------------
10)
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=510970§ion=news

Reuters
May 14, 2004

Iraq abuse images stir memories in N.Ireland
By Alex Richardson


-"It just brought the whole thing back again, I knew
exactly what was going on there, I knew how those
people were feeling, and, I tell you, it wasn't a good
feeling
"And anger as well, that the British government and
the American government...had learned from the torture
of me, and the others that were with me, and perfected
those techniques."
-"That's what's happening in Iraq, it's about
defeating those people psychologically, make them feel
isolated, give them a feeling of having absolutely no
control over their lives."
-"When the soldiers arrived here (in 1969) they were
seen as peacekeepers, but after internment they were
just seen exactly the way the Iraqis see them now, as
occupying forces."



BELFAST - When Jim Auld saw the now infamous
photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq
he didn't have to imagine how the captives felt -- he
knew.

For the 52-year-old from west Belfast the images that
provoked international outrage stirred vivid memories
of the ordeal he suffered more than three decades ago
inside a British interrogation centre in Northern
Ireland.

"It just brought the whole thing back again, I knew
exactly what was going on there, I knew how those
people were feeling, and, I tell you, it wasn't a good
feeling," he told Reuters.

"And anger as well, that the British government and
the American government...had learned from the torture
of me, and the others that were with me, and perfected
those techniques."

Auld was one of more than 300 Catholic men seized by
troops in the early hours of August 9, 1971, after the
British government imposed internment without trial in
an attempt to contain spiralling violence in the
province.

He was taken from his parents' home in the staunchly
Catholic Falls district of west Belfast to an army
barracks in the north of the city where he was beaten
with batons, stripped, hooded and placed in a boiler
suit.

Then he was flown by helicopter to an interrogation
centre - to this day he doesn't know where - and
subjected to sensory deprivation tactics known as the
"five techniques".

"They put me in a position against the wall, with all
my weight on my wrists, and after a while my arms were
going numb and I started to take them down to shake
them, to get the circulation going," he said.

"As soon as I took my hands off the wall, there had
been a couple of people standing behind me, and they
just battered me, they beat me unconscious. After
moving a few times, and getting beaten, I got the
picture that you weren't supposed to move."

A constant "white noise", like an untuned television
with the volume turned up high, added to the
disorientation. In despair he tried to commit suicide
by slamming his head against a heating pipe, earning
another beating when he failed.

Now and again he was taken to another room where the
hood was removed and police intelligence officers
questioned him.

"The beatings are just a softening up process so the
interrogators have a more compliant victim," he said.

"That's what's happening in Iraq, it's about defeating
those people psychologically, make them feel isolated,
give them a feeling of having absolutely no control
over their lives."

The ordeal lasted for nine days, after which he was
transferred to Belfast's Crumlin Road jail, and from
there sent to join hundreds of other detainees at Long
Kesh internment camp. He was released without charge a
year later.

Auld was one of a dozen detainees whose cases were
taken to the European Court of Human Rights where, in
1978, Britain was found guilty of "inhuman and
degrading treatment". He received 16,000 pounds
compensation, but no apology.

Internment was meant to nip the Irish Republican
Army's fledgling guerrilla campaign against British
rule in the bud. Instead it fuelled the violence
engulfing Northern Ireland.

Auld, who now runs a restorative justice programme in
west Belfast, says he was never a member of the IRA,
and historians have estimated fewer than 60 of the 342
original detainees were active in the outlawed armed
group.

The heavy-handed tactics provoked fierce resentment
among Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, and Auld
believes the pictures of abuse and allegations of
mistreatment against U.S. and British forces in Iraq
will have a similar effect.

"When the soldiers arrived here (in 1969) they were
seen as peacekeepers, but after internment they were
just seen exactly the way the Iraqis see them now, as
occupying forces," he said.

"When I was in jail I saw hundreds of young men
joining the IRA, and all they wanted to do was get out
of jail...and kill soldiers and cops, that was their
whole reason for living."










	
		
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