The other prisoners (The Women of Abu Ghraib)

[Tinoire]

((Devastating article))

Most of the coverage of abuse at Abu Ghraib has focused on male detainees. But what of the five women held in the jail, and the scores elsewhere in Iraq? Luke Harding reports

Thursday May 20, 2004
The Guardian

The scandal at Abu Ghraib prison was first exposed not by a digital photograph but by a letter. In December 2003, a woman prisoner inside the jail west of Baghdad managed to smuggle out a note. Its contents were so shocking that, at first, Amal Kadham Swadi and the other Iraqi women lawyers who had been trying to gain access to the US jail found them hard to believe.
The note claimed that US guards had been raping women detainees, who were, and are, in a small minority at Abu Ghraib. Several of the women were now pregnant, it added. The women had been forced to strip naked in front of men, it said. The note urged the Iraqi resistance to bomb the jail to spare the women further shame.

Late last year, Swadi, one of seven female lawyers now representing women detainees in Abu Ghraib, began to piece together a picture of systemic abuse and torture perpetrated by US guards against Iraqi women held in detention without charge. This was not only true of Abu Ghraib, she discovered, but was, as she put it, "happening all across Iraq".

In November last year, Swadi visited a woman detainee at a US military base at al-Kharkh, a former police compound in Baghdad. "She was the only woman who would talk about her case. She was crying. She told us she had been raped," Swadi says. "Several American soldiers had raped her. She had tried to fight them off and they had hurt her arm. She showed us the stitches. She told us, 'We have daughters and husbands. For God's sake don't tell anyone about this.'"

Astonishingly, the secret inquiry launched by the US military in January, headed by Major General Antonio Taguba, has confirmed that the letter smuggled out of Abu Ghraib by a woman known only as "Noor" was entirely and devastatingly accurate. While most of the focus since the scandal broke three weeks ago has been on the abuse of men, and on their sexual humilation in front of US women soldiers, there is now incontrovertible proof that women detainees - who form a small but unknown proportion of the 40,000 people in US custody since last year's invasion - have also been abused. Nobody appears to know how many. But among the 1,800 digital photographs taken by US guards inside Abu Ghraib there are, according to Taguba's report, images of a US military policeman "having sex" with an Iraqi woman.

<snip>

The women, however, are kept in another part of the prison, cellblock 1A, together with 19 "high-value" male detainees. It is inside this olive-painted block, which leads into a courtyard of shimmering green saysaban trees and pink flowering shrubs, that the notorious photographs of US troops humiliating Iraqi prisoners were taken, many of them on the same day, November 8 2003. A wooden interrogation shed is a short stroll away. As we arrived at the cellblock, the women shouted to us through the bars. An Iraqi journalist tried to talk to them; a female US soldier interrupted and pushed him away. The windows of the women's cells have been boarded up; birds nest in the outside drainpipe. Captain Dave Quantock, now in charge of prisoner detention at Abu Ghraib, confirmed that the women prisoners are in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. They have no entertainment; they do have a Koran.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1220509,00.html

[Just Me]

1. The horror,...the horror,...

:cry:

[jdj]

4. No doubt, people keep referencing "Lord of the Flies"

but this thing keeps reminding me of "Heart of Darkness."

I wish we could accept how malleable human morality is and how dependent it is on the people one is surrounded by. If we could only accept this then maybe we would be more vigilant about who has access to power.

[Just Me]

9. Malleable,...yes,...

,...human beings are definitely malleable, rarely ever inherently "good" or "evil" but rather having the capacity of either and both. As a person who has a background in both law and psychology,...I have witnessed a spectrum of human flexibility. I have also witnessed human limits being tested and broken.

I've never read "Heart of Darkness". Who is the author? Have you ever read Scott Peck's, "People of the Lie"? He strongly urges more research into human evil,...something no one seems to want to touch or explore.

[starroute]

13. "Heart of Darkness" was the basis of the movie "Apocalpyse Now"

The author is Joseph Conrad.

[keithyboy]

20. These women will be shamed forever...it's their culture.

How awful. They should sue the US government and receive compensatory damges. These women were not POWs, they were sex chattel for the military slime!

