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| Iraq-Jordan | ||
| Reuters ’Reporters’ ’Abused’ by U.S. Troops In Iraq | ||
| 2004-05-18 | ||
| Scare quotes are fun! Link via Drudge. U.S. forces beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their detention last January in a military camp near Falluja, the three said Tuesday. "Your Allah wears combat boots!" The three first told Reuters of the ordeal after their release but only decided to make it public when the U.S. military said there was no evidence they had been abused, and following the exposure of similar mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Basically jumping on the bandwagon / Reparations ’R UsTM. An Iraqi journalist working for U.S. network NBC, who was arrested with the Reuters staff, also said he had been beaten and mistreated, NBC said Tuesday. Two of the three Reuters staff said they had been forced to insert a finger into their anus and then lick it, and were forced to put shoes in their mouths, particularly humiliating in Arab culture. Tell me what, exactly, doesn’t ’humiliate’ Arabs? I’m sick and fuckin’ tired of this limp dick whining. Don’t these guys wipe with their left hand, or is that an Afghan ’tradition’? All three said they were forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers laughed, taunted them and took photographs. They said they did not want to give details publicly earlier because of the degrading nature of the abuse. And we all know that Arabs never lie... The soldiers told them they would be taken to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, deprived them of sleep, placed bags over their heads, kicked and hit them and forced them to remain in stress positions for long periods. Right out of the Abu Ghraib playbook? Seems a tad, ummm, unconvincing to me. The U.S. military, in a report issued before the Abu Ghraib abuse became public, said there was no evidence the Reuters staff had been tortured or abused. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, said in a letter received by Reuters Monday but dated March 5 that he was confident the investigation had been "thorough and objective" and its findings were sound. The Pentagon has yet to respond to a request by Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger to review the military’s findings about the incident in light of the scandal over the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. It’s called ’flooding the zone’. Asked for comment Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said only: "There are a number of lines of inquiry under way with respect to prison operations in Iraq. If during the course of any inquiry, the commander believes it is appropriate to review a specific aspect of detention, he has the authority to do so." The abuse No bias in that paragraph, natch. I wonder if these ’reporters’ happened to arrive at said helicopter shootdown ’conveniently early’, shall we say? The three -- Baghdad-based cameraman Salem Ureibi, Falluja-based freelance television journalist Ahmad Mohammad Hussein al-Badrani and driver Sattar Jabar al-Badrani -- were released without charge on Jan. 5. "When I saw the Abu Ghraib photographs, I wept," Ureibi said Tuesday. "I saw they had suffered like we had." Ureibi, who understands English better than the other two detainees, said soldiers told him they wanted to have sex with him, and he was afraid he would be raped. Cue the ’Deliverance’ soundtrack.
Yeah, that’s gonna happen... A summary of the investigation by the 82nd Airborne Division, dated January 28 and provided to Reuters, said "no specific incidents of abuse were found." It said soldiers responsible for the detainees were interviewed under oath and "none admit or report knowledge of physical abuse or torture. The detainees were purposefully and carefully put under stress, to include sleep deprivation, in order to facilitate interrogation; they were not tortured." The version received Monday used the phrase "sleep management" instead. The U.S. military never interviewed the three for its investigation. On February 3 Schlesinger wrote to Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the investigation was "woefully inadequate" and should be reopened. On what grounds, I wonder, was it ’woefully inadequate’, in that it didn’t result in a court martial or two? "The military’s conclusion of its investigation without even interviewing the alleged victims, along with other inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the report, speaks volumes about the seriousness with which the U.S. government is taking this issue," he wrote. The U.S. military faced As bad as it was, I’m still not sure if shoe in mouth and such constitutes torture. Abuse, yes, but torture? As noted elsewhere on Rantburg, if this type of treatment is what’s required to extract information from jihadists and (likely) Fifth-column Reuters ’reporters’ and helps us to avoid a) attacks against our troops and b) civilians from being blown up by car bombs, then I have a serious problem with our stated policy of no longer using these tactics. What are we supposed to use now, harsh language?
