E' il sito dove operavano le bestie che torturavano i prigionieri.
E' un compound governativo iracheno dove c'erano bunker di Saddam, le carceri, una ex-fabbrica (sospetta chimica) bombardata prima dell'invasione.
Sui siti arabi la giustificazione dell'assalto al carcere era data dalla storia di un biglietto, proveniente dall'interno del carcere, il quale con tremolante grafia femminile denunciava le torture e le umiliazioni.
Da li' l'attacco della resistenza irachena, o forse il tentativo di sottrarre delle disgraziate alla loro triste sorte, visto che liberarle è chiaramente velleitario, almeno dalle foto. Nell'assalto sono morte diverse donne, che erano nelle celle colpite da colpi di mortaio.
Da notare che qualcuno ha anche preso in giro gli iracheni per questo supposto autolesionismo.
Questa storia è stata totalmente trascurata, anche io l'ho vista e non l'ho valutata abbastanza fondata, mea culpa.
Posted on Sun, Mar. 21, 2004
Soldiers accused of abuse at jail
CHARGES INCLUDE `INDECENT ACTS'
By Carol Rosenberg
Knight Ridder
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military charged six American soldiers Saturday with indecency and assaulting Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghurayb prison, the former Iraqi torture center now used as an allied military detention facility.
The assaults allegedly occurred in November and December, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of coalition operations. Fewer than 20 Arab prisoners were abused, the general said, adding that the investigation continues.
``Even though it was a very small number, that's the kind of cancer you have to cut out completely,'' he said.
Commanders were short on details, promising more today, but charges included indecent acts with another person, assault, cruelty and maltreatment, as well as conspiracy and dereliction of duty. It was not clear what punishment they would face, if convicted.
The military's manual for courts-martial says that `` `indecent' signifies that form of immorality relating to sexual impurity which is not only grossly vulgar, obscene and repugnant to common propriety, but tends to excite lust and deprave the morals with respect to sexual relations.''
Conviction on that charge can carry a maximum of five years in prison.
The general refused to characterize what the military police officers allegedly did to their captives. He also would not identify the accused soldiers, their units or their ranks, saying, ``They are still innocent until proven guilty.''
Although the charges suggest something sexual in nature, the Uniform Code of Military Justice has specific articles alleging rape and sodomy, and they were not among the five UCMJ violations filed against the soldiers Saturday.
Word of the charges did not immediately reach Iraqis, but they are sure to cause a stir. During Saddam Hussein's day, the Abu Ghurayb prison on Baghdad's western outskirts was notorious for torture and killings of political prisoners, who were sometimes buried in unmarked graves.
Abu Ghurayb was abandoned and looted by the time allied forces secured it in the early days of the year-old U.S.-led invasion. U.S. troops now hold about 15 percent of the coalition's 9,500 prisoners there.
Amnesty International has been critical of the coalition's treatment of detainees. International Red Cross delegates inspect the prison regularly, said Kimmitt, defending a policy of preventing reporters from visiting prisoners because, although they are detainees, the military is treating them like enemy prisoners of war and shielding them from ``public curiosity and humiliation.''
Saturday's charges were the first public disclosure of results from parallel criminal and internal prisoner-abuse investigations that began Jan. 14 by order of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commanding general of ground troops in Iraq.
In the course of the investigation, 17 soldiers, including a battalion commander and a company commander, were suspended but are still in Iraq for the investigation. None had been released from the investigation as of Saturday, Kimmitt said.
Special Iraqi Resistance Report: from al-Arab al-Yawm on Iraqi prisons.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr,
member Free Arab Voice Editorial Board
January 26, 2003
According to a report by Ahmad Sabri carried in Tuesday's edition of the Jordanian newspaper al-Arab al-Yawm, Iraqis who have been held prisoner by the American occupation forces have been subjected to most brutal forms of physical and psychological torture in five large detention camps, particularly those at Abu Ghurayb, west of Baghdad, and Umm Qasr, near al-Basrah in the south.
Former prisoners have offered testimonials on the inhuman practices of the occupation authorities to the newspaper al-Arab al-Yawm, saying that the number of those imprisoned by the occupation authorities exceeds 10,000 prisoners and that the release of some of them early in January cam as a result of intense overcrowding of the prisons and concentration camps, in addition to the fact that the arrests were arbitrary and based on no evidence, and that no real charges were ever filed against the prisoners. Most of the prisoners, in fact, were civilian citizens arrested for "suspicion" - something that pertains to every Iraqi in the eyes of the occupation forces.
In their testimonies, the former prisoners disclosed having seen a number of former Iraqi officials arrested and fettered and held in solitary confinement cells without any consideration for their health or the conditions of their confinement in the cases of many of these individuals.