[frankly_fedup2]

42. I really do not understand why they had to rape . . .

these Iraqi women when they have female soldiers to have group sex with. I'm not saying what these women are saying isn't true. These are suppose to be our military, trained, educated, moral. This BS about "war is always horrible" does not even begin to talk about what is happening in Iraq. As far as these poor women, they will probably try to kill themselves or go mad with shame. Women who have been raped never get over it. Does not matter the culture. However, I do kind of understand the extreme role that women in the Muslim world have (which they are below most everything but do everything for the men). Virginity to them is a must for marriage I believe. And now some of them are pregnant?

They take an innocent young man and saw his head off the whole time while he was screaming and who in the WORLD condemned it? Really, I do not remember anyone??? Also, Daniel Pearl is all but forgotten.

What is wrong with this administration? Surely pure greed is not fueling this now?

Personally, I do not think revealing more pictures is helping America's image in the world. We know of the horrors and are supposedly taking care of it (well the privates are going to be the sacrificial lambs. It does not matter if they were following orders). Of course, I do not understand why anyone would open up a body bag with a body in it packed with ice, then turn at the camera with a thumbs up and smiling. What is up with that stupidity.

[KDLarsen]

44. As I understand it..

.. rapists aren't doing it for the sex, but to show that they're in control of their victim. By doing this, the US guards may have sent a clear message to these women, that they could do whatever they wanted without any form of consequences, thus leaving them in fear of what happens next - and thus ripe for questioning.

[Scairp]

45. Quite right

The intent is to rob these women of their dignity. What has our military come to when they are now employing the tactics of regimes that we have in the past condemned for doing the same things? I fear our soldiers have a crossed a line and will not turn back. It makes you ask, who are the real the terrorists now?

[Invalence1]

15. Heart of Darkness

was written by Joseph Conrad in 1902. Some would say it's a classic.

[Just Me]

17. Thank you both. I had no idea "Apocalyse Now" was based

on that book. I watched the movie, several times. It was quite shattering. Of course, I am a still youthful 41 year old and saw it way back when I was very young.

I will pick up a copy and check it out.

[Tinoire]

22. Me neither. Will read it this week-end. Thanks n/t

[CWebster]

28. It was required reading in my high school

damn liberal 60's education.

[ewagner]

31. A most disturbing image

from the book....refers to the whited sepulcher of corporate headquarters ....it carries so much more significance now......it turns my stomach......

[saigon68]

2. Some day the criminals holding these people will pay dearly

[yardwork]

21. That's us. Someday we will pay dearly - in America.

I am not hoping for this outcome. I'm just stating an inevitable fact.

Oh my God. What kind of world am I raising my children to live in now?

[lovedems]

3. Equal opportunity rapists.

This makes me ill. Men, women and children all sexually abused. I will carry the shame our "leaders" seem to lack.:cry:

[Tinoire]

5. Here's more.... (The Women of Abu Ghraib)

(cut and paste from a previous thread on May 2)

The Women of Abu Ghraib

Do you remember the LIES that the reason Fallujah erupted was because there were "foreign" insurgents fighting and/or (because they always offer us a choice of lies from which to pick) that Sadr's men were upset that we had shut down a newspaper?

Lies. Lies. Rotten-Apple LIES!

Rumors of these atrocities have been on the internet for a while but because they weren't on the US corporate-owned media, we didn't give them enough attention.

The horrifying photos which emerged this week explain things much better than the corporate media or the apologists have ever been able to.

We heard about the men only because the "Occupation Armies" couldn't squelch the rumors and pictures began circulating on hard-core pornography sites. Soldiers had also started coming forward, horrified at what they KNEW was taking place and it was only then that the military 'realized' they had a problem & launched an 'investigation'. The first investigation, led by the Army’s chief law-enforcement officer, Provost Marshal Donald Ryder, a Major General, was a whitewash report that brought a few small problems to light. The second investigation, conducted by Major General Antonio M. Taguba which was not meant for public consumption, identifies a systemic problem. What we need now is a THIRD investigation by a respectable organization such as Amnesty International (which is conveniently barred from Abu Ghraib).

There is no mention of the women at Abu Ghraib and yet it was their plight that started the uprising. They were being released from that prison and sent out in the streets in stages of undress that we Americans would consider half-naked.