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| Posted by:Raj |
| #14 "They cut my head off!!" "Let's 'ave a look at you, then. You look alright" "I got better" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-18 4:22:47 PM |
| #13 "When anyone wipes his anus with Pebbles he should do this an odd number of times." "And don't let Fred catch you." The common practice with the Holy Prophet was that he urinated in a sitting position. He then performed ablution and wiped his socks. "Because his aim absolutely sucked." The Prophet said: "When anyone awakes from sleep, he must clean his nose three times, for the devil spends the night in the interior of his nose." The Prophet said: "When anyone wakes up from sleep, he should wash his hands three times before putting them in the utensil, for he does not know where his hand was during the night." Any direction on which is to be done first? The Prophet said: "You should not urinate in stagnant water, then wash in it. If you need a prophet of God to tell you this, you deserve what you get. A'isha said: "I used to scrape the drop of semen off the Prophet's garment and he then went out to prayer in that garment." Iew. Just. Iew. The Prophet said: "If a woman experiences orgasm in a dream she should take a bath." Methinks ol' Mo' was confused about "nocturnal emissions". |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-18 4:15:48 PM |
| #12 IF they actually whacked a couple of |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-05-18 4:12:50 PM |
| #11 Tell me what, exactly, doesn’t ’humiliate’ Arabs? Beheading innocent people? Blowing up school buses? Setting injured people on fire, stringing their corpses from a bridge, and dancing around screaming "Allahu Akbar"? None of those things humiliate them. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-18 4:10:45 PM |
| #10 Ooops....(sheepish stoopid grin) I meant "Reuters" |
| Posted by: Long Hair Republican 2004-05-18 4:02:09 PM |
| #9 Can anyone imagine having every detail of ones life spelled out in a book? This is beyond brainwashing. This is robotization! " Muslim 97 The Prophet said: "When anyone awakes from sleep, he must clean his nose three times, for the devil spends the night in the interior of his nose." Also: "When anyone wipes his anus with pebbles he should do this an odd number of times." Muslim 98 The Prophet said, after some people had hurried in to prayers: "Woe to dry heels because of Hell-fire. Make your ablution thorough." Muslim 100 The Prophet said: "He who performs ablutions well, his sins come out of his body, even from under his nails." Muslim 103 The Prophet said: "Five are the acts of Fitra: (male) circumcision, shaving the pubes, cutting the nails, shaving the hair under the armpits and clipping the moustache. Muslim 104 The Prophet said: "When answering the call of nature neither turn your face or back to Mecca." "After excretion the right hand is not to be used, nor is a bone to be used nor camel dung. "Nor should you hold your penis with your right hand while urinating. Nor should you breathe into the vessel from which you drink." Muslim 107 The common practice with the Holy Prophet was that he urinated in a sitting position. He then performed ablution and wiped his socks. Muslim 110 The Prophet said: "When anyone wakes up from sleep, he should wash his hands three times before putting them in the utensil, for he does not know where his hand was during the night." Muslim 112 The Prophet said: "You should not urinate in stagnant water, then wash in it. Muslim 116 A'isha said: "I used to scrape the drop of semen off the Prophet's garment and he then went out to prayer in that garment." Muslim 119 A'isha said: "When any of the Prophet's wives menstruated, the Messenger of Allah (would not have sexual intercourse with them but) would get them to wrap up their lower half and embrace them." Muslim 124 The Prophet said: "If a woman experiences orgasm in a dream she should take a bath." |
| Posted by: Anonymous4617 2004-05-18 4:01:28 PM |
| #8 ’Reporters’ is the enemy. If they have nothing to offer as far as information goes, line them up and shoot them for helping the enemy. Case closed. |
| Posted by: Long Hair Republican 2004-05-18 3:59:52 PM |
| #7 Ureibi, who understands English better than the other two detainees, said soldiers told him he could go to the place where Saddahm was captured, and get inside the hole as it was filled in. Well? If we're going to make the story good for the apologists, then lets make it REALLY GOOD |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-18 3:59:39 PM |
| #6 Cheezus K Reist, here we go. Every asshat along with their syphilitic grandma is gonna be claiming abuse at the hands of the US military. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2004-05-18 3:54:05 PM |
| #5 "Don’t these guys wipe with their left hand, or is that an Afghan ’tradition’?" It is a muslim thing. And from what I heard, it has do be done in the precise way as prescribed by some hadith. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4617 2004-05-18 3:52:37 PM |
| #4 As I understand it, the "news" agencies kept most of the Baathists who had worked for them while Saddam was in power. I think I've figured out why so many Iraqis are so negative about the US when interviewed by these reporters. Ditto for the pollsters. Think about the people who were in the best position to take English language classes and serve as interpreters. Baathists. These guys are good. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-05-18 3:51:08 PM |
| #3 Ureibi, who understands English better than the other two detainees, said soldiers told him they wanted to have sex with him, and he was afraid he would be raped. "I'm gonna f*ck you up!" |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-18 3:41:08 PM |
| #2 I suppose it is impossible for Reuters to ever realize how their own slanted reporting about all those "civilian" deaths in Fallujah might have resulted in extra casualties for Coalition troops. They're sure good at raising a ruckus when their own tit's in the Bendix but have no problem stirring up trouble when they don't have their own lives on the line. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-18 3:38:15 PM |
| #1 I guess I am cruel, but, until a Fox News employee starts claiming abuse I am dubious of the accounts. I take ALL OTHER news organization employee claims with a grain of salt. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-18 3:32:47 PM |