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| Iraq |
| Surprising Conclusion: Torture site backs fears of pro-Iran infiltrators |
| 2005-11-18 |
| The discovery of a secret Iraqi Interior Ministry torture chamber confirms what has been an open secret in Baghdad for months: Pro-Iranian militia have deeply infiltrated the ministry and are acting as a law unto themselves. Iraqis have reported seeing men in Interior Ministry uniforms and vehicles at the sites of extrajudicial killings of Sunnis, and at least one reporter has been warned to keep his movements secret from the ministry for fear of being kidnapped. It is widely thought that the ministry also is infiltrated by criminal networks linked to the insurgency. Civilians and police in Baghdad have known about secret detention centers run by the ministry but have been too frightened of reprisals to say anything about them, one police officer said yesterday. "I am more scared of the Ministry of Interior than I am of the insurgents," said the young police officer, who was reached by telephone in Baghdad and spoke strictly on the condition of anonymity. U.S. forces raided the ministry-run basement detention center in Baghdad's upmarket Jadriyah neighborhood on Sunday, finding more than 160 malnourished prisoners, several bearing signs of torture. Most of them were Sunnis. Asked whether there were other such prisons in Baghdad, the frightened police officer said it was "a very sensitive issue and would make big problems" if he spoke about them. The Interior Ministry is headed by Bayan Jabr, a member of the pro-Iranian Shi'ite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The party's military branch, the Badr Brigade, has been accused of running anti-Sunni hit squads out of the ministry. Attorneys for Saddam Hussein, for example, have blamed the ministry's security forces for the killing last month of defense attorney Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi. The ministry denied any connection to the slaying. Witnesses to the killing said about 10 armed men dressed in business suits identified themselves as Interior Ministry officials when they stormed Mr. al-Janabi's Baghdad office and kidnapped him. His body was found on the sidewalk hours later. Mr. Jabr has said that reports of torture in the detention center were exaggerated and that the prisoners were suspected of participating in a Sunni-led insurgency that routinely kills and maims civilians and security forces. "I reject torture, and I will punish those who perform torture," he said at a press conference yesterday. "No one was beheaded, no one was killed." Mr. Jabr added that "those who are supporting terrorism are making the exaggerations" about torture and that only seven detainees showed signs of abuse. However, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued its toughest statement yet on the incident, saying the government "has assured us that it will take immediate action to investigate ... and to undertake measures to ensure that no Ministry of Interior detainees would be subject to abuse anywhere in Iraq." The embassy also said, "There must not be militia or sectarian control or direction or Iraqi Security Forces, facilities or ministries." Detainee abuse would not be tolerated by either the Iraqi government or coalition forces, the statement said. Gen. Rick Lynch announced yesterday that five U.S. soldiers had been charged with beating and kicking Iraqi detainees last week and were awaiting judgment. An Iraqi man described to the Reuters news agency how he was tortured with hundreds of other detainees in an Interior Ministry building similar to the bunker revealed this week. "They had lists of people and lists of charges, and they tortured people to get confessions," said the Sunni man, who wanted to be identified only by the initials H.H. "I was not tortured as badly as others. I was hung by a ceiling hook by my hands, which were tied behind my back during three days, and they told me to confess to killing Shi'ites," he said. He told Reuters that the prisoners were under the control of the Interior Ministry special forces group known as the Wolf Brigade. U.S. analysts with experience in Iraq said ordinary Iraqis have long been complaining about the Interior Ministry's extrajudicial tactics. "Iraqis were telling me that you had to be careful about the special police commandos and that they were Badr -- these were Sunni and Shi'ite telling me," said Paul Hughes, the Iraq program officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace and a retired army colonel who recently returned from Baghdad. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #11 The frontier with Iran is extremely loose. During "martyr" pilgrimages over 15,000 Iranians pass every day. Infiltration would not be a problem. The infiltration of borders is a wholly different concept to the infiltration of a ministry. Let the Badr kill as many Sunni as possible, If you want the army of the Islamic Revolution to increase its position in relation to secular tyrants, then does that mean you also supported the Islamic overthrow of the Shah in Iran? Probably not, but I do wonder how you justify that discrepancy. The funny thing is the way that the philo-Iranian Shiite Islamofascists are now depending on the US Army's presence in Iraq in order to maintain and strengthen their position against the Sunni (both secular and Islamo-) fascists. Given *that* nasty little irony, I do have to wonder indeed whether immediate withdrawal from Iraq could indeed be the worst thing you could do to Iran and its followers in the region. After all your presence there was the best thing you could have done to them. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2005-11-18 17:18 |
| #10 Let the Badr kill as many Sunni as possible, and then we can come in and save the day for the sake of the political process in a hearts and minds fashion. This toture/death squad shit ain't new or unknown to our boys they're just too busy killing Sunni insurgents to worry about fighting the Badr, which is the heart of the Wolf Brigade and most other effective policing untis in Iraq. Tis a task for tommorrow, not today. EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-11-18 11:56 |
| #9 Paul Bremer actions were a seed which was planeted but right now he doesn't deserve blame. We need to remove the Badr/Sadr elements from power now, or we'll just be blamed for creating a new Saddam like government and may not see it until 5 yrs down the road. |
| Posted by: Sninelet Elmick9998 2005-11-18 10:20 |
| #8 "I reject torture, and I will |
| Posted by: Sninelet Elmick9998 2005-11-18 10:18 |
| #7 "Strike at the heart and the limbs will die." Douglas MacArthur. In this case there are two hearts...in Iran and in Saudi Arabia. BOTH support this terrorism and extremism in spades. Yes, we really could get their attention...and probably save hundreds of millions of lives to boot. Two nukes...about 10 MT each. Too radical? Not compared to a "Caliphate" butchering non-Moslems the world over. A brief look at history illustrates: The country of Georgia had a population of about 5 million when Islam attacked in about 784. OVER 4/5ths of the population was butchered. Think it can't happen again? Dream on. |
| Posted by: Old Marine 2005-11-18 07:51 |
| #6 It makes sense to me to have dealt with the Sunni wackos first. Get them under control and we can turn to the Shiites without having to worry about our rear. Taking on the Shiites will ultimately involve the Iranians. Better to do so when they cannot instigate problems in the rear. Finally this problem results from undermanning the invasion. The Brits were given the Shia section. But the don't have what it takes to really pacify the area as we have the west. They are more go along to get along. If we'd had enough troops we might have done both simultaneously. But a big mistake was made not expanding the size of the Army after 9/11. It just means everything will take longer. Part of the evidence that no one, including the administration, really takes this war seriously. |
| Posted by: Uniter Glush1241 2005-11-18 06:53 |
| #5 The frontier with Iran is extremely loose. During "martyr" pilgrimages over 15,000 Iranians pass every day. Infiltration would not be a problem. |
| Posted by: CaziFarkus 2005-11-18 05:55 |
| #4 There should certainly be a huge and impromptu action against their nuclear facility. I think we need to be more proactive in Basra - a string of targeted assassinations amongst Iranian stooges could be a start. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2005-11-18 05:21 |
| #3 Why not just put an atomic truck bomb in the heart of Tehran and detonate it??????? give em a taste of thier own medicine and whats to come in the future. Might sound silly at first but think about it - they would,n't try interfring again ifthey knew there was a very real punishment for meddling. This is why they do this sht because they KNOW 100% that we are scared of them, essentially they (Iran) have called our bluff in every way and remain the only threat to peace in Iraq my eyes (not enought AQ and AQ are sht with nothing to offer the people) watch as six monthes or a year down the line and the Iranians will still be up to no good but twice as many of them, don't get me wrong though i dont think for a minute this is an Iranian teritory grab - they simply know they have free access to attack and kill members of our armed forces and are quite confidant we will do nothing or next to nothing in response because our hands are fairly tied, one mother of a blunder this letting them call our bluff, i dont believe all the other media and so called sxpert hype i've seen about Iraq becoming a 'quagmire' and a no-win situation but you can rest assurred that if we keep letiing the Iranians get away with sht then we are on a very steep losing slope! make me bloody angry this seemingly sheer incompitance! |
| Posted by: Shep UK 2005-11-18 04:59 |
| #2 It appears more of Paul Bremenrs screw ups are comming home to roost. If the Iranians are rooting themselves this deeply we may have to tear it down and start over. Perhaps some targeted extrajudical killings of some other folks need to take place. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-11-18 04:20 |
| #1 Torture site backs fears of pro-Iran infiltrators Look up in the sky It's a bird no, It's a plane no, " THE SKY IS FALLING™" |
| Posted by: Gutsy Protuberance 2005-11-18 01:45 |