American military police yesterday raided a building belonging to the Iraqi ministry of the interior where prisoners were allegedly being physically abused by Iraqi interrogators.
The raid appeared to be a violation of the country’s new sovereignty, leading to angry scenes inside the ministry between Iraqi policemen and US soldiers.
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Iraqi ministry of interior officials admitted that around 150 prisoners taken during a raid four days before in the Betawain district of Baghdad had been physically abused during their arrest and subsequent questioning.
The men were captured in the first big Iraqi-led anti-crime and anti-terrorism operation, which took place a few days before the transfer of power, with US military police in support and using US satellite images.
Senior Iraqi officers described those captured as ‘first class murderers, kidnappers and terrorists with links to al-Ansar’ – a militant group in the former Kurdish no-fly zone – who had all admitted to ‘at least 20 crimes while being questioned’.
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US military spokesmen would not comment. “We can’t confirm that this took place,” a spokesman said.
One of the prisoners bared his back after his initial arrest to reveal open welts allegedly caused by baton and rubber hoses.
A bodyguard for the head of criminal intelligence, Hussein Kamal, admitted that the beatings had taken place.
Nashwan Ali – who said his nickname was Big Man – said: “A US MP asked me this morning what police division I was in. I said I was in criminal intelligence.
“The American asked me why we had beaten the prisoners. I said we beat the prisoners because they are all bad people. But I told him we didn’t strip them naked, photograph them or fuck them like you did.”
We sure could use a big ole whiff ‘o that moral clarity right about now.