Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left
Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy Human Rights in Ireland >>
The Extreme Weather We?re Experiencing Is Not Man Made, According to the IPCC Sun Jul 28, 2024 07:00 | Mark Ellse Day-to-day weather, with all its extremes, is "just weather", according to the IPCC. With their authority onside, we can shrug off the BBC's melodramatic climate reports and misinformation, says Mark Ellse.
The post The Extreme Weather We?re Experiencing Is Not Man Made, According to the IPCC appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Sun Jul 28, 2024 01:17 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Green MP Proposes Sweeping Reforms to House of Commons in Maiden Speech Sat Jul 27, 2024 19:00 | Sean Walsh The sweeping House of Commons reforms proposed by Green MP Ellie Chowns are evidence that the Mrs Dutt-Pauker types have moved from Peter Simple's columns into public life. We're in for a bumpy ride, says Sean Walsh.
The post Green MP Proposes Sweeping Reforms to House of Commons in Maiden Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Heat Pump Refuseniks Risk £2,000 Surge in Gas Bills Sat Jul 27, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred With heat pump numbers forecast to rise, the energy watchdog Ofgem has predicted that bills for those who continue using gas boilers will surge.
The post Heat Pump Refuseniks Risk £2,000 Surge in Gas Bills appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Debt-Funded GB Energy to Bet on the Costliest Electricity Generation Technologies Sat Jul 27, 2024 15:00 | David Turver So much for Labour's pledge to cut energy bills by £300, says David Turver. Under GB Energy, our bills can only go one way, and that is up.
The post Debt-Funded GB Energy to Bet on the Costliest Electricity Generation Technologies appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
AWI condemns torture, oppression of Iraqis
national |
anti-war / imperialism |
press release
Friday April 30, 2004 14:21 by Tim Hourigan - Anti-War Ireland 087-9777703
![Report this post to the editors Report this post to the editors](../graphics/report.gif)
Iraqi people need freedom, not iron fist
I was originally going to do up a press release about the AWAC aircraft at Shannon yesterday, but having seen the pictures of torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, it was obvious what we needed to say. PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release.
Iraqi people are not animals to be crushed, they must be allowed to decide their own future – Anti War Ireland.
Anti –War Ireland has condemned the recently exposed bahaviour at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, following publication of photographs of US soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners for their own amusement.
Thousands of Iraqis have been jailed and held without formal charge or visits from families and solicitors. Some of these are minors who were taken prisoner simply for breaking the curfew imposed by the coalition forces. Amnesty International has listed over 80 cases of boys as young as 11 being jailed.
The recent photos, which only came to light because of the conscience of one soldier, graphically depict the psychological and sexual torture of Iraqi civilians.
This practice is barbaric and can only add to the resentment and humilitation of the Iraqi people towards the military occupation.
President Bush’s words about freedom and democracy for all now ring hollow in the ears of the world. The behaviour of the troops on the ground is what matters most.
The Pentagon has tried to restore confidence by keeping this quiet for months before suspending a small number of soldiers including Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was appointed to run Iraq’s prison system in June 2003.
Her replacement, Major General Geoffrey Miller,. is also likely to spark controversy, as he is the former commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
Anti War Ireland is horrified that the occupation forces treat the occupation as no more than a military adventure.
They seem to view Iraq as a battlespace, and have little recognition that the Iraqi people are traumatised and angry, emerging from years of cruel repression under Saddam Hussein and now dealing with armed occupiers - mostly scared young troops- who treat them with suspicion and too quickly resort to overwhelming force.
Iraqis still live in fear of midnight raids by soldiers, forcing their way in to take a family member away. The difference is that this time the soldiers were foreign uniforms and speak a foreign language.
The last thing the Iraqi people need now is another iron fist approach.
In a country damaged by war and occupied by 145,000 troops and 16,000 hired mercenaries life is hard and dangerous. There is massive unemployment in Iraq, movement is restricted by checkpoints and curfews. Electicity is a part-time affair and the military spending has caused massive inflation in the economy. Iraqi people have been killed at checkpoints by frightened soldiers, and they see Fallujah, a city bigger than Cork, being bombarded for three weeks by thousands of Marines. The US has now asked one of Saddam’s former Generals to command a force to pacify Fallujah.
Instead of having clean water, reliable electricty, elections and jobs, the Iraqi people still live in a war zone.
The Iraqi people must be allowed to set their own future, not the puppet government set up by Washington including convicted fraudster, Ahmed Chalabi, and several members of the Iraqi National Congress who provided the sources for the WMD stories before the war. Even the new Iraqi flag was designed in London.
On June 30th, limited power will be transferred to an interim government chosen by Washington, backed up by tanks and guns, but not trusted by Iraqis.
-ENDS-
Contact Tim Hourigan
087-9777703
or Caoimhe Butterly
087-2134160
Verification of facts -
To verify appointment of Guantanamo Bay official see, amonsgt others
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/04/30/guantanamo_official_to_monitor_prison/
for blurb on suspended prison commander,
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/10521599?source=Evening%20Standard
includes quotes like “since we took over the prisons, they’re so good the Iraqi’s don’t want to leave”
for insight into jailing of Iraqi boys, see
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0709-06.htm
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 2 1go to link to see Donald Rumsfeld's assurances disproved by photos taken by his own troops.
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, who are the centre of allegations (and frantic political denials) about photos of abuse have been mentioned before in relation to abuse.
The family of Baha Mousa, are still waiting for justice, after their son was kicked to death by members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in September 2003.
Baha was arrested with 7 other colleagues from the Basra Hotel where they worked.
Kifa Taha, who survived the beatings, but who suffered accute kidney failure said that they were all given the names of football players and forced to repeat them while they were kicked at Camp Bucca, outside umm Qasr, about 70 miles from Basra.
Mousa's father, an Iraqi policeman, believes the men were targeted because they had found two british troops stealing cash from the hotel safe and reported them to their commanding officer.
British military authorities have offered Mr Mousa's relatives $8,000 in compensation, providing they are not held responsible for his death.
Mr Mousa's violent death left two children orphaned: his 22-year-old wife died of cancer shortly before his detention by British troops.
The article is subscritption only on the Independent on Sunday website, but the full text can be found here.
http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles357.htm
http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles358.htm
http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles345.htm
Or you can check a college newspaper archive for the UK's Independent on Sunday from January 4th and Feb 15th 2004.
THAT's what we're helping to do to the Iraqi people.
Yesterday's CNN/USA Today poll said that 71% of Iraqis saw the US forces as occupiers, while 19% (mostly in the Kurdish north) saw them as liberators.
So, how does the coalition control a country that wants it to leave?
Brute force, just like Saddam Hussein, just like the Black and Tans and a long list of others.