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July 28, 2005
Extortion! Torture! Videotapes! The Reality Show We Are Not Watching
I was leafing, well clicking, through some of the latest news coming out of Iraq when I noticed this story. In some ways, there isn't much remarkable about it, but, it just seems emblematic of how messed up things are there. It involves a California Army National Guard company, implicated in one portion of the torture scandal, an extortion scheme, an Iraqi police unit most famous for its brutality and televised "confessions" almost-certainly obtained under torture:
Members of a California Army National Guard company that was placed on restrictive duty in Iraq after being implicated in the latest detainee abuse scandal have trained and conducted joint operations with Iraqi police forces, including an elite unit accused of brutality.The Wolf Brigade of the Iraqi police is famous in Iraq for staging daring raids in Mosul and Baghdad and for its commander, known as Maj. Gen. Abu Walid, who became a national celebrity after he hosted televised "confessions" of alleged insurgents captured by the group. Critics of the forces say they use torture to coerce confessions from suspected insurgents.
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The most egregious case of detainee abuse reported so far occurred after a June insurgent attack, when soldiers allegedly tortured Iraqi detainees with an electric stun gun. At least one instance of abuse was recorded on video, military sources said.
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He downplayed allegations of an extortion scheme reported in Wednesday's edition of The Times. In that story, two military sources alleged that at least six soldiers were involved in a scheme that extorted $30,000 from Iraqi shopkeepers in exchange for protection from insurgents.
Kent called those allegations unfounded, though he said one soldier was disciplined in connection with that portion of the investigation.
Markert said the financial investigation concluded weeks ago and found only a "$4,000 discrepancy."
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"1st Platoon has been integrated with the Iraqi Police in sector, and have trained them to do raids … and patrol," Haviland wrote. He said that he assigned one officer to lead the training of "the Iraqi Army's Special Forces Wolf Brigade."
"These soldiers have taken nearly 300 detainees in our area since they arrived in early May," Haviland said.
The brigade is both loved and feared in Iraq for its attacks on alleged insurgent hide-outs and the dramatic televised confessions those offensives produced.
But Sunni human rights advocates charged that the brigade elicited the confessions by beating their captives. A woman interviewed by The Times this year said brigade officers whipped her sister with telephone wires to force her to confess to terrorist acts and to accuse her male associates of raping her and of having homosexual relations.
The detainee, Khalida Mashhandani, was later released after it was determined that her confessions had been coerced.
Despite its controversial reputation, the Wolf Brigade is regarded by U.S. military officials as the gold standard for Iraqi security forces.
Unsurprisingly, a new study finds that thirty percent of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq display mental health problems:
Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday.The survey of 1,000 troops found problems including anxiety, depression, nightmares, anger and an inability to concentrate, said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley and other military medical officials.
Sometimes it gets hard to keep track of the latest rationales about what it is exactly we are supposed to be pretending to be doing in Iraq. I do, wonder, however, if the official policy simply became, "It's the Oil, Stupid," as Bob Herbert recently put it. Would we then stop, or would we shrug and say, oh well. Way of Life, you know.
Posted by zeynep at July 28, 2005 11:33 AM
Comments
When you have been over there being shot at you will change your comments. Its diffrent when you really know how it is
Posted by: Jon at August 4, 2005 10:47 AM