Leaked documents expose U.S. atrocities in Iraq

[Erik]

A prisoner was kneeling on the ground, blindfolded and handcuffed,
when an Iraqi soldier kicked him in the neck. A U.S. marine sergeant
was watching and reported the incident, which was duly recorded and
deemed “valid.” The outcome: “No investigation required.”

This is only one incident covered in the almost 400,000 leaked secret
war documents published by WikiLeaks on Oct. 22. Here, U.S. Army
soldiers report on the U.S.-led war and occupation in Iraq.
(www.Wikileaks.org)

The scope and scale of the atrocities revealed in the reports are
stunning. They reveal the plight of hundreds of entirely helpless
victims — bound, gagged, blindfolded and isolated. Men in uniforms
using wire cables, metal rods, rubber hoses, wooden stakes, TV
antennae, plastic water pipes, engine fan belts or chains are whipping
them.

At the torturers’ whims, the logs reveal, the victim can be hung by
his wrists or ankles; knotted up in stress positions; sexually
molested or raped; tormented with hot peppers, cigarettes, acid,
pliers or boiling water — and always with little fear of retribution
since, in most cases the perpetrators have the tacit, if not active
approval, of the U.S. high command.

Most of the victims are young men, but logs also record serious sexual
and other assaults on women; on young people, including a boy of 16
who was hung from the ceiling and beaten; and on the elderly and
vulnerable, including a disabled man whose injured leg was
deliberately attacked.

The logs identify perpetrators from many geographical areas and
sectors of the war effort. The atrocities are not limited to Iraqi
puppet troops. The documents reveal many previously unreported
killings of civilians by private contractors such as Blackwater, as
well as massacres of civilians by uniformed U.S. troops. One Apache
helicopter crew, which had been exposed in a leaked video showing them
massacring civilians on the ground, was revealed to have earlier
killed insurgents who were surrendering. U.S. military authorities had
given clearance for the murders.

The logs reveal numerous claims of U.S. troop assaults on detainees,
particularly by marines. A woman reports being pulled by her hair and
kicked in the face; she displays injuries that confirm her story. A
former detainee claims a U.S. soldier kicked his legs and punched his
chest and arms; the man has multiple contusions and abrasions all over
his body.

On several occasions, U.S. soldiers reported on their colleagues. One
describes a fellow soldier choking a detainee before pointing an
unloaded shotgun at his belly and pulling the trigger.

License to torture and kill

Many of the corporate media have attempted to shift the blame for the
systematic torture and civilian killings to the Iraqi security forces,
and away from the U.S.-led war coalition forces.

How could they miss all the references to Frago 242 which appear in
hundreds of the documents? A frago is a “fragmentary order” which
summarizes a complex requirement. Issued in June 2004, one year after
the invasion of Iraq, Frago 242 orders coalition troops not to
investigate any breach of the laws of armed conflict, such as the
abuse of detainees, unless it directly involves coalition members.
Where the alleged abuse is committed by Iraqi on Iraqi, “only an
initial report will be made ... No further investigation will be
required unless directed by HQ.” (Wikileaks.org, Oct. 22)

This document clarifies that U.S. forces are being directed to ignore
the torture of civilians by the Iraqis. However, U.S. involvement
doesn’t stop there.

James Steele is a U.S. counterinsurgency “expert” with a record going
back to the war in El Salvador. Peter Maas wrote in the New York
Times, that General David Petraeus, the commander in chief of U.S.
forces in Iraq, refers to Steele as “the man” with an “entre to
everything” going on in Iraq. (Guardian, Oct. 23)

Steele had a working relationship with the Iraqi elite Interior
Ministry Commandos, nicknamed the “Wolf Brigade” because of its
fearsome reputation. The WikiLeaks documents report that prisoners in
U.S. custody were often threatened with being sent to the Wolf Brigade
if they didn’t cooperate.

In 2007, Peter Maas accompanied James Steele to witness an “interview”
conducted by the Wolf Brigade where torture was openly being carried
out on civilians. “There was blood running down the side of the
desk ... I could hear horrible screams. ...”

U.S. imperialism has many heinous war crimes to answer for, including
those being carried out in its war and occupation of Iraq.