No magnanimous jury or payoffs, no hearts and flowers, no thoughts and prayers can erase men’s (or women’s) unspeakable acts, their demonstrable contempt for life, and their willful denial—not only of justice, but of humanity itself.
Torture— what does it mean?
Torture is “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity … (excerpted from Part I Article 1). December 10, 1984, by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 39/46 Source Human Rights Instruments CORE INSTRUMENT United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading
“Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” adopted, entry into force June 26, 1987, in accordance with article 27 (1) The States Parties to this Convention…
“Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world....
“Desiring to make more effective the struggle against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world…
“Have agreed as follows (excerpt):
People whom they abducted, imprisoned and tortured, the Americans also “stripped of their rights” and in perpetuity (after release, if released) prohibited the abducted, imprisoned and tortured from fighting for their rights. On the testimony or a prisoner “US authorities made him sign a paper barring him from filing any complaints or making public statements about the inner workings of the jail he was in.”
(The man reported also that of his two brothers who had been arrested and ended up in Camp Bucca … one of them died, and another was left crippled.”)
Camp Bucca was a facility in Southern Iraq constructed in 2003 and operated through the decade by US military branches and America’s highly paid partnering killers for hire (soldiers of fortune). For many years, it was the site of well-documented chronic abuse of prisoners. When the 1950s-1970s-through 2010s notorious prison, Abu Ghraib—operated, interchangeably, by US-favored-then-disfavored strongman Saddam Hussein and US military / CIA—hit world headlines for operators’ unspeakable treatment of prisoners, the Americans switched some of their prisoners from Abu Gbraib in western Iraq to the newly renamed “Ronald Bucca” (instead of Camp Bucca) prison in southern Iraq. And kept up their usually crimes against human beings.
The Americans arbitrarily manufactured charges, accusations against “thousands of people” that were totally divorced from reality: “had nothing to do with, reality.”
Personnel, captors or keepers of the prison committed unspeakable acts (no actual investigation but rabid mistreatment). The former reported.
Prison personnel and their partners “tortured inmates and brainwashed them by talking about religious ‘factions.’ …” It was the “first step towards organizing religious schools in the prison.” Before the Americans came, Sunni and Shi Muslims in Iraq had good relations and had lived in peace.
In their rigid segregation and mind-managing of prisoners at Camp Bucca, the Americans manufactured enemies where there were none.
Former Abu Ghraib prisoner Duraid Nael spoke with RT World News “US prisons were ‘recruiting points’ for terrorists – ex-Abu Ghraib inmate to RT: The US promised democracy to Iraq but instead destroyed it through mass killings and religious strife, Nael Kamel has said”
April 23, 2023, https://www.rt.com/news/575280-us-prisons-iraq-recruiting-terrorists/
Americans’ unspeakable acts at Abu Ghraib that came to light in 2004 were well documented and “came to epitomize human rights violations by the US military and CIA” following the highly publicized aerial and incendiary weapons incidents that occurred in the Northern Virginia and New York City areas of the United States on September 11, 2001.
“Media reports (in 2004) showed graphic images of torture and humiliation of detainees, often held without any legal basis.”
In June 2004, in a Washington, DC area United States federal court on the matter of multinational contractor CACI’s “alleged involvement in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, … 256 Iraqis sued CACI International”— aka California Analysis Center Inc aka Consolidated Analysis Center Inc, an American multinational professional services and information technology company headquartered in Northern Virginia” and engaged in servicing (being contracted by) “many branches of the US Federal Government including defense, homeland security, intelligence, and healthcare”—and Titan Corporation (now L-3 Services, part of L-3 Communications) (gen ref).
As thousands of US abductees and prisoners having suffered torture and still suffer consequences of torture (some having been killed) without redress—a jury in Northern Virginia (Washington, DC area) finds “a US defense contractor (CACI) liable for its role in the torture of three Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib prison.”
“Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.
“Each State Party shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature” (Article 4)
“Each State Party shall ensure that any individual who alleges he has been subjected to torture in any territory under its jurisdiction has the right to complain to, and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by, its competent authorities.
“Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his complaint or any evidence given.” (Article 13) https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading; https://www.ohchr.org/en/ohchr_homepage
Seventeen years laterHow then does this happen?