The following is a translation of the story written by Ahmad Sabri, Baghdad correspondent for al-Arab al-Yawm and published in that newspaper's edition for Tuesday, 27 January 2004.
Baghdad - al-Arab al-Yawm - by Ahmad Sabri. Iraqi prisoners released by the American occupation forces recently are describing what they were subjected to during the periods of their detention and how and where they were arrested. In talks with al-Arab al-Yawm they have disclosed that Abu Ghurayb central prison camp, in which thousands of Iraqis are being held, was subjected on several occasions to mortar attacks resulting in the death of dozens of the prisoners and the American forces charged with controlling the prison camp.
Prisoner 'Ali Mahmud, who spent about five months in five different prison camps in various parts of Iraq before winding up in Abu Ghurayb, said that the charge against him was not based on any evidence but was merely slander. Yet the way he was captured was outrageous. "They raided my home in al-Karakh district late at night, provocatively wrecking our household goods. They stole five million dinars from my house and arrested three of my sons."
Mahmud said that the investigators used psychological torture on him throughout long hours of interrogation sessions during which his hands and feet were bound in iron chains.
Mahmud, who is known as 'Ali Mama, did not claim that he was beaten but said that some of the investigators used threats and intimidation regarding what would happen to him if he did not confess to his connections with Saddam and wit the so-called Army of Muhammad, connections with which he denied. Because he denied any connection with the Resistance, Mahmud says he was stripped naked and confined to an empty cell.
Mahmud described how during his imprisonment there he was subjected to a harsh form of punishment in which the jailers would pour water on his naked body, bringing on sickness. "I got terrible diarrhea and have fainting spells which I am now seeing a doctor about."
Mahmud described the food as "poor", saying that it is insufficient for the prisoners. He said that an Iraqi contractor prepares the food, which he said was spoiled.
'Ali Mahmud said that during his time of incarceration there, Abu Ghurayb prison camp was on several times subjected to mortar attacks which left dozens of prisoners and some American occupation soldiers dead. He said that tents pitched on the dirt are "home" to most of the prisoners in the prison camps of ar-Ridwaniyah, Abu al-Khasib, al-Baghdadi, and parts of Abu Ghurayb prison camp.
Mahmud estimated the number of Iraqi prisoners in the camps that he spent time in during his five months of detention as being more than 10,000 prisoners. He said that the reason for the release of prisoners is that the prisons have filled up and are seriously overcrowded.
Asked whether he had seen Iraqi officials during his time of imprisonment he answered: "Yes, I saw Iraqi officials. They were in miserable conditions. They have no care, and were badly treated. Among them was Saadun Hammadi, Speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly; Minister of Trade Muhammad Mahdi Salih; and Samir an-Najm; and high-ranking Iraqi Army officers."
Mahmud noted that the American forces had not allowed him any contact with his family nor was he allowed to send any letters or receive any visits from officials of the Red Cross Organization.
Another prisoner released in the first batch of prison releases a few weeks back hails from the city of al-Fallujah. I met Hamed 'Abdallah in front of Abu Ghurayb prison camp. He told me "the charge against me was possession of unlicensed weapons and that I aided the Resistance fighters. I denied this totally. I explained that I am a student in my last stages of study and that the American forces' raid on my home came as a total surprise."
"They took me to Abu Ghurayb prison," Hamed 'Abdallah explained, "where I spent most of the three months that I spent incarcerated." Hamed 'Abdallah said that the conditions in prison were "bad", causing him to break his leg and suffer serious pains in his spinal cord as a result of what he said was the intense torture whose severity he managed to endure.
He said that prisoners from al-Fallujah are singled out for specially harsh and brutal treatment because the American occupation forces in the area of the city come under Resistance attack virtually every day. This leaves a negative impression on the al-Fallujah prisoners who, he estimated, number in the hundreds in the American prison camps.
Hamed 'Abdallah said that the US forces put cameras up in every part of the prison camp to observe the prisoners and monitor their movements and communications, as a result of which dozens of them were isolated and tortured, in order to prevent their communicating among themselves.
A religious leader from the city of Mosul, Ghanim Dhannun, described the treatment he received from the American interrogators as "harsh and inhuman." He said, "They have no respect for a man of religion or a learned religious scholar or for a person of great age." Ghanim Dhannun said that he spent most of his time incarcerated in the prison at the Port of Umm Qasr in the city of al-Basrah, in the south of Iraq. He said that he was subjected to humiliation and long interrogation sessions that no person could stand.
As to the charges against him, Ghanim Dhannun said that most of the prisoners are charged with cooperating with the Iraqi Resistance. He said, however, that he was not working with the Resistance and had no connection with any attacks on the American occupation forces.
He said that he saw dozens of Iraqi officials shackled in iron chains and held in solitary confinement cells, but he declined to name any of them.
