Iraq War Logs Reveal US Chose "El Salvador Option" to Secure Iraq

[Joanne98]

More than 390,000 field reports known as the Iraq War Logs, leaked by Wikileaks, show the regular use of abuse, brutality and torture used on Iraqis by Iraqi Police and Iraqi Security Forces. The routine violations of human rights by the police and security forces, which US and Coalition forces have trained to takeover Iraq's security as they withdraw, raise questions about the nature of conduct and operations between the US, Coalition, and the Iraqi forces.


"The El Salvador Option"


Reports show that police or security forces were likely given the task of detention and interrogation and the US forces were to transfer detainees into custody and perhaps check in regularly to figure out if any of the detainees were truly terrorists or not. And, other than those duties, it appears police and security forces had carte blanche to do as they please with Iraqi detainees.


ON 02JUN06 ___ SUBMITTED A SPOT REPORT TO THE ___ Military Police ___ OF A DETAINEE E ___ ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE BY THE CAPTURING UNIT. A ___ SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING REPORT TO THE ___ Military Police ___:



F Internment serial Number ___ WAS INTERROGATED AT THE CAMP ___ THEATER ___ FACILITY ON 01JUN06. DURING THE INTERROGATION, Internment serial Number ___ STATED THAT AFTER BEING BLINDFOLDED AND PLACED INTO A HMMWV, HE WAS KICKED IN THE GROIN AND PUNCHED IN THE LEFT SIDE OF HIS FACE BY A MARINE. Internment serial Number ___ ALSO STATED THAT AFTER HIS ARRIVAL AT THE FIRST BASE, HE WAS PUNCHED BY MEMBERS OF THE IRAQI ARMY AND AN ___. Internment serial Number ___ HAD NO SPECIFIC DETAILS ABOUT THE IRAQI ARMY MEMBERS OR THE ___, ONLY THAT HE WAS BLINDFOLDED AND RECOGNIZED THEIR ACCENTS. Internment serial Number ___ THEN STATED THAT UPON HIS ARRIVAL AT THE SECOND BASE, HE WAS CONTINUALLY KICKED IN THE GROIN FOR AN UNSPECIFIED AMOUNT OF TIME BY AN IRAQI OFFICER DRESSED IN A .___. SOLDIER E ___ UNIFORM. AFTER WHICH HE WAS PLACED ON THE GROUND FACE DOWN BY A ___, HAD HIS PANTS AND UNDERWEAR TAKEN OFF, AND HAD COLD WATER POURED ON HIS BARE BOTTOM. Internment serial Number ___ ALSO STATED HE WAS FORCED TO HOLD BOTTLES OF WATER IN FRONT OF HIM FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME. Internment serial Number ___ COULD NOT PROVIDE ANY SPECIFIC INFORMATION PERTAINING TO HIS ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE. Internment serial Number ___ COULD NOT PROVIDE NAMES OR DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED. G <"ALLEGED DETAINEE ABUSE ___ BY ___ IVO FALLUJAH: ___ INJ/DAMAGE", May 18, 2006>



Some reports show how US forces helped give police or security forces the benefit of the doubt, like for example this chilling report involving one detainee that was sodomized with a bottle and brutally beaten. The US soldier filing the report chose to question whether abuse took place by citing a "motorcycle incident" the Iraqi police officer involved claimed the detainee experienced:

AT 191400C OCT ___ IN ___ (ZONE ___) IVO ___ NPTT ___ THAT - ___ BDE SPTT - ___ BDE SPTT CONDUCTED A ROUTINE INSPECTION OF THE - ___ BDE DETENTION FACILITY AND IDENTIFIED ONE PROBABLE CASE OF DETAINEE ABUSE. THE ALLEGED BEATING TOOK PLACE UNDER INTERROGATION AT THE -- ___ HQ ON THE EVENING OF ___ OCT ___. THE DETAINEE WAS BLINDFOLDED AND IS UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE OFFENDERS. THE DETAINEE CLAIMED HE WAS BEATEN ABOUT THE FEET AND LEGS WITH A BLUNT OBJECT, AND PUNCHED IN THE FACE AND ___. HE CLAIMED THAT ELECTRICITY WAS USED ON HIS FEET AND GENITALS, AND HE WAS ALSO WITH A WATER BOTTLE. -- ___ PERSONNEL CLAIMED IT WAS CAUSED BY THE DETAINEE FALLING FROM HIS MOTORCYCLE WHILE HE WAS BEING CHASED BY THE ___ . THE DETAINEE DISPLAYED GREAT DIFFICULTY WALKING WITH BRUISING AND SWELLING ON THE SOLES OF BOTH FEET. THE DETAINEE HAD LOCALIZED CUTS AND BRUISING ON BOTH LEGS (PRIMARILY THE LEFT), THE LEFT ARM, AND THE LEFT CHIN. THERE WERE NO INJURIES VISIBLE ON THE DETAINEE E ___ HANDS, UPPER ARMS, TORSO, UPPER LEGS, OR BUTTOCKS. HIS CLOTHING WAS NOT RIPPED OR DAMAGED, BUT DID DISPLAY BLOOD STAINS. THE NPTT E ___ INITIAL ASSESSMENT WAS THAT THE DETAINEE E ___ WOUNDS WERE NOT CONSISTENT WITH THAT FROM A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT, AND QUESTIONED THE DETAINEE IN FRONT OF THE JAIL GUARDS. THE DETAINEE MAINTAINED THAT HE WAS SIMPLY DRIVING SLOWLY AT THE TIME. WHEN ASKED IF HIS MOTORCYCLE TIPPED TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT, THE DETAINEE TOOK AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF TIME TO ANSWER ...THE SPTT REMOVED THE DETAINEE TO A PRIVATE ROOM FOR FURTHER EXAMINATION. THE RESULTS OF THIS INCIDENT INCLUDE..." <"*ALLEGED DETAINEE ABUSE ___ BY -___ NPTT IN ___ (ZONE ): ___ INJ/DAMAGE", October 19, 2006>



A Washington Post editorial published in 2005 provides context to the individual field reports.:

"OF ALL THE bloodshed in Iraq, none may be more disturbing than the campaign of torture and murder being conducted by U.S.-trained government police forces. Reports last week in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times chronicled how Iraqi Interior Ministry commando and police units have been infiltrated by two Shiite militias, which have been conducting ethnic cleansing and rounding up Sunnis suspected of supporting the insurgency. Hundreds of bodies have been appearing along roadsides and in garbage dumps, some with acid burns or with holes drilled in them. According to the searing account by Solomon Moore of the Los Angeles Times, "the Baghdad morgue reports that dozens of bodies arrive at the same time on a weekly basis, including scores of corpses with wrists bound by police handcuffs." The reports followed a raid two weeks ago by U.S. troops on a clandestine Baghdad prison run by the Interior Ministry, where some 170 men, most of them Sunni and most of them starved or tortured, were found""


It shows that what journalist Nir Rosen called on Democracy Now! the "El Salvador Option" was likely employed. Iraqi death squads or police and security forces were used to cleanse areas of Iraq and beat sections of communities into submission through the terrorism of possible brutality.


"The Wolf Brigade"

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Iraq-War-Logs-Reveal-US-Ch-by-Kevin-Gosztola-101026-29.html