'We never tortured anybody' though 'sometimes we beat them'

[kpete]

Even as they work alongside U.S. forces, Zobaie's men admit they have beaten and tortured suspects to force confessions and exact revenge.

In the city's overcrowded, Iraqi-run jail, located inside a compound that also houses a U.S. military base and U.S. police advisers, detainees were beaten with iron rods, according to the current warden. Many were held for months with no clear evidence or due process. They were deprived of food, medical care and electricity and lived in utter squalor, said detainees, Iraqi police and U.S. military officers, who began to address the problems three weeks ago. Last summer, the warden said, several detainees died of heatstroke.

In Zobaie's world, to show mercy is to show weakness. In a land where men burn other men alive, harsh tactics are a small price to pay for imposing order, he said.

"We never tortured anybody," he said. "Sometimes we beat them during the first hours of capture."

His men, he added, abuse suspects because "they don't surrender easily. They don't confess. They say: 'I am innocent. I haven't done anything.' They start to defend themselves."

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301990_pf.html

[stellanoir]

1. I've never been more ashamed to be an american.

". . . with no clear evidence or due process. . . "

[Lint Head]

2. Bush is torturing the entire nation by continuing to occupy

the White House. :dem:

[Broadslidin]

3. Not much has changed since Medieval Christian Crusader Murder & Mayhem Inc. began

And throw in "Pillage" as a reward.
:nuke: :patriot: :nuke: