Will the "US mainstream news media" hold Bremer's feet to the fire? (Speaking metaphorically, of course.) Probably not...The psychological torture, humiliation and sexual molestation of Iraqis prisoners is not only in violation of international law and human decency, it is simply STUPID; which, of course, has the incredible shrinking _resident, the VICE _resident and their whole INCOMPETENT "national security team" written all over it...
Agence France Press: "In November I talked to Mr Bremer about human rights violations in general and in jails in particular. He listened but there was no answer. At the first meeting, I asked to be allowed to visit the security prisoners, but I failed," Turki told AFP. "I told him the news. He didn't take care about the information I gave him."
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=16&u=/afp/20040503/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_politics_040503201219
Former human rights minister told Bremer about Iraq detainee abuse
Mon May 3, 4:12 PM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Former Iraqi human rights minister Abdel Basset Turki said that US overseer Paul Bremer knew in November that Iraqi prisoners were being abused in US detention centres.
"In November I talked to Mr Bremer about human rights violations in general and in jails in particular. He listened but there was no answer. At the first meeting, I asked to be allowed to visit the security prisoners, but I failed," Turki told AFP. "I told him the news. He didn't take care about the information I gave him."
Coalition spokesman Gareth Bayley defended Bremer's commitment to human rights in Iraq (news - web sites).
"It is ... clear that Ambassador Bremer has always been concerned to ensure that human rights standards were and are observed throughout Iraq's prison system," Bayley told AFP.
He also said Bremer had initiated a process in January, along with Turki, of opening a human rights office at Abu Gharib to provide detainees with information about visits and to serve as a liaison with friends.
The coalition said the office had opened months ago, but Turki said it was due to open next week.
The former minister, whose resignation was formally accepted by the coalition on Sunday, said he told Bremer about his meetings with former detainees and the harsh treatment they had described.
"The prisoners I spoke to, they told me about how Iraqi prisoners were left in the sun on US bases for hours, prevented to pray and wash and left for two days on a chair and kicked at Abu Gharib," he said.
Abu Gharib is the largest prison in the country, located outside Baghdad, where a US Army enquiry has found that guards humiliated detainees, forced them to strip naked and perform mock fellatio and other sexual activities.
Since January, 17 people have been implicated in the scandal, including the woman brigadier general who ran the prison system in Iraq. Pictures of the abuse obtained by media outlets last week have caused outrage around the world.
But Turki said he had not been aware of the activities uncovered in the US Army probe when he met Bremer.
That enquiry was initiated after a US soldier in the prison stepped forward and informed the army's Criminal Investigation Division some time after November 1.
The top US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, then ordered a full criminal and administrative investigation that led to the suspension of 17 soldiers and officers.
A third investigation is now examining whether intelligence officers or civilian contractors encouraged the abuse to weaken prisoners ahead of interrogations.
Turki said he had also raised concerns about prisoner abuse to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), but they refused to share information.
"I had a meeting in March with the chief of the ICRC in Geneva and asked for the ICRC to give me documents on the situation in jails, and I never received anything," he said.
Turki resigned on April 8 in anger over the US military offensives on the towns of Najaf and Fallujah.
The US-dominated CPA has cited human rights as a motivating factor in the invasion last spring to oust the authoritarian regime of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
The coalition demanded human rights protections be inserted into the transitional law that is expected to govern Iraq until a permanent constitution is drafted by the end of 2005.
But the scenes of intense street fighting when US forces assaulted Fallujah on April 5, in a hunt for insurgents who brutally murdered four US security contractors, triggered revulsion among pro-coalition Iraqis.