One of the grim legacies of the war in Iraq is the vast number of torture victims. One in five Iraqi refugees has been tortured or has suffered from other violence, according to data collected by United Nations in Syria. Allegations of torture have surfaced since the war began — reportedly committed by Iraqi security forces, militia groups, insurgents and U.S. guards at the Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib. U.S guards put panties on heads, AQ cut heads off.
| We should ask the libs: if it was your head, which would you prefer? |
Naseer's Story
Nibras Naseer is a rail-thin 18-year-old. He fled Iraq more than a year ago, he says, after spending 10 days in a hospital for injuries that resulted from severe beatings. He now lives in a fifth-floor walk-up in Damascus, a spare space he shares with his uncle's family. The only decoration is a picture of Jesus on the wall. The apartment building fills up with the laughter of children when school lets out, but even when his nephew bounds into the apartment, Naseer does not smile.
What happened to Naseer has happened to many Iraqis, but very few are willing to talk about it. "I am just trying to forget what happened to me," Naseer says. "I can't say that I can sleep. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. I am trying my best to forget what happened to me."
In 2006, Naseer was kidnapped from his Baghdad neighborhood, shoved into the trunk of a car and subjected, he says, to weeks of so-called investigation, along with six other Iraqi men and an 11-year-old boy. His kidnappers identified themselves as members of al-Qaida in Iraq, Naseer says; they made it clear that for any of the captives who worked for the U.S. military or the Iraqi government, the punishment would be beheading.
| So it wasn't the U.S. conducting torture, it was Al-Qaeda. |
Naseer spent the nights talking to his fellow prisoners, Iraqis who shared their life stories and their terror. A few days later, the jailers condemned three more prisoners — men he had come to know — to the same gruesome death. "I remember the names: Hammed, Ali, Omar," Naseer says. "When I watched the second time, I was thinking, 'I'm the next,' and I didn't have any hope in life — like even less than 1 percent."