Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Ghraib

[ECH1969]

The notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors.

Inside the 100-yard long cell block the smell of excrement was overpowering. Four to six prisoners shared each of the 12ft by 15ft cells along either side and the walls were smeared with filth. The cell block was patrolled by guards who carried long batons and shouted angrily at the prisoners to stand up. Access to the part of the prison containing terrorism suspects was denied, but from that block came the sound of screaming. The screaming continued for a long time.

"I am sure someone was being beaten, they were screaming like they were being hit," the witness reported. "I felt scared, I was asking what was happening in the terrorist section. "I heard shouting, like someone had a hot iron on their body, screams. The officer said they were just screaming by themselves. I was hearing the screams throughout the visit."

The witness said that even in the thieves' section prisoners were being treated badly. "Someone was shouting 'Please help us, we want the human rights officers, we want the Americans to come back'," he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/10/wirq10.xml

[grytpype]

1. Nice to see the Iraqis "standing up."

This is Bush's legacy to Iraq.

[jayctravis]

6. Pshaw. Fraternity pranks

:sarcasm:

[bahrbearian]

2. meet the new boss, same as the old boss, somewhat like the previous..

[Union Thug]

5. Exactly what I was thinking...."Who's Next..."

[Judi Lynn]

3. Apparently the people being tortured there by our forces didn't scream.

Amazing article tells us Americans are the soul of humanity by comparison.

We should start feeling far better about the _Bush administration, apparently. We should probably contact our Congresscritters and tell them to bend over every time _Bush demands something else, like new torture definitions, for sure, and most certainly any new eavesdropping and search and seizure measures he wants, as well.

We know he's an angel sent from heaven.

[daleo]

14. Bush's torture methods are top notch

Nobody can hold a candle to the high tech torture methods employed by the Bush administration, particularly these primitive Iraqi torturers, who are rank amateurs. Why, when torture becomes an Olympic sport the Bush team is sure to get the gold. Neo-con hearts will swell with pride.

[populistdriven]

4. good thing bush invaded and stopped human rights abuses

[wtmusic]

10. out of the pan, into the fire

the lack of foresight is amazing.

[jazzjunkysue]

21. Incredible avitar. Can I use it?

[wtmusic]

26. youbetcha, JJS! nt

[struggle4progress]

7. US to demolish Abu Ghraib jail (Guardian / 2004)

US to demolish Abu Ghraib jail and punish its general

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Tuesday May 25, 2004
The Guardian

The Bush administration tried to erase the recent shameful images of postwar Iraq last night by saying it would demolish Abu Ghraib prison, and discipline its commander.

In a statement from the White House, a few hours before George Bush's speech early today, the administration said that the demolition of the prison would symbolise a new beginning for Iraq. "Under Saddam Hussein, prisons like Abu Ghraib were symbols of death and torture. That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonoured our country and disregarded our values," it said.

The directive concludes a debate on the future of the jail that had been raging since the first images appeared three weeks ago of cowering, naked Iraqi prisoners and their taunting American army guards.

Some had argued that Abu Ghraib, stained by its history under Saddam, should have been destroyed as soon as the war had ended. Now, it appears the Bush administration has come to that same view ..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1224116,00.html

[lumpy]

13. I have wondered if Abu Graib was ever

demolished. "..new beginning for Iraq". Ironic. Anarchy, mayhem and death in Iraq is the legacy of Bush's Criminal War.

[Gregorian]

8. Unlike Pinochet's argument, Bush knew about the torture.

And he's a young man. He's got many years of trials ahead of him.

It's sickening that these shits haven't learned from the errors of the past. Shame on them.

[NoodleyAppendage]

9. Iraqis just learning by example. Would we expect different?

Dehumanization. Pure and simple. Our baser natures are in full force in Iraq.

J

[Drum]

12. Alas, too true.

[fed-up]

11. Is this story part of the $20M PR budget from the Pentagon? n/t

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

28. It's in a right-wing newspaper owned by Hollinger

so the chances are good.

[PurityOfEssence]

15. Welcome to the Bastille

You'd think we'd clean the damned place up before turning it over, but we're worse than inept.

