longnshort,
The Bliar Government has been completely discredited. It has lied, disinformed, propagandized and bullied its public into an unpopular and unnecessary war. The article you provided is full of half-truths, distortions and self-promotion of the most venal sort. For a more honest view of the reality on the ground in Iraq, I recommend this report from Amnesty International.
[[Note: Amnesty Int'l. isn't 100% perfect in its reporting. While I generally trust what they say in this article, it should be noted that they were duped by the U.S. Government, the Kuwaiti government in exile and the P.R. firm of Hill & Knowlton in the propaganda campaign that was perpetrated against the U.S. public and Congress when Bush 41 blatantly lied to us in late 1990 in preparation for our illegal Gulf War exploitation of the Iraq people. Cf.:
prwatch.org]]
U.S. Human Rights Violations Rampant in IRAQ:
web.amnesty.org
23 July 2003
Iraq: Continuing failure to uphold human rights
Published
(Baghdad) After more than 100 days of occupation, the promises of human rights for all Iraqis have yet to be fulfilled, Mahmoud Ben Romdhane Amnesty International's head of delegation to Iraq said.
Speaking at the launch of a Memorandum on concerns relating to law and order, he continued: "The Iraqi people have suffered for long enough - it is shameful to still hear of people who are being detained in inhumane conditions without their family knowing where they are and with no access to a lawyer or a judge - often for weeks on end."
Dr Suhail Laibi and his son, Ahmad, were detained on 15 May 2003 for having a pistol in their car. Dr Suhail was released from Abu Ghraib Prison on 14 June 2003 and was told that his son had been transferred to Nassiriya. On his arrival there, he found no information about his son and an officer warned him against going to the prison camp because he might be arrested. Continuing his search on his return to Baghdad, Dr Suhail was finally informed by an officer that his son was in Camp Bucca. But this same officer had no idea where this was. After 66 days in detention, Ahmad was finally released on 20 July.
Former detainees told Amnesty International that people detained by Coalition Forces were held in tents in the extreme heat and were not provided with sufficient drinking water or adequate washing facilities. They were forced to use open trenches for toilets and were not given a change of clothes - even after two months' detention.
The organization has investigated a number of cases of unlawful detention. These result from the failure of Coalition Forces to implement promptly release orders issued by Iraqi examining magistrates, before the approval of a senior military official.
"This is a flagrant breach of the rule of law," said Amnesty International delegate Curt Goering. |
