Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Iraq. Ostaggi *degli* americani

The NewStandard
U.S. Military Held Iraqis 'Hostage,' New Documents Reveal
Files Also Show Commanders Authorized Brutal Treatment of
Inmates
by Chris Shumway
Lisa Ashkenaz Croke contributed to this piece.
Evidence suggesting systemic abuse and torture at US-run
prisons throughout Iraq continues to mount as Army documents
surface. The latest records suggest hostage-holding and
beatings were approved policy.
Apr 22 -- Newly released government documents reveal that US
military personnel arrested and detained Iraqi civilians in
an attempt to pressure relatives suspected of involvement in
the insurgency to turn themselves in. Other documents
released Monday by the Department of Defense in response to
a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request suggest that
senior Army commanders encouraged interrogators to torture
Iraqi detainees who had not yet been "broken" during
questioning.
"These documents provide further evidence that the chain of
command in Iraq approved and even encouraged the abuse of
detainees held in US custody," said attorney Amrit Singh in
a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union
announcing the release of the documents.
One document in particular contained references to both the
detention of suspects' relatives and the use of torture by
US interrogators. In a November 2003 rebuttal to charges
that he improperly supervised interrogators at a facility in
Tikrit, an Army staff sergeant wrote, "Personnel at the ICE
[Interrogation Control Element] regularly see detainees who
are, in essence, hostages."
The sergeant, whose name was redacted from the released
documents by military censors, explained that the detainees
"are normally arrested by Coalition Forces because they are
family of individuals who have been targeted" by US forces.
He added that many such detainees have been transferred to
Abu Ghraib prison where they "become lost in the Coalition
detention system" regardless of whether their targeted
relative "surrenders himself."
"Senior leaders," according to the sergeant's statement,
reported to other soldiers that they had taken family
members of suspected insurgents into custody, with the
"tacit approval" of military commanders.
On numerous occasions, Iraqis have accused US troops of
arresting women to pressure wanted male relatives into
surrendering themselves. According to Amnesty International,
such arrests are a breach of international law. US military
officials have maintained that occupation forces hold only
those suspected of crimes or involvement in insurgent attacks.
Last month, Arkan Mukhlif Al-Batawi, an Iraqi farmer, said
US troops took his mother and sister hostage after raiding
the family's home near Baghdad. Al-Batawi told Reuters that
the women had been arrested in an attempt by the US to
pressure him and two of his brothers to surrender themselves
to US troops.
Several of Al-Batawi's neighbors corroborated his version of
the raid, and a handwritten note in Arabic posted at
Batawi's house after the raid said: "Be a man Muhammad
Mukhlif and give yourself up and then we will release your
sisters. Otherwise they will spend a long time in
detention." Muhammad is one of Al-Batawi's brothers.
After the story broke in the media, US forces released
Al-Batawi's mother and sister, having held them for five days.
The Army staff sergeant in the newly released documents
suggested in a written rebuttal that senior commanders had,
by approving the taking of hostages and making statements
suggesting detainees should not be granted rights as enemy
prisoners of war, created a climate in which the torture of
detainees was encouraged.
In the case for which he issued the rebuttal, an
interrogator under the sergeant's supervision reportedly
beat an Iraqi detainee with a three-foot long "riot baton"
on the backs of the feet and the buttocks while he was in a
stress position. The staff sergeant argued, "it seems clear
that, considering the seeming approval of these and other
such tactics by the senior command, it is a short jump of
the imagination that allows actions such as those committed
by [the interrogator, name redacted] to become not only
tolerated but encouraged."
An Army investigation into the beating of the detainee found
that an American officer had solicited "wish lists" of
permissible interrogation tactics from US troops working at
Abu Ghraib. The ACLU also obtained and released to the
public the results of that investigation. In August 2003 --
one month before the beating described by the sergeant -- a
Baghdad headquarters officer, Captain William Ponce, sent an
email to interrogators in Iraq. In that message, he asked
interrogation staff what techniques they thought would be
more effective at "breaking" Iraqi detainees. "The gloves
are coming off," Ponce wrote, "we want these individuals
broken."
The email was forwarded to interrogators throughout Iraq,
including those at the Staff Sergeant's facility and others
stationed at Abu Ghraib prison. Reponses to Ponce's
solicitation included a message arguing that, unlike
America's enemies during the Cold War, "today's enemy" only
understands "force, not psychological mind games or incentives."
Another response included a document titled, "Alternative
Interrogation Techniques," which listed the use of open-hand
strikes to the face and midsection and pressure point
manipulation to cause "acute temporary pain." The list also
included several "coercive" techniques such as "closed-fist
strikes," hitting detainees with phone books, low-voltage
electrical torture and the use of stress positions to induce
muscle fatigue.
The investigation, conducted in the fall of 2003, directly
tied Ponce's e-mail, and the subsequent discussions about
it, to the beating of the detainee with the riot baton. In
sworn statements, the interrogator who administered the
beating said he had discussed the email with a supervisor
who had compiled the list of alternative techniques. Other
soldiers at the facility testified that the interrogator
said he had authorization to "soup up" interrogations, using
more forceful techniques.
Documents also revealed that just six days after Ponce
disseminated his memo, another US soldier punched a detainee
numerous times with a "closed fist." He also pointed a
loaded weapon at the detainee and threatened to kill him.
"The record before us establishes beyond any doubt that US
forces abandoned moral and legal principles enshrined in the
Geneva Conventions and the Army's own field manuals
governing the treatment of detainees," the ACLU's Singh
observed.
Other documents released Monday by the government included a
report investigating the mock execution of a teenage Iraqi
boy conducted by US soldiers in front of the boy's father.
Another report included a medic's detailed description of
two Iraqis who were severely beaten by US soldiers. That
account is contrasted with a statement by an Army captain
who reported those same Iraqis were only "roughed up a bit."
Autopsy results providing graphic details about the deaths
of detainees ruled to be homicides were also released to the
ACLU. One involved a 56-year-old Iraqi detainee who died
from "asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression"
after interrogators reportedly stuffed him into a sleeping
bag and sat on his chest. Another autopsy described the
death of a 47-year-old detainee who died from "blunt force
injuries and asphyxia" after being "shackled to the top of a
doorframe with a gag in his mouth."
The ACLU has now accumulated over 30,000 government
documents as a result of its FOIA request, which is enforced
by a court order obtained after the government initially
refused to comply. Based on many of those obtained
previously, the ACLU, along with Human Rights First, filed a
lawsuit last month seeking to hold Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and other senior officials accountable for the
abuse of detainees.

Element] regularly see detainees who are, in essence, hostages."
Quindi l'unico riferimento e' l'affermazione dell'opinione personale
di un sergente :)
*LOL*
Il resto sono puttanate vecchie :)
-Stefano