Britain's Breaking Abu Ghraib Scandal

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The Eleventh Commandment

Postby antiaristo » Mon Feb 13, 2006 12:38 pm

One of the idiots has been arrested.<br>Everybody associated with this episode is going to have the book thrown at them.<br><br>Not for what they DID. That's part and parcel of Her Majesty's forces.<br><br>No. But for getting CAUGHT.<br><br>Like the Jeffrey Archer novel The Eleventh Commandment. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Thou Shalt Not Be Caught</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->.<br><br>This reminds me of a similar incident from two or three years ago. One idiot wandered into his local store with a couple of rolls of "trophy Films". The technician doing the processing was so disgusted by what she saw that she called the local police. The CIVILIAN authority got involved.<br><br>Everybody associated with that incident had the book thrown at them.<br><br>But I think you will find that nobody else was seriously pursued. Even the C.O. at Camp Breadbasket, who issued the order to "work them hard", was not punished.<br><br>Get the picture? Omerta. <p></p><i></i>
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Deja Vu.

Postby antiaristo » Mon Feb 13, 2006 12:57 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr> <!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Soldier arrested over Iraqi torture photos</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Embarrassment for army which prided itself on its tolerance <br><br>Richard Norton-Taylor<br>Saturday May 31, 2003<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>Military police are questioning a British soldier about photographs of alleged "torture" of Iraqi prisoners of war, including one gagged and bound, and dangling in netting from a fork-lift truck. <br>Other photos allegedly show soldiers commiting sex acts in front of captured Iraqis. <br><br>Photograph developers are understood to have called the police after a film had been handed in to their shop in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The soldier under arrest, who has not been named, is in the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. <br><br>The regiment was part of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, in southern Iraq during the war. It is based in Celle, Germany, but the soldier is believed to have been on leave in Britain. <br><br>He was handed over to the military authorities who are holding him at a secret location. The special investigations branch of the Royal Military police has launched an inquiry. <br><br>An MoD spokeswoman yesterday confirmed an investigation was under way into "allegations of photos depicting maltreatment of Iraqi PoWs". She added: "We cannot comment further. But if there is any truth in these allegations the MoD is appalled. We take responsibility to PoWs extremely seriously." <br><br>If the allegations turn out to be true, soldiers involved would be guilty of a breach of the Geneva convention which rules that PoWs have to be treated humanely. Appropiate action would be simple, defence sources said. "They would be kicked out of the army and imprisoned." <br><br>The human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the inquiry and stressed that the torture allegations must not be "swept under the carpet". A spokeswoman, Lesley Warner, said: "If these allegations are true, then this is clearly a violation of the Geneva convention, which absolutely prohibits any torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. <br><br>"Amnesty International would expect that any such allegations be treated extremely seriously by the MoD and investigated thoroughly." <br><br>The allegations are extremely embarrassing to the British army which prided itself on a more tolerant and understanding approach than US soldiers towards Iraqis. <br><br>They follow last week's disclosure that Colonel Tim Collins who commanded the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment is being investigated by military police after serious allegations of ill-treatment made by an American soldier. <br><br>The colonel, who has since been promoted, is alleged to have pistol-whipped an Iraqi civil leader, shot at the feet of Iraqi civilians, and shot at the tyres of vehicles when there was no threat to the lives of soldiers. <br><br>The allegations, which Col Collins denies, were made by a US major in charge of reservists protecting oil wells near Basra, in south-east Iraq. <br><br>The Guardian revealed that the MoD is conducting a separate, but much broader, inquiry linked to a suicide in Northern Ireland of a young soldier in the regiment. <br><br>It will investigate what the ministry describes as the "military environment" which has existed within regiment under the command of Col Collins. <br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,967528,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/S...28,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Deja Vu.

Postby marykmusic » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:15 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>"If these allegations are true, then this is clearly a violation of the Geneva convention, which absolutely prohibits any torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Of course, that's never said here in the States, because of Executive Privelege. --MaryK <p></p><i></i>
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Trigger for beating broacast,corporal charged..

