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Thu 19 Feb, 2004 11:52 am
Soldiers 'kicked and punched' hooded Iraqi prisoners
Thu Feb 19, 6:02 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - British soldiers in Iraq (news - web sites) kicked and punched hooded prisoners as they screamed for mercy, a witness to an incident in which one Iraqi detainee was allegedly beaten to death was quoted as saying.
The serving soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Thursday's edition of The Sun newspaper he had been "sick to his stomach" after witnessing the beatings in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
The Ministry of Defence said earlier this month that it was investigating the death of an Iraqi prisoner while in British custody following reports that he had been beaten to death.
According to The Sun, the dead man was among nine Iraqis held by the Queen's Lancashire Regiment on suspicion of being bandits last September, just a few weeks after the regiment lost one of its number to a roadside bomb.
The unnamed soldier said that when he visited the base's cell block he saw the prisoners stretched out or kneeling with hoods over their heads.
"Some of the lads were just coming up, booting them in the stomach and punching them," he told the paper.
"The moans and groans were going on for ages. The prisoners were pleading: 'Please stop, please stop.'"
The beatings continued over two days, with a number of troops shouting racist abuse at the prisoners -- who were prevented from sleeping or lying down -- as they kicked, punched and slapped them, the soldier said.
The soldier, who added that maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners was common, said he saw the dead prisoner after his hood had been pulled off.
"He had a big, swollen black eye, his nose was broken and it looked like his jaw had been dislocated. His face was bloody," the paper quoted him as saying.
"I feel sick to my stomach that I didn't do anything to save them, as I'm sure other people do," he said.
"It's something we will have to live with."
Earlier this month the Ministry of Defence said that British military police were investigating the death of the prisoner, which "inevitably will take time".
As much as we hope and pray that things like this never happen, they have happened since the dawn of man's first forays into organized (and unorganized) combat.
Combat changes people (not always for the better). When you have a situation when men are in a combat zone and being attacked or under threat of attack daily, they develop a very close bond (stronger in some ways than the 'family' bond) with each other. As time goes by and they watch their friends get wounded and killed, there develops an intense level of anger and frustration towards the enemy.
This is especially true when the enemy is dressed as civilians and hides among the population. When these enemies are finally captured, the soldiers are finally given an object upon which to focus their wrath and anger. It is at times like this, if the officers are not strong enough to prevent it, that occurences like this can happen. This in NO WAY makes them right or excusable, it is just how men in combat tend to react.
If this turns out to be true, the parties involved deserve to be punished. But before all the facts are in, please do not pre-judge these men.
Of course, it is something that alway horrifies-- and we hope it doesn't happen...
What I am asking readers here--
Do you think this kind of behavior is an "effect of war" OR,
do you believe (as I do), this is probably the nature of the abuser being exposed-- simply because opportunity presented itself- and he would probably be just as aggressive (at home) in society, if challenged.
War
War brings out the worst in some people. They may not be sadists otherwise. Of course, some people are sadists and war facilitates their sadism. It seems that in most wars atrocities occur. Some people feel that war itself is atrocity.
There was a study of college people in a Prison mock situation. Even though the subjects knew it was not for real, most played the roles of victem and victemizer. It got brutal and the experiment had to be halted.
Quote:There was a study of college people in a Prison mock situation. Even though the subjects knew it was not for real, most played the roles of victem and victemizer. It got brutal and the experiment had to be halted.
Yes, I read about that. The ensuing mental state was beyond what most of them were prepared for.
I suspect the same thing is true when they reach Iraq the first time.
The other
I saw another experiment on TV where one person would admin shocks to another that was out of sight but screams could be heard. There was a person there with shocker that said go ahead it's OK. Some people went all the way to killing person recieving the electric shocks. Quite a shocking experiment!!!
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