Children tortured before parents, raped, all covered up by Bush/Cheney and our media

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Simulposted at Daily Kos

    Perhaps the worst incident at Abu Ghraib involved a girl aged 12 or 13 who screamed for help to her brother in an upper cell while stripped naked and beaten. Iraqi journalist Suhaib Badr-Addin al-Baz, who heard the girl’s screams, also witnessed an ill 15-year-old who was forced to run up and down with two heavy cans of water and beaten whenever he stopped. When he finally collapsed, guards stripped and poured cold water on him. Finally, a hooded man was brought in. When unhooded, the boy realized that the man was his father, who doubtless was being intimidated into confessing something upon sight of his brutalized son.

uswarcrimes.com

   

    Empathy is what keeps men from becoming MONSTERS.

 They did it brazenly in front of other prisoners. Nothing but a sheet separated the sound of screaming and the torment of children.

    This is how you create your own insurgency.

    From this PDF obtained by The Washington Post I have transcribed a portion of an Iraqi detainees testimony to a Titan Corp translator detailing horror in Abu Gharib.

    I saw REDACTED fucking a kid, his age would be about 15 – 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard the screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered, and I saw REDACTED who was in military uniform putting his dick in the little kids ass.

~snip~

    They put the sheets again on the door. Grainer and his helper they cuffed one prisoner in room #1, named REDACTED, he was an Iraqi citizen. They tied him to the bed and they were inserted the phosphoric light in his ass and he was yelling for God’s help.  

   The web address on that PDF is media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/abughraib/151108.pdf. How long they have had this info and neglected to report on it I cannot guess.

   How much of a failure for our Democracy is it when the media covers up these war crimes, and instead gives us Dick and Liz Cheney to defend themselves and claim without opposition that these crimes were just fine and even necessary.

   This statement was made by Kasim Mehaddi Hilas, who abused by Charles Grainer at Abu Ghraib and witnessed many photos being taken by soldiers in Abu Gharib. Many of those photos, I believe, that detail violent rape and torture are among those the Obama Administration refuses to make public.

   Hilas, who was himself threatened with being sexually assaulted in Abu Graib, then describes in horrific detail how the soldier raped “the little kid”.

globalresearch.ca

    Why would we want to drag out the war in Iraq? Why would we fuel the insurgency by raping and abusing Iraqi’s right in front of other Iraqi’s?

    The Overtime, of course. If the job dries up, so does the money, and that makes military defense contractors cry.

    These horrors were covered up by Bush/Cheney and ignored by our lapdog corporate right wing press. This cover up has been aided by Republican and Democratic members of Congress. In my opinion nothing can save The Bush/Cheney Administration and their accomplices from justice, and the only thing that can save those members of Congress who knew of this is if they come clean NOW and aid any investigations in whatever way they can.

 

    Please, send an e-mail or call The White House, Attorney General Eric Holder and Congress. AG Holder is said to be strongly leaning towards naming a Special Prosecutor and Congress has an obligation to investigate Bush/Cheney’s policies and illegal activities. Please act today and demand accountability for War Crimes. Contact information has been provided at the bottom of this diary.

   Who benefits from a prolonged invasion of Iraq? The military contractors who charged the U.S. Government whatever they felt like on their no-bid contracts, of course. That is cost plus, mind you.

   And how do we make the war go on and on and on? Through abuse, torture, alienation and the rape of the population.

   Instant insurgency.

   There are many reasons why, but to discount the random and often dubious kidnapping of Iraqis and Afghanis anywhere near a battlefield and their systematic abuse and torture, one would have to be a fool.

   

     While General Hamid Zabar was being questioned in Iraq, his interrogators decided to arrest his frail 16-year-old son in order to produce a confession. After soldiers found the boy, he was stripped, drenched with mud and water, and exposed to the cold January night while bound and driven about in the open back of a truck. When presented naked to his father, he was shivering due to hypothermia, clearly needing medical attention.

uswarcrimes.com

   What better way to get someone to admit to anything, anything, no matter how false, than to make them endure the torture and suffering of their own children.

   After researching this diary, my attitude has changed. I say fuck these soldiers who committed these crimes. There should be NO IMMUNITY for those who were just “following orders”. If they did this on their own they should be severely punished. If American soldiers were ordered to rape and torture may the Gods have mercy on us all.    

   So, how do you manufacture an insurgency that justifies the need to “fight the war on terror there, instead of here”? How do you justify staying no matter how long to finish the job?

   Well, for starters, imprisoning, beating and raping a nations sons and daughters will do the trick.

   Imagine if these were Americas children. How would you react if this was your kids.

   You’d probably want revenge.

   From jailing children together with adults in prisons where they were raped to failing to notify their parents of their arrest, the U.S. committed numerous war crimes against children in Afghanistan and Iraq, a new book on President Bush states.

    ~snip~

    “American guards videotaped Iraqi male prisoners raping young boys but took no action to stop the offenses (and) children in Abu Ghraib were deliberately frightened by dogs,” writes political scientist Michael Haas in his new book, “George W. Bush, War Criminal?”(Praeger), a question he answers in the affirmative.        

globalresearch.ca

   

   The Bush Administration attempted to redefine the meaning of “child” by stating that a child by U.S. standards is 16 years old or younger, not the 18 years or younger mandate required by Geneva law. Much like the attempt to redefine “Prisoner of War” by calling captured people on or near battlefields as “enemy combatants”, the Bush Administration insisted on making up the rules as they went along. Even then, by their own new standard of what is legal the Bush Administration was still acting outside even their own newest version of the law.

    According to Michael Hass at least 800 children between the ages of 10 and 15 years old were captured in Afghanistan, of which 64 were sent to Guantanamo bay.