Common sense alone dictates that the women underwent the same type of horrors the men did. We don't need a third investigation to know that that happened. We need a third investigation to bring these crimes to light, expose & punish those involved, and show the world that those sociopaths responsible do NOT represent the American people.

I am outraged and ashamed.

- Brigadier General Janis Karpinski
- Staff Sergeant Ivan L. Frederick II
- Sergeant Javal Davis
- Specialist Charles A. Graner
- Specialist Megan Ambuhl
- Specialist Sabrina Harman
- Private Jeremy Sivits
- Private Lynndie England

This story mustn't end with this "garden" assortment of sacrificial lambs because the Army isn't tossing out a Brigadier General over the "alleged" crimes of 7 enlisted people, only two of whom are of ranks where you are entrusted with low-level responsibilities.

BG Krapinski and these 7 sorry fools are being tossed out as a diversion to prevent us from uncovering a much larger scandal involving contract torturers from CACI International Inc, ticker symbol CAI and Titan Corp, ticker symbol TTN as well as the CIA, the DIA and every rotten organization implicated in this world-class horror.

If you have links and stories about the others involved, please post them in this thread. Please post relevant snippets or synopses of the information and not just the link.

Please. For the men over there whose lives have been recklessly endangered by the sociopaths who are willing to "do whatever it takes". For the hostages. For our mothers. For our sisters. For our daughters. For our humanity.

====================================================================

03 05 2004 (Note the date)

The newspaper reminds that militants attacked the (Abu Ghraib) prison several days ago. 22 prison guards and inmates were killed and 51 injured. The reason for this was probably a leaflet that can be seen on the outside of the prison's wall...similar leaflets are now appearing in many mosques in Baghdad...cry for help from the hostages of that Iraqi prison...

«We are held in the northern sector. Attack this prison and put an end to our disgrace, and if you cannot do this for the love of the Most High, tell someone who can stick up for us or give us some 'Bahe Maneh al-Hamel'. May Allah and Iraqi patriots put an end to our tortures». 'Bahe Maneh al-Hamel' is the Arab for 'contraceptive pills'.

The women detained in Abu Ghraib are feeling ashamed when they evasively tell about the desperate situation that they are in (which any Eastern woman would experience in the conditions of constant violence committed by prison guards, new Iraqi policemen and the Americans). Any Muslim who read this message will feel his blood curdle from indignation.

<snip>

One of the Iraqis working on a contract with the US administration told La Stampa about one of such terrible episodes. He says that almost 2,500 inmates are held in that prison. The prison is divided into 4 sections. 600 inmates are women. One of them is a bank teller from Baghdad. She was put in jail in January for financial fraud. She could only be released on bail. The family collected $15,000 and this person was sent to discuss the details of release. When he saw her in a room, she had a big stomach. She was sobbing and telling that she was raped by Iraqi prison guards and American soldiers each night, and she does not want to get out of the prison. She told not to say anything to her relatives, because if she returns to Baghdad she will die from shame. :mad:

The same person said that two women already hung themselves in their cells. Another woman gave a birth in confinement. The newborn baby was a mulatto. Allegedly, the US military authorities conducted an internal investigation, but no guilty have been found.

Amnesty International is calling on the complex investigation of all cases of violence against the inmates in Iraq.

<snip>

http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/article.php?id=2730
====


((with thanks to Chookie))

<snip>

The real facts are that there is report after report of US abuses; on the internet, in the back pages of our newspapers, in personal accounts that with a little luck will now make their way to mainstream press. This is not an isolated few - this is business as usual for the US military and their collaborating band of thugs in Iraq. Is it any wonder that bodies of US soldiers who fall into Iraqi hands are mutilated and displayed?

The pictures of US soldiers dishonoring Iraqi detainees came as no surprise to JUS (Jihad Unspun). We have been reporting alleged abuses since shortly after the fall of Baghdad. We received several reports over the past months of US soldiers raping Iraqi woman, only to find these photos posted to US porn sites. While these photos and reports were put down to "loose" Iraqi women (which shows a fundamental understanding of Iraq's religion and culture) we discovered later that those who were detained, some at Abu Ghraib prison, who refused to provide US officials with intelligence where given a prod to garner "cooperation" by rounding up the female relatives, forcing then into sexual acts that were filmed and then shown to their husbands, fathers and brothers and to the general public through porn sites. Now the CBS 60 Minutes II report legitimizes the incidents we have been reporting all along.

