[Vision2020] Torture in Iraq Worse Than Under Saddam

[Art Deco]

Sounds reminiscent of "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

W.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:20 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Torture in Iraq Worse Than Under Saddam


> Torture in Iraq 'worse than under Saddam'
>
> Staff and agencies
> Thursday September 21, 2006
> Guardian Unlimited
>
> Torture in Iraq is worse now than it was under the regime of Saddam 
> Hussein and "is totally out of hand", according to a United Nations 
> investigator.
>
> "The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in 
> the times of Saddam Hussein," said Manfred Nowak, a UN special 
> investigator on torture, at a press conference in Geneva.
>
> He said government forces, private militia and terrorist groups were all 
> involved.
>
> "You have terrorist groups, you have the military, you have police, you 
> have these militias. There are so many people who are actually abducted, 
> seriously tortured and finally killed," said Mr Nowak, an Austrian law 
> professor.
>
> "It's not just torture by the government. There are much more brutal 
> methods of torture you'll find by private militias."
>
> Mr Nowak also said that bodies were being discovered with very heavy and 
> very serious torture marks.
>
> He said a mission to Iraq to investigate torture was too dangerous, but he 
> had gathered information from interviews with people in Amman, Jordan, and 
> other sources.
>
> Mr Nowak is in Geneva to brief the UN Human Rights council - a body that 
> addresses human rights violations - on the situation of the United States 
> detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
>
> He is one of five UN human rights investigators who in February called for 
> the closure of the camp on the grounds it was a "torture camp". The calls 
> were rejected by the US.
>
> Mr Nowak's comments come a day after the human rights office of the UN 
> assistance mission for Iraq (Unami) raised concerns about the violence 
> gripping the country. It said that 6,599 civilians had died in July and 
> August.
>
> Unami cited increasing evidence of violent torture, a growth in the 
> numbers of death squads, and a rise in the honour killings of women and 
> girls.
>
> "Corpses appear regularly in and around Baghdad and other areas. Most bear 
> signs of torture and appear to be victims of extrajudicial executions," 
> said the report.
>
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>