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Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture

 
 
msolga
 
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 07:32 pm
From the front page of today's Guardian (UK) newspaper.:

Quote:

Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture

* Nick Davies, Jonathan Steele and David Leigh
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 October 2010 21.26 BST


• Massive leak reveals serial detainee abuse

• 15,000 unknown civilian deaths in war

• Full coverage of the Iraq war logs

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/online/2010/10/22/1287772548405/Iraq-Rawa.-Operation-Stee-006.jpg
Iraq, Rawa. Operation Steel Curtain Insurgent suspects are led away by US forces. Some of those held in Iraqi custody suffered appalling abuse, the war logs reveal. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.

Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters and civilian killings in the Afghan war.

The new logs detail how:

US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.

• A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after they tried to surrender.

More than 15,000 civilians died in previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081 non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.

The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent death. ...<cont>


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks

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Type: Discussion • Score: 7 • Views: 10,897 • Replies: 54
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msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 07:34 pm
Iraq: The War Logs. (Full coverage.):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq-war-logs
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 07:37 pm
Quote:
Video: Iraq war logs: How civilians have paid heaviest price

Leaked military files analysed by the Guardian reveal secret US tally of Iraqi deaths
• Datablog: every death mapped:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 07:40 pm
Quote:
Iraq war logs: A day in the life of the war

17 October 2006 was a typical day in one of the bloodiest years of the Iraq conflict - 136 dead Iraqis, 10 dead Americans and hundreds of violent incidents. Watch the 24 hours of carnage unfold, log by log, minute by minute.:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/aug/13/iraq-war-logs
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 07:44 pm

Quote:
Iraq war logs: Secret order that let US ignore abuse
Mistreatment of helpless prisoners by Iraqi security forces included beatings, burning, electrocution and rape

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/8/6/1281090905917/In-this-award-winning-pic-006.jpg
In this award-winning picture, detainees are led away for questioning during Operation Steel Curtain In this award-winning picture, detainees are led away for questioning during Operation Steel Curtain. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

A prisoner was kneeling on the ground, blindfolded and handcuffed, when an Iraqi soldier walked over to him and kicked him in the neck. A US marine sergeant was watching and reported the incident, which was duly recorded and judged to be valid. The outcome: "No investigation required."

That was a relatively minor assault. Another of the leaked Iraqi war logs records the case of a man who was arrested by police on suspicion of preparing a suicide bomb. In the station, an officer shot him in the leg and then, the log continues, this detainee "suffered abuse which amounted to cracked ribs, multiple lacerations and welts and bruises from being whipped with a large rod and hose across his back". This was all recorded and judged to amount to "reasonable suspicion of abuse". The outcome: "No further investigation." ...<cont>


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-detainee-abuse-torture-saddam
msolga
 
  2  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 08:10 pm
@msolga,
Think about it: 109032 violent deaths in Iraq between 2004 and 2009.
66081 of those deaths were civilians.
These statistics are from American military records & the American government has known about it for 6 years.

I'm with the Guardian newspaper on this. I strongly believe that such information should be made known in the public interest. We owe it to every one of those people who lost their lives. We should also be made fully aware of the consequences of this invasion & war, which occurred in our names.
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 08:28 pm
This information just confirms what many knew or suspected all along, as far as I can tell.
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 08:28 pm
@msolga,
More from wikileaks...not sure f you included this Msolga:


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/war-logs.html
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 08:49 pm
@edgarblythe,
Quote:
This information just confirms what many knew or suspected all along, as far as I can tell.


You could say that, edgar.
But it reveals the extent of the horror in a much more detailed way than has occurred before now (relying on detailed US military records). It names the names of the victims. Some whose deaths were never on record before. Interestingly the US government has claimed for six years that such records did not exist. They cannot claim that any longer.
Most importantly, I think, it puts the casualties & the those who died (& the way they died) permanently on "official" record. The US government & the rest of us cannot claim to "not have knowledge" of the full details of what occurred in this illegal war. Nor can the information revealed be disputed for political convenience. It is there for all to see.

0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 10:22 pm
I have to wonder. Has this been published by any American news organization?
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 10:29 pm
@JTT,
I'm happy to report that it has! No, I really mean that!

Now I wonder what page it's on.

Juuuuust kiddin'.

Do you think that it's headlined on Faux News? I'd love to see the look on Brit Hume's face, the guy so often looked like he was about to break into tears when he heard the slightest thing negative about the US or GWB. It's also be neat to watch a number of other Faux journalists hear the news.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 10:31 pm
@msolga,
Ms Olga, why did you only put the US in the title?