[Human Torch]

16. One thing is for certain:

Rape Rooms: A Chronology
What Bush said as the Iraq prison scandal unfolded
By William Saletan
May 5, 2004

http://www.slate.com/id/2100014/

"The Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the secret police coming after them in the middle of the night, and they don't have to worry about their husbands and brothers being taken off and shot, or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are over."—Paul Bremer, Administrator, Coalition Provisional Authority, Sept. 2, 2003

"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."—President Bush, remarks to 2003 Republican National Committee Presidential Gala, Oct. 8, 2003

"There was an announcement by the Iraqi Governing Council earlier this week about the tribunal that they have set up to hold accountable members of the former regime who were responsible for three decades of brutality and atrocities. … We know about the mass graves and the rape rooms and the torture chambers of Saddam Hussein's regime. … We welcome their decision to move forward on a tribunal to hold people accountable for those atrocities."—Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan, White House press briefing, Dec. 10, 2003

"One thing is for certain: There won't be any more mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms."—Bush, press availability in Monterrey, Mexico, Jan. 12, 2004

[xchrom]

19. and that is a nice summation of the crossroads.

and there sits the devil --

this is what comes of believing that america has the answer for somebody else or lies about terrorists or wmds, etc.

[SpiralHawk]

17. USA corporate media: ho hum. Brad and Angelina share ice cream cone

blah blah blah blah....The citizens of the USA do not need to know that the BushCo occult Skull & Bones stolen government is practicing wholesale torture of unaccused and untried human beings all over the planet in an ocean of shit and piss, and doing it in the name of the American people.

[Massachusetts]

20. USA corporate media

"Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media."
Noam Chomsky

[Vinca]

18. The end result of Shrub's Excellent Adventure is going to be

"everything old is new again." There will be a dicta . . . er president, who rules just like the spider hole guy. American lives and American treasure will have been squandered. It will be the legacy of King George's reign. I hope his faux library features an Abu Ghraib exhibit.

[jazzjunkysue]

22. Great find. Thanks. K&R. n/t

[Renew Deal]

23. I thought Abu Graib was being shut down by Bush?

What happened? More bullshit?

[leftyladyfrommo]

25. I know I heard that this prison is now completely empty

I heard it on the news and just recently.

So this report is bogus or

the news report came from Cheney's office

[struggle4progress]

27. U.S. Military hands over Abu Ghraib prison

Sunday, September 03, 2006
Solomon Moore / Los Angeles Times

.. In a brief announcement Saturday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said that the prison was now empty of all prisoners, most of them freed during recent months by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as a gesture of reconciliation to Sunni Arabs. More than 13,000 prisoners are still in U.S. custody in Iraq, many of whom have waited months, without formal charges being filed or access to Iraqi courts. The Iraqi government holds at least 15,000 more detainees, often in deplorable conditions ..
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060903/NATION/609030351/1020

That was last week. And this is this week:

Abu Ghraib horrors re-emerge
Gethin Chamberlain, Baghdad
September 11, 2006

THE notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities.

Claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors have emerged.

Staff at the jail say the Iraqi authorities have moved dozens of terrorist suspects into Abu Ghraib from the controversial Interior Ministry detention centre in Jadriyah, where US troops last year discovered 169 prisoners who had been tortured and starved.

Prisoners released from the jail last week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects. On Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime ..

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/abu-ghraib-horrors-reemerge/2006/09/10/1157826813724.html

Puppet Theatre is sponsored by Negroponte Ltd

[AngryAmish]

24. Bush is Hitler

[file83]

31. No, Hitler is Bush.

[Up2Late]

29. More Here!!! Abu Ghraib horrors re-emerge (The Age)

(Didn't our so-called "president" say that Abu Ghraib was EMPTY!?!? Or was that just the "news" media mis-interpreting the dis-info again?)

Abu Ghraib horrors re-emerge

Gethin Chamberlain, Baghdad (The Age)
September 11, 2006

THE notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities. Claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors have emerged.

Staff at the jail say the Iraqi authorities have moved dozens of terrorist suspects into Abu Ghraib from the controversial Interior Ministry detention centre in Jadriyah, where US troops last year discovered 169 prisoners who had been tortured and starved.

Prisoners released from the jail last week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects. On Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. Conditions in the rest of the jail were grim, with an overwhelming stench of excrement, prisoners crammed into cells for all but 20 minutes a day, food rations cut to just rice and water, and no air-conditioning.

Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after the Americans left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards. "The Americans were better than the Iraqis — they treated us better," said Khalid Alaani, who was held on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism.

(more at link) <http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/abu-ghraib-horrors-reemerge/2006/09/10/1157826813724.html>:kick:

[leesa]

30. Didn't we just hear that Abu Ghraib was emptied of all prisoners before

the handover? Would this be more baseless propaganda? Or was the other baseless propaganda?

[Up2Late]

33. Since the U.S. "news" media is NOT reporting this...

...and, as Harry Shearer calls it, the "News from Outside the Bubble" is reporting it, I'd have to say, believe the News from outside the Bubble, the U.S. media is completely bogus anymore.

[greccogirl]

32. Worse off?

No, that can't possibly be. Everyone knows the U.S. treated prisoners worse than anyone.