16 November 2005 Blog Home : November 2005 : Permalink
Washington has said it is troubled by the alleged abuse of more than 170 detainees held by Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and backs an investigation.
So why the scare quotes around "troubled"? Are you - in the words of Monty Python - insinuating something? nudge nudge wink wink.The state department said the US did not practice torture and did not believe others should either.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has ordered an investigation into the alleged abuse of the detainees.
The prisoners, many malnourished and some showing signs of apparent torture, were found by US troops on Sunday.
The allegations come as the US faces mounting international pressure to be more transparent about the treatment of prisoners in its war on terror.
And what precisely has the treatment of US prisoners, held in a variety of countries but not, in the main in Iraq, to do with the fact that some Iraqi authorities, in a prison that was raided by the US, been maltreating prisoners? There is in fact no link at all except that the BBC feels like it should remaind everyone that the US is alleged to maltreat prisoners.
The Bush administration has been swift to distance itself from these latest reports of prisoner abuse, reports the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington.
The US is backing the Iraqi government inquiry and believes those responsible for mistreatment should be held to account.
Fresh allegations have also surfaced of US troops mistreating detainees.
Two former Iraqi prisoners have told US TV they were beaten, fired at with rubber bullets and subjected to mock executions at the hands of US troops in 2003.
So just for fun we will now completely change the subject and talk about alleged US maltreatment two years ago.
While the US insists that it does not condone torture, it has lobbied against legislation that would ban all inhumane treatment of detainees.
Some senior officials have argued that the CIA should be exempt.
The US is also under increasing international pressure to answer allegations that the CIA is operating secret prisons abroad.
And just to make it perfectly clear that the US is 'normally' bad - even though in this case the US was on the side of the good guys - we will note that the US is having a debate about torture and secret prisons. While we're about it how about mentioning those sinks of justice known as French prisons which have been criticised by all sorts of Human Rights bodies for their barbarity? If you want to make a story about worldwide prison abuse then why pick on the US? if not why mention the US? unless of course the idea is to smear the US by association.
'Hard evidence'
The US raid on an Iraqi interior ministry building followed repeated enquiries by the parents of a missing Iraqi teenager.
Iraq's prime minister has promised to find those responsible for any abuse. Most of those held were Sunnis.
The allegations are a deep embarrassment for the Iraqi government, but, however shocking, they will not come as a major surprise to many Iraqis, says the BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad.
There have been persistent allegations of abuse by members of the Shia-dominated security forces, she says.
But Sunday's discovery is hard evidence and officials believe it may be the tip of the iceberg.
So having smeared the US we now come back to the real story - or what should be the real story - that the new Iraqi regime seems to be less that perfect
There are suspicions the building may also have been used as a base for a militia called the Badr Brigade, and that such militias may have infiltrated Iraq's security services, our correspondent adds.
The prison is reported to be in the central Jadiriya district of Baghdad.
Mr Jaafari said he had been told that 173 detainees had been held, that they appeared malnourished, and may have been "subjected to some kind of torture".
Deputy interior minister Hussein Kamal, who saw some of the abuse victims personally, said: "I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating, one or two detainees were paralysed and some had their skin peeled off various parts of their bodies."
Good more hard news. No mention that the place where the Badr brigades are most likely to have "infiltrated Iraq's security services" is Basra which is run by the British. I think this ought to be mentioned in any decent report. We could mention this instead of smearing the US if we really wanted to talk about the state of the Iraqi security services, and perhaps we could mention those British troops who needed to be rescued or that unfortunate American journalist who was killed.
Repeated allegations
Dr Laith Kubba, a spokesman for Mr Jaafari, said the prime minister was putting all his weight behind the inquiry.
"This is outrageous," he told the BBC's Newsnight programme. "It goes very much against the core values that the prime minister and his government hold."
But he said methods used under Saddam Hussein had not been completely eradicated despite efforts to introduce new practices.
The security forces have faced repeated allegations of systematic abuse and torture of detainees, and of extra-judicial killings.