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Amnesty faults US for 'war outsourcing'
Amnesty International has assailed the United States' use of military contractors in Iraq as "war outsourcing" and said the behavior of some contractors had diminished US moral standing.
"War outsourcing is creating the corporate equivalent of Guantánamo Bay — a virtual rules-free zone in which perpetrators are not likely to be held accountable for breaking the law," Larry Cox, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in Washington on May 23 as the human rights body presented its annual report in London.
Cox took issue principally with "the US government's outsourcing of military detention, security and intelligence operations, which may be fueling serious human rights abuses. And most of those who commit these abuses seem to be getting away with it."
Of the estimated 25,000 military contractors working in Iraq, he said some "stand accused of engaging in or supporting human rights violations such as sexual abuse and torture. Some have been implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal, and numerous news reports highlight how contractors have fired at civilians in Iraq with devastating consequences." There had been no prosecutions of contractors, he said.
Source: (NYT) |
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Harsher Abu Ghraib methods 'condoned'
Senior US officials silently condoned harsher methods at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and one general urged guards to use dogs to the "maximum extent possible" to control prisoners, witnesses said on May 25.
The testimony came on the fourth day of the military trial of Army dog handler Sgt. Santos Cardona, 32, who is accused of taking part in abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib that the US government blames on rogue low-ranking soldiers.
Steven Pescatore, a former Air Force officer who worked as a civilian interrogator at Abu Ghraib, said in written testimony that silence from superiors on the treatment of prisoners was widely seen as meaning consent.
"We still had to submit a memo requesting the harsher techniques, but we could go under the assumption that a technique was approved unless we heard back otherwise," he said.
"There was a lot of pressure and stress among the interrogators; we were constantly being told that we needed to get more information from the detainees."
Defense attorneys are trying to show that Cardona, who faces 16 years in prison if convicted on all charges, and other soldiers were acting on orders from their superiors.
Source: Reuters |
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Iraq backs Iran's nuclear program
Iraq supports Iran's right to use nuclear technology for peaceful means and wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the Islamic Republic and the US over uranium enrichment, the Iraqi foreign minister said.
"In our view the Islamic Republic has the right to have nuclear technology as long as it is for peaceful means," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said during a press conference on May 26.
Zebari was speaking after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who ruled out holding direct talks with the US to resolve the standoff over the Iranian uranium enrichment program.
Source: (Bloomberg) |
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Marines held in the slaying of Iraqi man
Several Marines are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton, CA, and several more are restricted to the base pending an investigation in the slaying of a civilian in Iraq and a possible attempt to make him appear to have been an insurgent.
The incident involves an Iraqi who was allegedly taken from his home and shot to death, officials said.
Troops may have planted an AK-47 and shovel near the body to make it appear that the man was an insurgent placing an improvised explosive device to detonate beneath a military vehicle. More than a dozen Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment are being investigated in the killing.
The Marines were brought back from Iraq for the investigation.
Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, took the unusual step of having some of the Marines kept in the brig "based on information [he] was privy to regarding alleged actions" of the Marines, the statement from the base said.
Source: LA Times |
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Officials warn of displacement
Humanitarian workers in northern Iraq have voiced concerns over reports of displaced villagers on the borders of Turkey and Iran as a result of recent shelling.
According to Mazin Mohammed, Mayor of Amadiya, a border district between Iraq and Turkey, a number of villagers in Dahuk have fled their homes after shelling from Turkish troops.
Local officials and aid agencies in the area say that more than 200 families have been displaced amid fears of escalating bombardments, although no casualties have been reported so far. The assaults, especially those close to the border with Iran, have also served to interrupt the lively trade that has been a traditional source of livelihood for many local families.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been fighting for an autonomous homeland in Turkey for decades, leading to fierce battles between the two in the 1990s. Iran also reportedly fears the presence of the so-called Kurdistan Freedom Life Party, which Tehran says has links to the PKK.
Source: (IRIN) |
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Sixty attacks a month on UK forces
British forces in Iraq have been attacked by insurgents nearly 60 times a month since the start of the year. The new figure, covering the first four months of 2006, is a 26 percent increase from 2005.
In January, there were 36 attacks; in February, 41; in March, 57; and in April, 103; for a total of 237, an average of more than 59 a month. During 2005, there were 562 attacks in the same four provinces, a monthly average of under 47.
The violence is at its worst in Basra, where 71 attacks were recorded in April alone. Another 23 attacks were in Maysan, one of the provinces the British hope to hand over to the Iraqi security forces this summer.
The revelation coincides with a report, denied by the British Ministry of Defense, of a sharp increase in the number of British soldiers who have been absent without leave for more than a month and who may have deserted to escape the long-running Iraq conflict.
Source: (Independent (UK)) |
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Sunni who aided US gunned down
A tribal chief who sent fighters to help US troops in western Iraq died in a hail of bullets on May 28 — the latest victim of an apparent insurgent campaign against Sunni Arabs who work with US forces.
Sheik Osama al-Jadaan was ambushed by gunmen as he was being driven in Baghdad's Mansour district, a predominantly Sunni Arab area. Al-Jadaan's driver and one of his bodyguards also were killed, police Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq said.
Al-Jadaan was a leader of the Karabila tribe, which has thousands of members in Anbar province, an insurgent hotbed stretching from west of Baghdad to the Syrian border.
Source: AP |
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Cost of the War in Iraq
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| Quote of the Week |
| " Total US deaths in Afghanistan have doubled under President Obama, and when the next US soldier is reported dead, the majority of US deaths in Afghanistan will have occurred under President Obama. " |
-- Robert Naiman, truthout, 8/16/2010.
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