quote:Hilas also said he witnessed an Army translator having sex with a boy at the prison. He said the boy was between 15 and 18 years old. Someone hung sheets to block the view, but Hilas said he heard the boy’s screams and climbed a door to get a better look. Hilas said he watched the assault and told investigators that it was documented by a female soldier taking pictures. “The kid was hurting very bad,” Hilas said.
quote: He said a bag was put over his head and he was made to strip. He said American soldiers started to taunt him. “Do you pray to Allah?” one asked. “I said yes. They said, ‘[Expletive] you. And [expletive] him.’ One of them said, ‘You are not getting out of here health[y], you are getting out of here handicapped. And he said to me, ‘Are you married?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘If your wife saw you like this, she will be disappointed.’ One of them said, ‘But if I saw her now she would not be disappointed now because I would rape her.’ ”
quote: Another soldier is seen in a photo brandishing a black baton as a naked prisoner-cuffed at the ankles and smeared with a brown substance-stands at the center of the prison hallway and holds his arms spread to either side.
quote:Hooded and cloaked men are handcuffed to hallway rails. A prisoner in flexible handcuffs is made to use a banana to simulate anal sex. Two naked male detainees are handcuffed to each other. A naked detainee hangs upside down from a top bunk. Another naked detainee grimaces, his face pressed against the ground, a soldier bending his arm behind his back. Blood covers the detainee’s left knee, and another soldier grabs his right leg.
quote: The situation inside the prison became so chaotic that U.S. soldiers turned their cameras on themselves, filming scenes of consensual sex.
quote: “Do you believe in anything?” he said the soldier asked. “I said to him, ‘I believe in Allah.’ So he said, “But I believe in torture and I will torture you.’ ”
Full articles here and here . (All quotes from the Washington Post, 21 May 2004.)
Yes, the Washington Post requires registration. Sorry. You really don't need context for what I've posted here.
Just...aah. I want to cry for these people. How can people do things like this to other people??
[ May 21, 2004, 12:42 PM: Message edited by: Kasie H ]
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Four and a half minutes of audio. Graphic content, but no login required. Maybe I should add this as a counterpoint to the perspectives thread....
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posted
In another example of the deft touch the administration has in regard to foreign relations, human rights and public perception - there's this news:
quote:UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Bush administration wants the U.N. Security Council to renew on Friday a controversial resolution exempting American peacekeepers from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court.
Although the resolution is expected to be adopted, diplomats expect opposition among the wider U.N. membership following the U.S. abuse of prisoners in Iraq and general complaints about American unilateralism.
Two years ago the same resolution was adopted unanimously after the United States threatened to veto U.N. peacekeeping missions, one by one. A year ago, three countries abstained.
This year at least four nations -- Brazil, Spain, Germany and France -- are expected to abstain. But U.S. officials are confident they will reach the minimum nine votes needed for adoption in the 15-nation council.
All 15 European Union nations are among the 94 nations who have ratified a 1998 Rome treaty creating the court and are financing most of its costs. But close U.S. ally Britain is expected to vote in favor.
Washington has signed bilateral agreements with 89 countries who promised not to prosecute American citizens as well as anyone under contract to the United States, said Richard Grenell, spokesman for U.S. ambassador John Negroponte.
Some of those who ratified the treaty also signed the agreement with the United States, which in some cases is tied to aid.
As the first permanent global criminal court, the ICC was set up to try perpetrators for the world's worst atrocities -- genocide, mass war crimes and systematic human rights abuses.
The tribunal went into operation in The Hague, Netherlands, this year and is investigating massacres in the Congo and by the brutal Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda.
The draft resolution, introduced by the United States on Wednesday, would place U.S. troops and officials serving in U.N.-approved-missions beyond the reach of the court.
posted
Monsters! I know that there have been monsters throughout history, but I am ashamed when they come from this land of freedom and prosperity. With all we've been blessed with, shouldn't we be an example for the world? I know these are "just a few" individuals, but they have a responsibility to represent our country. This puts an ugly smudge on our military, our government, our people.
What were these people thinking when they filmed these things? Did they think people would be *proud* of them? Cheer them on? It adds insult to injury that they were so unabashed as to record them, whether for later viewing or for sharing with their "buds". But if they hadn't, they may never have come to light.
I understand that many are sick of all the press this is getting and that it is being rubbed in the face of the public. But since I rarely watch TV, listen to the radio, or read the news, I haven't been effected by that.
I fear the effects this will have (and apparently already has had). I can't help but be reminded of the attrocities that the Nephites and Lamanites committed against their prisoners of war towards the end of the Book of Mormon. It showed their inhumanity and it fueled their hate towards each other.
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I know that there have been monsters throughout history, but I am ashamed when they come from this land of freedom and prosperity. With all we've been blessed with, shouldn't we be an example for the world? I know these are "just a few" individuals, but they have a responsibility to represent our country. This puts an ugly smudge on our military, our government, our people.
