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Seek Outside Query on Iraq Prisons
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Progressive Portal
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May 05, 2004 15:25 PDT
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PENTAGON HAS REPEATEDLY SWEPT PRISON PROBLEMS UNDER THE RUG;
NOW IT'S TIME FOR AN IMPARTIAL, INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
[From Amnesty International USA <http://www.amnestyusa.org>]
Struggling to contain the worldwide political firestorm sparked by the
publication of photos of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners,
White House and Pentagon officials are now promising a thorough
investigation. But these officials can't be trusted to get to the root
of the problem - they have ignored detailed evidence of such abuses for
months, and they have taken, at best, only a few small steps to correct
the problem.
Independent media and organizations such as Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, and the Baghdad-based Occupation Watch Center have been
collecting and publishing reports of torture and other abuses on the
part of U.S. forces almost since the first months of the occupation.
(See, for example, the Reuters report entitled "Amnesty: Iraqis Complain
of Torture by U.S. Forces"
<http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=235>, published on 23
July 2003.)
A U.S. Army General, Antonio Taguba, completed a detailed - and
devastating - report confirming widespread problems in U.S. prisons in
Iraq in early March of this year, but neither the chair of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff nor Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld nor President
Bush bothered to read it before appearing on the media in recent days to
downplay the scope of the problem.
These people can't be trusted to reveal the truth about what has been
happening in Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, much less to
hold all responsible officials accountable. The situation demands a
fully independent, impartial and public investigation into all
allegations of abuse.
Take Action
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Send a message to George Bush at:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10780
Write to your Members of Congress: Enter your ZIP Code under "Write
Congress:" in the left column at:
http://www.progressiveportal.org
Send a message to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at:
http://ermsapps-web.afis.osd.mil/cgi-bin/rightnow_DefenseLink.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_sid=jWSuZBah&p_lva=248
More Information
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Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh's account
of the U.S. military's handling of abuse charges:
http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040510fa_fact
Excerpts from the Taguba report on abuse of prisoners in Iraq:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6134.htm
The entire 53-page Taguba report:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/pdf/0505041report.pdf
(176K, Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
The "60 Minutes II" report that published the photos from Abu Ghraib:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/27/60II/main614063.shtml
Earlier reports on torture and other abuses in the U.S.-run prisons:
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=4549
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140062004
Additional evidence that has surfaced in recent days:
http://www.iht.com/articles/518368.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/05/02/international1342EDT0504.DTL&type=printable
Statements on the issue by Amnesty International USA and Human Rights
Watch:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/iraq/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256E86003CCE83
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/04/usint8524.htm
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/03/usint8523.htm
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