U.S.'s promised release of Iraqi prisoners backfires

[kskiska]

Friday, January 09, 2004 - BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Hundreds of Iraqis waited for hours outside a Baghdad prison Thursday in hopes their relatives would be included in a much-publicized release. About 80 men were freed, but U.S. officials said they weren't part of the amnesty, and most Iraqi families left disappointed and angry at America.

"Liars! Liars! They won't let them out!" one woman screamed in dismay before fainting. A coalition spokesman insisted the prisoner release was on track, but would be done quietly for reasons of "security and privacy."

U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer announced Wednesday that U.S. occupation forces would free 506 of some 12,800 Iraqi detainees. The first 100 were to be released Thursday from Abu Ghraib prison, where Saddam Hussein's regime tortured and murdered its opponents, Bremer said.

Bremer said the amnesty was a conciliatory gesture as the United States seeks to win goodwill. Other coalition officials said they hoped it would encourage more people to come forward with intelligence tips.

However, instead of generating goodwill for the coalition, the entire exercise appeared to have the opposite effect.

more…
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~2425~1880398,00.html

[IndianaGreen]

1. I love it!

Paul Bremer is the best recruiter the Iraqi Resistance could have ever hoped for!

When it is all over, and it will end some day, Amerika will leave Iraq with its tail between the legs as we did when Saigon fell. We are making enemies that will last for generations to come!

[jab105]

2. Apparently the silly Iraqis forgot their flowers today...

(end sarcasm)

[revcarol]

3. 500 out of 12,000?

empty gesture.:argh:

[liberalmuse]

5. Yeah, but...

without the empty gesture, Bush would have nothing to boost his poll numbers with. At least Saddam released his prisoners (the ones he hadn't killed) when he said he was going to. Christ, Bush can't even muster up that much honor.

[R3dD0g]

4. "security and privacy." My Ass

These Bozos have been fucking up since last summer and have imprisoned innocent Iraqis on the word of their enemies, and now they don't know how to let them back into society.

I thought there could be no more incompetant Iraq administrator that that buffoon chest thumping general who was replaces by Bremer. But, I was wrong. Bremer is at least as incompetant as that military clown.

[fairfaxvadem]

6. Everything these clowns do is FUBAR.....

When are people going to wake up? Of course this is a mess. They are incapable of doing anything right.

No wonder Franks got the hell out so quickly. I was never too enamored of the guy but I'm sure he saw the writing on the wall. Got the glory of the invasion then said See Ya Suckers!!

Bremer is in so way over his head. The thing is, I'll bet he knows it and can't wait to get out of there.

[snippy]

9. Bush needs a FUBAR backdrop for his speeches.

[Cocoa]

7. jerking the Iraqis around

The Chicago Tribune ran a similar story, with a heartbreaking picture on the front page, of a mother crying out. The cruelty is unbelievable.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0401090376jan09,1,3428514.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

<snip>

"With Saddam, if you left them alone, they left you alone. But the Americans take you away for no reason," said Shihab, the woman who accused the Americans of being liars.

<snip>

The announcement worried Ali and Hamid Tuma. They were looking for their father, a 66-year-old mentally ill man who disappeared in June. Ali Tuma carried a thick packet of his father's medical records.

With the help of the Red Cross and an Iraqi human-rights group, the brothers traced their father first to the detention center at Baghdad International Airport and then to Abu Ghraib. They have not been allowed to visit him.

more...

[PsychoDad]

8. Liars! Liars!

That would be us.....

[4dsc]

10. Winning hearts and minds here

Al-Zobaee said U.S. troops stormed the family's residence and arrested his brothers, Zaman, 51, a physician, and Omar, 35, an engineer. He said the soldiers also took money, gold, two Kalashnikov rifles, the deed to their property and personal identity papers, including his.

U.S. forces routinely seize assets that they believe could be used to finance the anti-coalition insurgency, and identity papers are taken to check against possible suspects. Property is returned if its owners are cleared, the military says.

Catch-22?? I wonder how's minding the store??