The Arab world is outraged. The Muslim Ummah is outraged. Iraqis are outraged and so are people of conscience everywhere. I pity the next soldiers that fall into Resistance hands. And contrary to its belief - America can be defeated and most likely will be defeated and dangled at the end of its own pathetic rope for all the world to see.

http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=2811&list=/home.php&

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1517119

[Spazito]

6. And the horror continues to grow

*

[CharlesGroce]

7. The thought of this makes me

want to grab Ben Chandler (D-Ky), my Rep by the way, by the arm and take his ass down to the capital building and make that child speak out against the war in such a way that our troops are home next week. And if it made all of us feel this way, they'd be home next week.

These fucking Democrats, are like children. This war would never had begun without their consent. And I don't want to hear 'they were lied to'. I knew, you knew! They were lies!

[Tinoire]

10. I agree & this is why I am particularly unforgiving of the Democrats who

enabled this. We knew. We all knew & we begged and pleaded with them not to enable this but they went ahead anyway sending us snippy little letters that they knew what was "best".

I can't forget that. Can't forget handing my cell phone to total strangers to that they too could call.

My biggest slap in the face isn't from Bush because I expected this of him and his cohorts; it's from my Democratic representatives. I am still trying to figure out who they represent because if it's me, they're fired for derilection of duty.

Peace to you

[happynewyear]

8. how sick and how sad!

Thank you for posting this information!


:kick:

[NNN0LHI]

11. Anyone know what will happen to any children born to an Iraqi...

...woman who has been raped by an American soldier in an Iraqi prison?

Don

[Tinoire]

12. From what I've been reading & much to my horror

These women are killing themselves, getting killed by their families or the entire families are going into hiding where their shame won't be so known.

[wicket]

14. Oh god.

:(

[cambie]

16. I will post this link again.

Maybe now it is more credible.
http://gsmpro.com/article/articledt.asp?hArticleId=3292

[Just Me]

19. I just,...I am completely horrified at such atrocities,...

,...and I beg for justice for these women who had no control over these predatory abusers.

[Tinoire]

23. Thanks fore reposting. Some things can NOT be posted enough

Stealing Iraq’s resources, plundering its antiquities and reducing the country’s infrastructure to rubble is surely a violation of Arab honor but raping their woman is a heinous crime.

If there is one thing I have to come to know in covering the Middle East, it is that honor is the highest value in the Arab culture. It transcends all other dictates and is woven into the very fabric of Arab society. Drawing from not only the religion of Islam, but from ancient code, Arab honor masks raw power and lends it the dignity of authority.

The loss of Iraqi national honor that resulted from the US invasion and rapid occupation of Iraq has indeed been a hard pill for Arabs to swallow, particularly on the heels of decades of colonization. Stealing the country’s resources, plundering its antiquities and reducing the country’s infrastructure to rubble surely justifies Iraqi resistance and is a logical and understandable reaction to these crimes.

Violating personal honor is an even greater offense.

<snip>

Here is what we do know:

• On June 9th, an the Iraqi newspaper As-Saah charged that 18 US soldiers raped two Iraqi girls aged 14 and 15, a claim of course denied by the US military. One of the girls was subsequently killed by her family for the shame that this act caused.

• On July 15th, the New York Times news service reported that rape in Iraq said to be on the rise, which they attributed to the breakdown of the Iraqi government after the war. A report by Human Rights Watch based on more than 70 interviews with law-enforcement officials, victims, their families and medical personnel found 25 credible reports of sexual violence since the war was declared over. Baghdadis believe there are far more.

• Rapes in Iraq are rarely reported. For most Iraqi victims of rape, getting medical and police assistance is a humiliating process. The deep traditions of honor foster a sense of shame so strong that many families of victims receive no support or consolation.