An Iraqi Testimony
“The Americans came to destroy us….” “Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis” have gone through US prisons…” and suffered unspeakable acts.Redress denied Upfront
People whom they abducted, imprisoned and tortured, the Americans also “stripped of their rights” and in perpetuity (after release, if released) prohibited the abducted, imprisoned and tortured from fighting for their rights. On the testimony or a prisoner “US authorities made him sign a paper barring him from filing any complaints or making public statements about the inner workings of the jail he was in.”
(The man reported also that of his two brothers who had been arrested and ended up in Camp Bucca … one of them died, and another was left crippled.”)
Camp Bucca was a facility in Southern Iraq constructed in 2003 and operated through the decade by US military branches and America’s highly paid partnering killers for hire (soldiers of fortune). For many years, it was the site of well-documented chronic abuse of prisoners. When the 1950s-1970s-through 2010s notorious prison, Abu Ghraib—operated, interchangeably, by US-favored-then-disfavored strongman Saddam Hussein and US military / CIA—hit world headlines for operators’ unspeakable treatment of prisoners, the Americans switched some of their prisoners from Abu Gbraib in western Iraq to the newly renamed “Ronald Bucca” (instead of Camp Bucca) prison in southern Iraq. And kept up their usually crimes against human beings.
Unspeakable Crimes
Reported
The Americans accused people they had abducted of being a “terrorist” when, the man said…: Before the Americans arrived “We did not even know what terror was.”The Americans arbitrarily manufactured charges, accusations against “thousands of people” that were totally divorced from reality: “had nothing to do with, reality.”
Personnel, captors or keepers of the prison committed unspeakable acts (no actual investigation but rabid mistreatment). The former reported.
- “Prison guards set police dogs on him.
- “Forced him to ‘talk’ to them while placing his head against their muzzles (open end of firearms, or discharging weapons)
- “Poured water on him
- “Beat him with sticks (some assaults causing broken ribs)”
Contempt for and abuse of Cultural traditions, Breach of Relations
ReportedPrison personnel and their partners “tortured inmates and brainwashed them by talking about religious ‘factions.’ …” It was the “first step towards organizing religious schools in the prison.” Before the Americans came, Sunni and Shi Muslims in Iraq had good relations and had lived in peace.
In their rigid segregation and mind-managing of prisoners at Camp Bucca, the Americans manufactured enemies where there were none.
Former Abu Ghraib prisoner Duraid Nael spoke with RT World News “US prisons were ‘recruiting points’ for terrorists – ex-Abu Ghraib inmate to RT: The US promised democracy to Iraq but instead destroyed it through mass killings and religious strife, Nael Kamel has said”
April 23, 2023, https://www.rt.com/news/575280-us-prisons-iraq-recruiting-terrorists/
2004 - 2024 Injury Compounded
Americans’ unspeakable acts at Abu Ghraib that came to light in 2004 were well documented and “came to epitomize human rights violations by the US military and CIA” following the highly publicized aerial and incendiary weapons incidents that occurred in the Northern Virginia and New York City areas of the United States on September 11, 2001.
“Media reports (in 2004) showed graphic images of torture and humiliation of detainees, often held without any legal basis.”
In June 2004, in a Washington, DC area United States federal court on the matter of multinational contractor CACI’s “alleged involvement in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, … 256 Iraqis sued CACI International”— aka California Analysis Center Inc aka Consolidated Analysis Center Inc, an American multinational professional services and information technology company headquartered in Northern Virginia” and engaged in servicing (being contracted by) “many branches of the US Federal Government including defense, homeland security, intelligence, and healthcare”—and Titan Corporation (now L-3 Services, part of L-3 Communications) (gen ref).
Twenty years later
As thousands of US abductees and prisoners having suffered torture and still suffer consequences of torture (some having been killed) without redress—a jury in Northern Virginia (Washington, DC area) finds “a US defense contractor (CACI) liable for its role in the torture of three Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib prison.”
- Middle school principal Suhail Al Shimari
- Fruit vendor Asaad Zubae
- Journalist Salah Al-Ejaili
Life is further cheapened.
Blatant denial of justice is celebrated.
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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)
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