Expect a visit from FailuresArt.

You must have equal opportunity exposure of war criminals.
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 10:49 pm
@JTT,
The title was taken from the Guardian article, JTT.
But make no mistake, I hold my own government, Blair's UK government & all the rest of them to account, too.

This sort of blatant, horrendous war crime would never have been allowed to have been perpetrated against any "western" citizens of any nation the US had "issues" with. It would not have been considered acceptable. The details of the lives of ordinary Iraqis, how their lives had been so terribly affected, made me weep.

And, jaded as I am by the sheer horror of Iraq, the fact that this (US military) information is now freely available is an enormous relief. No more lies will be acceptable. (At least any that cannot be refuted by those of us who actually bother to keep abreast). No more evasions. This is what our governments did to Iraq, for absolutely no good reason.
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 11:08 pm
@msolga,
Quote:
The title was taken from the Guardian article, JTT.
But make no mistake, I hold my own government, Blair's UK government & all the rest of them to account, too.


I know, Ms Olga. It was kinda a joke. Maybe a bad one considering the enormity of the issues involved.

I also know that you wouldn't play favorites, a war crime is a war crime, even if it's committed by a dad or a brother.

Quote:
And, jaded as I am by the sheer horror of Iraq, the fact that this (US military) information is now freely available is an enormous relief. No more lies will be acceptable. (At least any that cannot be refuted by those of us who actually bother to keep abreast). No more evasions. This is what our governments did to Iraq, for absolutely no good reason.


Geeze, I hate to burst your bubble, but this isn't new, only the events are new. This has been going on for a century and, again, I hate to be the bearer of sad news, but this will go the way of all the other war crimes, all the other instances of mass murder, all the other instances of horrendous terrorist actions.

If you haven't seen it yet,

"Lest there be any doubt"

http://able2know.org/topic/163028-1#top

stay away for a bit and enjoy your moment of relief.

May whatever being looks down upon us bless you!
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Fri 22 Oct, 2010 11:15 pm
@JTT,
Quote:
Geeze, I hate to burst your bubble, but this isn't new, only the events are new.


I know.

Quote:
This has been going on for a century and, again, I hate to be the bearer of sad news, but this will go the way of all the other war crimes, all the other instances of mass murder, all the other instances of horrendous terrorist actions.


I know. Oh I know, only too well. Sigh.

Quote:
stay away for a bit and enjoy your moment of relief.

May whatever being looks down upon us bless you!


Thank you!

I will check out that link now. (I sense trouble ahead! Wink )
0 Replies
 
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2010 01:30 am
@edgarblythe,
edgarblythe wrote:

This information just confirms what many knew or suspected all along, as far as I can tell.


According to people who didn't want to admit it it's had some deniability until this stuff came out from the actual records though.
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2010 03:41 am
@dlowan,
A good point . . . "plausible deniability" means a lot to the corrupt. Its gotten so the definition of plausible has been stretched out of all recognition.
0 Replies
 
failures art
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2010 08:37 am
Dirty laundry. There's plenty more in the hamper.

JTT - Why am I supposed to object to MsOlga's post? Because she said US? The document was an American document. It wasn't a British, or Australian document.

A
R
T
0 Replies
 
Cycloptichorn
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2010 09:18 am
I can't help but notice the similarities between this period and the post-WW1 period, in terms of information about the horrors of war and how they get out.

Cycloptichorn
Foofie
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2010 09:35 am
@msolga,
msolga wrote:

Think about it: 109032 violent deaths in Iraq between 2004 and 2009.
66081 of those deaths were civilians.
These statistics are from American military records & the American government has known about it for 6 years.

I'm with the Guardian newspaper on this. I strongly believe that such information should be made known in the public interest. We owe it to every one of those people who lost their lives. We should also be made fully aware of the consequences of this invasion & war, which occurred in our names.



How could it have "occurred in our names"?

I did not authorize my name as a byline to the war. I think there is a mistake here.

The problem I see about much of the criticism of this, or any, war of the U.S. is that the critics make the quantum leap that what one administration does on a particular "watch" reflects the U.S. for posterity. Has not the U.S. changed its policies over decades. In the late nineteenth century there was something called the Rapproachment. Prior to that we were not allies to Britain. Our politics change. And, even when it is a foreign soldier that does something not nice, the U.S. seems to get the blame. Now that is not intellectually honest.
 

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