Iraqis shrug off concerns over photos of U.S. abuse

[babylonsister]

Iraqis shrug off concerns over photos of U.S. abuse

By Jack Dolan and Sahar Issa | McClatchy Newspapers


BAGHDAD — While President Barack Obama argues that releasing photos of U.S. soldiers abusing detainees could incite violence against American troops abroad, a prominent Iraqi leader called for their publication and others cast doubt on the U.S. administration's warnings.

Far from dominating the news as it did in Washington on Wednesday, the photo controversy has attracted almost no attention from the Iraqi news media. Even in Baghdad neighborhoods known as insurgent hotbeds, residents reacted to news of the photos with a collective shrug.

Mohammed Al Darraji, 32, who lives in Sadr City, the sprawling, impoverished Shiite Muslim neighborhood that saw some of the bloodiest clashes between local militias and U.S. forces, was unfazed.

Darraji didn't know there were more pictures of abuse by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and elsewhere until a reporter told him on Friday, and he said he doubted that their release would provoke more attacks.

"Nothing would happen," he said. "This is a very old issue, and we Iraqis have seen much worse than just photos."

Dozens of Sadr City residents were killed by a spate of bombings in public markets last month.

Harith al Obaidi, the head of the largest Sunni Muslim bloc in Iraq's parliament and the deputy chairman of the Committee on Human Rights, also shrugged off the Obama administration's concerns over the photos.

"The people who want to express their opinions through violence are already trying their best to do so," Obaidi said. "Showing them a few pictures wouldn't make them any more able to do it."

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/68302.html

[w4rma]

1. Exactly. The folks who don't want these released are not doing it because of "national security".

They're doing it because of U.S. politics, U.S. law and law enforcement.

[babylonsister]

3. To be honest, opinions from two people don't make it a concensus.

I just thought this was an interesting tidbit.

And I'd never claim to know the reasoning behind withholding the pics other than troop safety, which has been deemed the prevailing reason. So glad you're so well informed.

[FrenchieCat]

4. Yeah....cause two people in Iraq said it.

Okay.

Guess the President was lying.

Iraqis or Afghans won't be killing any our soldiers. Good to know.

I've got some folks here that says that Catholics hate Barack Obama.
Guess that's good as gold as well, hey?

[EFerrari]

7. The people in Iraq and in Afghanistan knew of the torture long before we did.

That's how the ICRC got wind of it in the first place. To posit that this is somehow news to them is sort of insulting to those most closely affected by Bush's program of torture and murder. But, don't let the facts get in the way of your "advocacy".

[Booster]

8. I think someone's lying to President Obama.

[lunatica]

2. Thanks for posting this.

:thumbsup:

[msongs]

5. one can see worse in movies rated PG13 yet we sell those worldwide nt

[TexasObserver]

6. Opposition to releasing the photos is by Americans who don't want to be reminded.

The world already knows about these atrocities. The prohibition is intended to stop Americans from seeing the horror of their government's misconduct.

[DLnyc]

9. ". . . we Iraqis have seen much worse than just photos."

Good point. Americans tend to forget that most of the rest of the world gets their information about us directly from experience, not filtered through our propaganda machines.

Interesting that the fact that around 70% of Iraqis wanted us to leave quickly was never considered a particularly relevant fact . . . how would a bunch of hicks in some far-off country know more about what's going on (in their country) than the high-powered team at Faux News?

And why would a bunch of ignorant Iraqis know more about whether their own friends, family and selves were being tortured than the news-sophisticated American public?

<< insert heavily dripping sarcasm thingy here >>

[spoony]

12. Great points. n/t

[flyarm]

10. asolutely , that is what many of us have been saying and repeating,.The Iraqi's know damn well first

hand what happened..they don't need photo's , they have moms and dads, brothers and sister who have told them all about what occured and their discription was very vivid...

It is Americans that are clueless..

and it is Americans that must come to grips with truth and then hold those responsible accountable..it is our responsibility.

We must hold everyone responsible for torture and crimes against humanity accountable..it is the law and part of the Geneva Conventions ..this isn't a matter of we don't want to..we have that obligation under the law..our law..since we signed the treaties and they became part of our constitution.

A few soldiers were held accountable..and we were "TOLD" IS WAS DONE BY ROGUE SOLDIERS..WELL WE DO NOT KNOW THAT.. we only know what we were told..and if there is one person left here at DU that does not know we have been lied to over and over and over again..well i have swamp land for that dummy!

We do not know if others are in the remaining Photos..could black opps people be in the photos? are there superior officers in those pictures?? What if Jeff gannon was in one of those pictures?? anyone remember seeing pcitures of "CAMP GANNON"?? or do only I have that memory????

And yes this is about torture pictures..but remember some died with the toture..and some were women and most horribly some were children..

We own those pictures..we paid for them with our taxes, we paid for whoever was there and took the pictures..as an employee..we paid the salareies of those torturing..it was done in our name..

I want those photo's that i am part owner of released so we have the full truth!

don't forget this...after the congress got to see the photo's and video's..

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters, "The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience." He did not elaborate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/08/iraq/main6163...

edit to add.. there is no statue of limitationson murder..remember that!!


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America admits suspects died in interrogations

By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles


Friday, 7 March 2003

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/po...


American military officials acknowledged yesterday that two prisoners captured in Afghanistan in December had been killed while under interrogation at Bagram air base north of Kabul – reviving concerns that the US is resorting to torture in its treatment of Taliban fighters and suspected al-Qa'ida operatives.


American military officials acknowledged yesterday that two prisoners captured in Afghanistan in December had been killed while under interrogation at Bagram air base north of Kabul – reviving concerns that the US is resorting to torture in its treatment of Taliban fighters and suspected al-Qa'ida operatives.

A spokesman for the air base confirmed that the official cause of death of the two men was "homicide", contradicting earlier accounts that one had died of a heart attack and the other from a pulmonary embolism.

The men's death certificates, made public earlier this week, showed that one captive, known only as Dilawar, 22, from the Khost region, died from "blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease" while another captive, Mullah Habibullah, 30, suffered from blood clot in the lung that was exacerbated by a "blunt force injury".

US officials previously admitted using "stress and duress" on prisoners including sleep deprivation, denial of medication for battle injuries, forcing them to stand or kneel for hours on end with hoods on, subjecting them to loud noises and sudden flashes of light and engaging in culturally humiliating practices such as having them kicked by female officers.

While the US claims this still constitutes "humane" treatment, human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced it as torture as defined by international treaty. The US has also come under heavy criticism for its reported policy of handing suspects over to countries such as Jordan, Egypt or Morocco, where torture techniques are an established part of the security apparatus. Legally, Human Rights Watch says, there is no distinction between using torture directly and subcontracting it out.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Exactly. The Iraqis don't need to be reminded but the Americans sure as hell do.

Just as the Germans did after WWII.