    Haas notes that Protocol 1 of the 1977 Geneva Convention states “No Party to the conflict shall arrange for the evacuation of children, other than its own nationals, to a foreign country” unless written consent of the parents is obtained.

globalresearch.ca

   Do we really need anymore reasons why we should have a full investigation that leads to the prosecution of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and anyone else involved in these horrific crimes against humanity?

   Please, contact The White House, Attorney General Eric Holder and Congress and demand justice for these crimes. When you call quote the worst examples in this diary. Our leaders and media can no longer be blind to these crimes.

    You can contact Attorney General Eric Holder and demand accountability here

BY MAIL

   U.S. Department of Justice

   950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

   Washington, DC 20530-0001

BY PHONE:

Department of Justice Main Switchboard202-514-2000



Office of the Attorney General
202-353-1555

U.S. DOJ FAX number for AG Holder

FAX: (202) 307-4613

BY E-MAIL

E-Mail the Attorney Generals Office at [email protected]

Disclaimer:     THIS E-MAIL ACCOUNT IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR SERVICE OF OFFICIAL, CASE-RELATED OR LEGAL DOCUMENTS AND IS NOT MONITORED FOR SUCH SUBMISSIONS OR FOR OTHER TIME-SENSITIVE COMMUNICATIONS. E-mails with attachments will be deleted because they may contain viruses.

   

    You can Contact President Barack Obama’s White House to demand accountability here

    CALL The White House at 202-456-1111 and E-Mail the WH here

Tell the Democratic House of Representatives Leadership that you support H.Res 383 and want open public investigations of Bush/Cheney.


 

Contact Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi [D-CA8] by E-Mail here

    Or Call (202) 225-0100


    Contact House Rules Committee chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter [D-NY28] by E-Mail here

   Or Call (202) 225-3615

   Be sure to mention that you want a closed rule that allows no  amendments on H.Res 383 that leads to open, public hearings on the policies and War Crimes of the Bush/Cheney Administration.

Contact House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer [D-MD5] by E-Mail here

    Or Call (202) 225-4131

Contact House Majority Whip James Clyburn [D-SC6] by E-Mail here

    Or Call (202) 225-3315

Contact H.Res 383 Sponsor Representative Barbara Lee [D-CA9] by E-Mail here

   Or Call (202) 225-2661

    Contact House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers by E-mail here

    Or Call (202) 225-5126

    You have the power to demand justice. You and you alone can influence our Democratic Leaders in the Executive and Legislative branches to do what is right.

    True patriotism is not always saying yes. It is not merely moving forward. It is knowing when you must put your foot down and say ENOUGH.

    That time is long overdue.

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4 comments

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  1. Please, call or e-mail AG Holder, the White House and Congress and demand justice today

  2. rec listed at the orange…

    but… I cant handle it this morning.

    thanks, and blessings (twice!),

    Photobucket

  3. Concerning this statement:

    If American soldiers were ordered to rape and torture may the Gods have mercy on us all.

    It was Rumsfeld (along with previously decisions by Bush, et al.) that set the impetus by telling the troops “Take off the kid gloves.”  What do you suppose that meant?  To me, it meant anything goes!!!!!!

    More! U.S. and Allies Tortured Kids in Iraq Prisons    

    Iraqi lawyer Sahar Yasiri, representing the Federation of Prisoners and Political Prisoners, said in a published interview there are more than 400,000 detainees in Iraq being held in 36 prisons and camps and that 95 percent of the 10,000 women among them have been raped. Children, he said, “suffer from torture, rape, (and) starvation” and do not know why they have been arrested. He added the children have been victims of “random” arrests “not based on any legal text.”

    . . . .Five boys between 13 and 17 accused of supporting insurgents and detained by the Iraqi army “showed signs of torture all over their bodies,” such as “cigarette burns over their legs,” she said.

    One boy of 13 arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 was held in solitary for more than a year at Bagram and Guantanamo and made to stand in stress position and deprived of sleep. And 15-year-old Omar Khadr, a Canadian, was held in Guantanamo for two years without being allowed to see a lawyer or have contact with his family. Khadr has been held for a total of six years. According to the current “Catholic Worker,” Mohammed Jawad was 17 when captured in Afghanistan and was subjected to sleep deprivation at Gitmo day and night for two weeks. Every three hours jailers shackled and transferred him to another cell under a “frequent flier” program, forcing him to change cells 112 times.

    Jawad’s defense lawyer Air Force Major David J.R. Frakt said the most likely reason Gitmo authorities tortured the youth (who had attempted suicide five months earlier) was “for sport, to teach him a lesson, perhaps to make an example of him to others.” . . . .

    More Than 20 Types of War Crimes Against Children

    The case for abusing children, however, is more difficult to support. The best kept secret of the Bush’s war crimes is that thousands of children have been imprisoned, tortured, and otherwise denied rights under the Geneva Conventions and related international agreements. Yet both Congress and the media have strangely failed to identify the very existence of child prisoners as a war crime. In the Islamic world, however, there is no such silence. Indeed, the prophet Mohammed was the first to counsel warriors not to harm innocent children.

    . . . . Contrary to the CRC’s Article 9, which states that a captured child shall be allowed to “maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis,” some children were not allowed to write or telephone home for as long as five years.

    And where CRC’s Article 13 guarantees “The child shall have the right to freedom to…seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print,” Haas points out “Most children were held incommunicado at Guantanamo until April, 2003” and that one child, Mohammed Jawad “remains in solitary confinement.” Jawad received promises of books to study that have not been kept, Haas adds.

    Other violations of international covenants pertaining to children include: . . . .

    I think LTE’s are good, too, MOT.  There are a lot of Americans who have no idea that children were tortured.  And, yes, we need to do all of the things you’ve listed and thank you for all the information to help do it.

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