• The Human Rights Watch report alleges that sometimes when women try to report a rape or families ask for help in finding abducted women, they are turned away by police officers indifferent to the crimes. Some law-enforcement officials insist rape has not increased, while other officials and many medical personnel disagree. They also found that U.S. military police were unwilling or unable to conduct serious investigations of sexual violence and abduction. In some cases, reports of sexual violence and abduction to police were simply “lost”.

<snip>

http://gsmpro.com/article/articledt.asp?hArticleId=3292

Jeez/

[gottaB]

18. nur

We scream for help to save us from these beasts but no one seems to hear our desperate cry.

A desperate scream

[Tinoire]

36. OMG. That's THE Note! The one that sparked the Fallujah uprising!

It was plastered all over the mosques and streets of Fallujah.
I am in tears now because of her words and that picture- angry, heart-broken tears. I can't take this much longer; it's making me lash out uneccessarily at perfectly decent posters. Damn. Damn. Damn.


To my own folk, to my own people in Ramadi, Khalidiyya and Falluja… to all the people of the world who endear their dignity and honour, is my appeal.


From the American- Zionist prison of Abu Ghraib, your very sister Nur sends you this letter but the question is: from where shall I start? By God I do not know how to describe to you the misery and the indignation in the prison; the hunger we suffer the humiliation we experience while you enjoy your meals to gluttony? Or the thirst while you drink as you please? Or the sleepless nights we are subjected to by our American prisoners? Or our nakedness that our prisoners like us to parade in front of them? O’ dear brother, when we see your trucks and cars transporting building materials for the Americans, our hearts jump because those trucks and cars belong to my people and to my own town then I reflect with a bleeding heart: O’ God! My people have sold their honour and dignity in exchange for a bundle of American Dollars, but when I reflect upon our desecrated honour and my situation, I burst into tears. O’ dear brothers and sisters, how I, in God’s name, can describe or put in words, the suffering we undergo and experience at the hands of the Americans, let alone the severe beating and daily torture because we do not give in to their lusty and sexual desires!!! O’ the spiritual leaders of our beloved faith, where do you hide your faces from the shame and dishonour that the Americans brought upon you and us?? Have you already forgotten the preaching of our most revered Prophet to safeguard your honour? Have you already sold yourselves and us to the American and Zionists in the slave market in return for a few Dollars? Have you lost your honour and dignity?? Have you forgotten that God has put us in you trust; to keep, to cherish and protect our honour from desecration? The Americans in Abu Ghraib have already desecrated your and our honour. In the name of the almighty God and those who read my letter world wide to raise their voices against the brutal treatment we undergo at the hand of our prisoners. It is worse than the Palestinians in the Zionist’s prisoners but here they rape us, they desecrated and violated our sacred honour like wild bests. We scream for help to save us from these bests but no one seems to hear our desperate cry. Finally, if there still any atom of honour in your hearts,O’ leaders of the community, do attack this notorious prison with every weapon at your disposal killing them and us altogether because our wombs are already pregnant with their bastards. We love to die than bringing shame upon you or upon our families and our land; kill us, I beseech you to the sake of God to kill us with the Americans and their bastards.

Your Sister

Nur.
Arabic Translation
http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat_mukhtara/arabic/022004/risala_aboghreb.htm

[gottaB]

37. yeah, that's Nur's letter

the woman in the photo is identified as one of the remaining women prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Don't know her name. The photo's credited to John Moore of AP and is still up at yahoo! news photos.

[Spazito]

24. Here's an article about the kind of animals that were hired...

to oversee the prisons, unbelievable!

Screening of Prison Officials Is Faulted by Lawmakers

The use of American corrections executives with abuse accusations in their past to oversee American-run prisons in Iraq is prompting concerns in Congress about how the officials were selected and screened.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, sent a letter yesterday to Attorney General John Ashcroft questioning what he described as the "checkered record when it comes to prisoners' rights" of John J. Armstrong, a former commissioner of corrections in Connecticut.

Mr. Armstrong resigned last year after Connecticut settled lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the families of two Connecticut inmates who died after being sent by Mr. Armstrong to a supermaximum security prison in Virginia. One of the inmates, a diabetic, died of heart failure after going into diabetic shock and then being hit with an electric charge by guards wielding a stun gun and kept in restraints.