Postby OpLan » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:47 pm

Later BBC broadcast carried video footage from (allegedly) the minutes preceeding the beatings..It appears that these beatings were immediate reprisal for an explosive attack on the compound the soldiers were guarding.<br>This footage shows an explosion at the perimeter of the compund where the beatings took place,and shows a crowd of locals pelting the emerging soldiers with stones.<br>It appears that this footage was shown shortly after the incident happened,but stopped short of the capture and subsequent kicking the victims received.<br>It would seem that the army is in damage limitation mode-soundbites of ex soldiers saying the place is known as 'the wild west',M.O.D stereotypes saying its a natural human reaction to being bombed and stoned..<br><br>Late night broadcast is saying a corporal is being charged..first of the scapegoats in this undoubtedly flash-in-the-pan isolated incident.<br><br>Coincidentally..the white plastic chair was featured on british TV last week..I channel hopped into it and stayed long enough to learn that millions of them were produced and they can be found literally all over the world..they are non biodegradable, so get used to seeing them.You're more likely to see them in an iraqi desert than you are spotting a danish flag shop thats for sure..<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Trigger for beating broacast,corporal charged..

Postby Iroquois » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:12 am

Thanks for the extra coverage info, OpLan.<br><br>As for the chair, regardless of how common those things may be, I'll stick to the standard: once is happenstance, twice is cooincidence, three times - something's up. I'd say we're still at cooincidence at this point, but its a pretty uncanny one considering how many images from Iraq don't happen to have one in the frame.<br><br>And, what if some violent, emotionally charged video footage or collection of photos get broadcast by the MSM at some critical juncture in the future also happens to prominently feature the same chair? I don't have an answer to that yet myself. I'm expecting that this will be the last, but I've been surprised before. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: the chair

Postby havanagila » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:58 am

Iroq, one thing i remember from my video classes is that you need a good, white, object to calibrate the camera for the auto/light function. these are small videocams, usually the DV type, and so this could account for the white chair. Namely, perhaps the photographer was making it stand out this way, to calibrate, and this is why it appears so conspicuous. Since in all these cases the cameraman CAN stage the scene he might have asked the people in the field to place it there. It is still a mystery, but less so, if you think about it this way. it wasn't hidden camera, in all those cases.<br>---<br>I posted the photos in my blog in Israel, one backtalk wrote back<br>-<br>"i bet this is Keter Plastic chair" (that's a very common Israeli plastic company that manufactures similar chairs, everyone has them. ).<br>While this might be true, perhaps those chairs are also common in Iraq. this is a cheap, the most chaep furniture, very durable. <br> <p></p><i></i>
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All they understand is force

Postby antiaristo » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:10 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>11.15am <br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Basra cuts off relations with British</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Staff and agencies<br>Tuesday February 14, 2006 <br><br>The Basra provincial council has suspended relations with the British following new claims of abuse of Iraqis by UK troops, British military officials said today.<br>Officials in Basra cut off relations yesterday, a day after the News of the World reported video footage showing British troops apparently beating Iraqi civilians.<br><br>The video - filmed in Amara, north of Basra, in 2004 - appeared to show defenceless young Iraqis being kicked and attacked with batons.<br><br>It is thought the Iraqis had been plucked from a mob by a "snatch squad" of British troops during a riot in the town.<br><br>Military police have arrested a corporal from the 1st Battalion the Light Infantry as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged abuse. He was last night named as Cpl Martin Webster.<br><br>The southern province of Basra is the base for the British military in Iraq. Around 8,000 UK personnel remain in the country.<br><br>Officials in Basra also cut off relations with the British military last September after troops stormed a police station to free two arrested SAS officers.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1709524,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/S...24,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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chair

Postby blanc » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:48 am

have 6 identical ones in my garden, bought 12 or 13 years ago for less than equiv of 5 dollars each, virtually indestructable <p></p><i></i>
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