He concluded by saying that the US practice of making the release of prisoners contingent upon their pledging not to oppose the occupation and upon getting some well-known person in their home area to agree to be responsible for them is a dangerous precedent that is not justified by law or the principles of human rights.
Student Haytham 'Abdallah, who spent months in Abu Ghurayb prison camp described the conditions of his imprisonment and those of the others in the camp as "tragic, unbearable, and in violation of all humanitarian provisions." He said: "My case basically is that I happened to be passing by a particular street in the al-Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad at a time when an American column came under attack. I suddenly found myself surrounded by soldiers. They asked, 'Where are the rest of your group?'. Despite my denials and calls for help, they took me to a jail after blindfolding me and tying my hands." He said that he was beaten and kicked and denied food and water for two consecutive days.
He described clashes that took place between the detainees in Abu Ghurayb prison camp and the guards. "They broke out because of the bad treatment and because the prison authorities refused to allow any contact between the prisoners and their families. In addition there was the factor of prison conditions - the food, the place, and the bad treatment."
Haytham 'Abdallah said that the prison authorities reacted harshly to the protesters. First they opened fire into the air and then they wounded many of them. He thought it probable that a number of the wounded prisoners had subsequently died of their wounds.
Sources:
al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Tuesday 27 January 2004.
http://www.alarab-alyawm.net
http://www.iraqwatch.org/entities/images/abughurayb.htm
poi questo:
Abu Ghurayb Presidential Site
US Military Occupation Facilities
Satellite Imagery
References
* GI helps keep Iraqi palace in top shape By Jason Chudy, Stars and Stripes, European edition, Thursday, October 16, 2003
The presidential palace at Abu Ghraib includes a command bunker, sleeping quarters and a large underground military and intelligence center. The Abu Ghraib complex was one of eight designated presidential palace, and Iraq's decision to declare it off-limits to UN arms inspectors spurred the 1998 US-Iraqi showdown.
Special Republican Guards, regarded as particularly loyal to Saddam Hussein, were billeted at a base at Abu Ghraib. The Eighth Battalion (Security) headquarters were located at Ridhwaniyeh/Saddam International Airport from the Abu-Ghraib side near the prefabicated residences of airport employees formerly used to house the French company that supervised the building of the airport, near Al-Faris Al-Arabi Club. The Eighth Battalion was tasked with protecting the entrances to the airport from the Airport Highway and from the Abu-Ghraib road.
Construction at the Abu Ghurayb Presidential Palace was ongoing during the 1990s. It featured extensive and complex water works. The Abu Ghraib palace is an extravagant amalgam of marble, tile, gold fittings and massive chandeliers, all surrounded by an azure artificial lake. The palace features extensive and complex water works. The government of Saddam Hussein's Iraq claimed extensive crop damage due to drought, yet it didn't hesitate to use scarce water resources to ensure that the lakes of Saddam's palaces were filled and grounds well cared for.
The Qasr al Faw Palace was one of Saddam's newer palaces. The Al Faw Palace is named after a southern town that was occupied by the Iranians and then won back in a bloody siege that cost thousands of lives. It is set on an artificial lake, so still it looks like blue-green glass. All around the lake are Roman-style villas.
Cobra Base
The Abu Ghyriab palace in Baghdad is home of Cobra Base, headquarters of Coalition Joint Task Force-7 [CJTF-7]. The security and access control of Cobra Base is important, since it is a chief meeting ground for military and civilian officials and dignitaries. CJTF-7 headquarters was previously named the Coalition Forces Land Component Command and was the headquarters unit responsible for all land combat unit operations. In early April 2003 the CJTF 7 headquarters settled in what was once a presidential palace of Saddam Hussein. The Abu Ghurayb North Palace became the headquarters of Lt. Gen. John McKiernan, chief of US Central Command's ground forces. The CJTF 7 headquarters brought along its very own self-sufficient medical facility called the Cobra Base Medical Aid Station. The defense of Cobra Base is enforced by armed security as well as routine vehicle and personnel searches at the main gate.
On 30 April 2003 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld met top US commanders at their base in Abu Ghraib, a former presidential palace recently renamed Cobra Base by the American troops. At that time some 12,000 US troops were deployed in Baghdad, patrolling the streets of the capital with the help of Iraqi police volunteers.
Forward Operating Base Cobra
In early 2004 units of the 105th Combat Engineer Battalion of the North Carolina Army National Guard battalion was spread over four different locations in Iraq. Their missions were mainly basic life support. "Caring for quality of life such as water, housing, dining facilities for troops to mess (eat) in and setting up for long range sustained support. Company A from Rockingham and Wadesboro was divided between Forward Operating Bases Cobra and Wyatt north of Baghdad.
http://www.iraqwatch.org/entities/images/abughurayb.htm
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