In his letter, Mr. Schumer requested that the Justice Department conduct an investigation into the role of American civilians in the Iraqi prison system. Mr. Armstrong is assistant director of operations of American prisons in Iraq, and Mr. Schumer said he was apparently working under contract for the State Department.

more

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/21/politics/21PRIS.html?ex=1085716800&en=638208c105deba6c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[mainer]

25. What was that about "rape rooms," George?

We've got our own, now.

[Bridget Burke]

27. He knew about them.

We all wondered where his weird "rape room" comments were coming from (accompanied by his trademark smirk). I bet he'd seen some of the pictures & videos.

Did he watch them with Condi?




(edited to add smirk comment)

[mainer]

29. Every time George mentions rape rooms, we need to throw this in his face!

I got so sick of hearing him talk again and again about Saddam's rape rooms. I wonder if he will ever dare mention the phrase again.

I am truly pissed off that we DON'T talk about the women prisoners. It's as if they don't exist, or we don't care about them.

[Alerter_]

34. it's a pattern - whatever he condemns, he is doing

It's consistent.

[CWebster]

26. I had to brace myself to read this....

Would anyone be wrong to spit on these soldiers or any of our leaders, who by their lack of opposition, enabled these, let's call them what they are, crimes against humanity?

[Gin]

30. Are the pictures of the woman and several men ejaculating on her real?

Or are these staged porn pics? I believed them at first...then discounted them as staged...so now I am confused.

Real or fake?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

32. What is your gut telling you after reading the other articles?

[JPZenger]

33. Some rape photos are probably fake

There are a set of supposed rape photos being circulated on the web that reportedly were staged by a Hungarian porno site for sale. I am not saying the rape allegations are lies, but some of the photos apparently are.

In any case, the rape stories are being widely reported in the Arab media and are being believed by millions. These stories are very dangerous to spurring more terrorism and more attacks on U.S. troops.

[CWebster]

35. It was apparently the practice as well as the threat

that explicit sexual humiliation and graphic photographs would be posted on porn sites. I have heard that the woman, Noor is identified as a detainee in the photos and has since disappeared.

Other photos, which have since been recognized as legitimate were originally posted on the same site.

[Matilda]

38. I've said this on another thread -

I think Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should be tried for War Crimes
at the Hague.

This is gratuitous and quite deliberate. No way did these soldiers
just wake up one morning and decide to torture Iraqi prisoners
while their superiors turned a blind eye. This was planned, and
of course it came from the top.

WHEN Bush goes in November, he shouldn't be allowed to retire
quietly to Crawford with his ill-gotten wealth - he should be hit
with everything in the book, and his puppeteers with him.

It's necessary for the Iraqis that this should happen, and I believe
it would be cleansing for the U.S. as well.

[Judi Lynn]

39. The circumstances which brought these women to the prisons are loathesome

From the Guardian article at the top Tinoire posted:

US officials have previously acknowledged detaining Iraqi women in the hope of convincing male relatives to provide information; when US soldiers raid a house and fail to find a male suspect, they will frequently take away his wife or daughter instead.

How can this happen? HOW? It's beyond thought, imagination, belief. It's so wrong you just go blank trying to understand it.

[atreides1]

40. Taking of Hostages

Is against the Geneva Conventions, but no one seemed to care when two
Brigade Commanders from the illustrious 4th ID (Das Reich) took as hotages the families of two former Iraqi generals, to force them to surrender.

Both of these brigade commanders were white and regarded as heros, but when a black colonel beat and fired a pistol near the head of an Iraqi policemen, he was charged, relieved of command, and forced to retire.

So the US was violating the Geneva Conventions before the Abu Ghraib report was released, and nobody cared.

[JPZenger]

41. Threatening Relatives of Dissidents

In many cases, the U.S. has attacked dictators for holding persons responsible for the actions of their relatives. According to these reports, we were doing the same thing - holding and threatening women to get information from their family members. The Nazis were masters of this form of intimidation in their attempts to stop the French Resistance.
----
This is one of things that brought Joe McCarthy down - when he tried to get people fired because they had a brother or sister who was a left-winger.

[Alerter_]

43. I'd like to hear Limbaugh defend this "technique"

I'd love to hear any of them defend it.