Another US soldier has died in Iraq. For what?
Certainly not for "freedom of the press." The "US
Mainstream News Media" is WOEFULLY UNDER-REPORTING
this aspect of the Abu Ghraib story...
Afsane Bassir Pour, Le Monde:
The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)
has known for a long time that "worse things than what
are shown in the photos" have been taking place at the
big Abou Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad. "We don't
need the photos to know what's going on and that it's
not acceptable," says the ICRC spokesperson, Antonella
Notari. According to her, the ICRC had already made
several reports and recommendations to the American
and British authorities in Iraq "in the first
instance" and to their superiors in Washington and
London "in the second place".
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The Red Cross Accuses: "The Photos are Shocking, but Our Reports are Worse"
By Afsane Bassir Pour
Le Monde
Wednesday 05 May 2004
Geneva - The International Committee for the Red
Cross (ICRC) has known for a long time that "worse
things than what are shown in the photos" have been
taking place at the big Abou Ghraib prison, west of
Baghdad. "We don't need the photos to know what's
going on and that it's not acceptable," says the ICRC
spokesperson, Antonella Notari. According to her, the
ICRC had already made several reports and
recommendations to the American and British
authorities in Iraq "in the first instance" and to
their superiors in Washington and London "in the
second place".
"The photos are certainly shocking, but our
reports are worse," says Mrs. Notari, who nonetheless
refuses to detail the contents of those reports, in
conformity with ICRC standard practice. That's the
price the group pays, she explains, for being able to
make "impromptu and regular" visits to the Abou Ghraib
prison every five or six weeks since Iraqi prisoners
have been held there, starting in October 2003.
"We knew and we had told the Americans that what
was going on at Abou Ghraib is reprehensible." Mrs.
Notari categorically denies the statements of General
Janis Karpinski, commander of the units responsible
for prisons in Iraq, according to which "military
intelligence men" prevented the detainees in cell
block 1A- where the tortures were practiced- from
seeing ICRC delegates. "We are not simpletons,"
retorts Antonella Notari, "our representatives are
extremely experienced and they speak to lots of people
inside the prison, we always end up knowing the truth
in all the world's prisons and the truth about Abou
Ghraib is shocking."
"Preventative Message"
The ICRC demands that the abuses committed against
Iraqi prisoners be punished by the law. "When there is
information about torture, sanctions must be quickly
enforced; it's extremely important; it makes the
people in charge of the prisoners responsible and
sends a very clear preventive message to others."
According to its representatives, if the ICRC has
remained "very discreet" about the abuses, it's only
because its reports "have been taken very seriously"
by the Americans. Relations between the United States
and the ICRC are more complicated on the Guantanamo
naval base. The "persistent" refusal of the United
States to respect the Geneva conventions on prisoners
of war has actually led the ICRC, for the first time,
to publicly condemn the "illegality" of the arbitrary
detention of the 600 prisoners who are there.
Since the fall of the Baathist regime in April
2003, the ICRC has recorded more than 11,000 Iraqi
prisoners in Iraq, some of whom have been released in
the mean time. According to the organization, there
were two categories of prisoner in the Abou Ghraib
prison: former fighters from Saddam Hussein's army,
who have prisoner of war status; and civilians
interned "for different reasons", but to whom the
Geneva conventions- of which the ICRC has been the
steward since 1949- equally well apply. The ICRC
concentrates on "the prisoners who are most
vulnerable, that is, those who are detained for
security reasons." The fact that the coalition used
the Abou Ghraib prison "shocked the Iraqi people very
much," says Antonella Notari, "because this prison was
famous for the atrocities the Saddam Hussein regime
committed there."
The NGOs Too...
The UN is also timidly mobilizing. Tuesday May 4,
the High Commission for Human Rights named "an
independent expert" to investigate the violations
committed by belligerents in Iraq. The Icelandic judge
Jakob Moller has been charged with conducting "an
evaluation exercise." His mandate and his resources
have yet to be defined. One of the strongest voices
against abuses in Iraq could be that of Theo van
Boven. A personage well-respected by human rights'
advocates, this Dutch magistrate is the UN's special
reporter on torture. In a communiqué on Tuesday, he
demanded "an inquiry, prosecutions, and punishment" as
well as reparations to the victims of these
violations.
Non-governmental organizations are also
multiplying their denunciations. The International
Federation for Human Rights has already called on the
Swiss government, as the depositary and agent for the
Geneva conventions, to assemble an international
conference, to, as the Federation's General Secretary
put it, "find solutions for the violations of
international humanitarian law committed in Iraq."
Human Rights Watch has demanded that the inquiry be
extended to "the superior authorities" so that it may
be known "whether they ordered or tolerated these
abuses, which are possibly war crimes."
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Translation: Truthout French language
correspondent Leslie Thatcher.
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