Free Republic

LONDON, September 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US military has done little to check abuses of detainees at US-run detention places in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, according to the former US commander of Abu Ghraib Friday, September 30. "We haven't dealt very effectively with those photographs or what they indicated," US Army Reserve Colonel Janis Karpinski told BBC's Today program radio, according to Agence France Presse (AFP). "I think it's largely proved now that it wasn't just seven out-of-control soldiers on a night shift at Abu Ghraib, where Iraqi prisoners were abused and sexually humiliated," stressed...

With Lynndie England's conviction earlier this week, nine US soldiers have now been sentenced for their role in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. But is it enough? DER SPIEGEL looks at two lives destroyed by Abu Ghraib. One, an Iraqi community leader -- the other, his American guard. On the day he lost his innocence before the eyes of the world, Sergeant Javal Davis was sitting in the mess hall at Victory Base in Abu Ghraib prison, eating a plate of rice and tuna fish. Davis ate mechanically, ignoring what the other soldiers were saying, occasionally glancing up at a...

From here: NEW YORK Sep 30, 2005 — A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said that terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism" and that suppressing the pictures would amount to submitting to blackmail. (emphasis added)"Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that...

Updated: 06:22 PM EDT Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos By LARRY NEUMEISTER, AP NEW YORK (Sept. 29) - A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq.

The “Loose Lips Sink Ships” Case (The information for this comment comes initially from an Associated Press story run on Yahoo News on 29 September, 2005.) US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in New York has just ruled in a case brought by the ACLU that 87 photographs and four videotapes concerning Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq must be released by the federal government. In his 50-page decision, the judge asserted that the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan "do not need pretexts for their barbarism." He added in his opinion that, "Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear...

NEW YORK - Pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison must be released despite government claims that they could damage America's image, a judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures, saying terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism." The American Civil Liberties Union sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU...

Lynndie England, the US soldier pictured holding a leash to a naked Iraqi inmate at Abu Ghraib prison in a scandal that prompted global outrage, was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge. In sentencing testimony just hours before, England, who had faced a maximum nine years behind bars, apologised for her actions and said she remained an American patriot. "After the photos were released, I've heard that attacks were made on US armed forces because of them," she said. "I apologise to coalition forces and all the families," England, speaking slowly, told the...

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. soldier Lynndie England, convicted of abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison, faces a maximum ten-year term when the military jury decides her punishment on Tuesday. England was found guilty on six counts on Monday, on charges that she "wrongfully posing for a photograph," including images in which she held a naked Iraqi prisoner by a leash and pointed to another inmate's genitals in the Abu Ghraib prison. The publication of the abuse photos early in 2004 caused major damage to America's image abroad and England came to personify the scandal. The prosecution had agreed...

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - Prosecutors say Pfc. Lynndie England willingly abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. Her attorneys argue that she suffered from depression and was a heedless participant in the abuse. A jury of five Army officers was set Monday to hear both sides during closing arguments and begin deliberating on whether England is guilty of abusing Iraqi detainees. England, 22, is charged with seven counts of conspiracy and abuse that carry a maximum sentence of 11 years. Her trial is the last for a group of nine Army reservists charged with mistreating prisoners at Abu...

Introduction by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. WHAT FOLLOWS ARE THREE EXCERPTS from William Shawcross's updated postscript to the new edition of his very important book on the liberation of Iraq, Allies (reviewed by Al Regnery in our March 2004 issue). Section One is about Abu Ghraib, Section Two about the grisly heart of Islamic terror, and Section Three about the mystery of Saddam's WMDs, with special attention to the Duelfer report. Each section renders ever more plausible the case for our removal of Saddam until at the final curtain every sensate member of the audience is left wondering how anyone...

The GOOD includes the incredible courage and devotion to duty shown by the firefighters and police officers of New York City. In their repeated attempts to rescue victims trapped in the World Trade Towers, 388 firefighters lost their lives. This incredible number includes 21 chiefs, 20 captains and 47 lieutenants. The New York City Police Department lost 75 personnel attempting to save and protect people in and around the buildings. One New York City high school, Staten Island High, lost 23 alumni in 9/11, of which 50 % were firefighters or police officers.

NEW YORK (AP) - A judge said Tuesday he was hesitant to release pictures and videotapes of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison while top government officials insisted that deaths could result. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein commented as he listened to Manhattan's top government lawyer and an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which was seeking release of the pictures. The judge questioned whether he could disregard arguments by Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has warned that releasing the photos would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military announced Saturday that it released nearly 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison over the past few days in response to a request by Iraqi authorities. The move, the largest prisoner release to date, followed appeals by Sunni representatives to start releasing thousands of prisoners who have been languishing in the jail for months without being charged. After a meeting with President Jalal Talabani on Thursday, Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Mutlaq said the president agreed to release many detainees before the Oct. 15 referendum on the constitution. Al-Mutlaq said hundreds of detainees, most of them Sunni...

Iraqi prisoners could lift their cell doors right off their hinges. One senior sergeant whiled away his evenings blasting grazing sheep with a guard-tower machine gun. U.S. commanders didn't bother telling their troops they'd be stuck in Iraq for months more than advertised. The only woman commanding general in the war zone, Abu Ghraib prison chief Janis Karpinski, has written a memoir of her fateful year there, a candid portrait of an often dysfunctional U.S. Army - of "Sergeant Bilko meets Catch 22," as she puts it. The book, "One Woman's Army," published by Hyperion, sheds little new light on...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Nearly 1,000 detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were released this week at the request of the Iraqi government, Multi-National Forces said Saturday. "This major release, the largest to date, marks a significant event in Iraq's progress toward democratic governance and the rule of law, demonstrating the involvement of Iraq's government in the effort to provide both security and justice for all Iraqis," the forces said in a written statement. The detainees were released from Wednesday through Saturday, with the assistance of the Iraqi government, the statement said. They represent all Iraqi communities and had been...

LONDON (AP) - The American general formerly in charge of Abu Ghraib prison says there are signs Israelis were involved in interrogating Iraqi detainees at another facility. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was suspended in May over allegations of prisoner abuse, said she met a man who told her he was Israeli during a visit to a Baghdad intelligence center with a senior coalition general. "I saw an individual there that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before, and I asked him what did he do there, was he an interpreter - he was clearly from the Middle East,"...

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq — A 37-year-old Iraqi male died Aug. 22 at Abu Ghraib ( search) as a result of gunshot wounds sustained while engaging Coalition Forces, according to a U.S. military release. The terrorist was evacuated to the 344th Field Hospital ( search) on Aug. 6 with

WASHINGTON - The 82nd Airborne Division is sending about 700 soldiers to Iraq to provide extra security for detainees, whose numbers have doubled over the past year, officials said Wednesday. The 1st battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., has begun preparing to deploy over the next two months. It will be the battalion's second tour in Iraq; the first was from September 2003 to April 2004. Before that the battalion was in Afghanistan from July 2002 to January 2003. An announcement at Fort Bragg on Monday gave no information about the battalion's new mission in Iraq,...

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 18, 2005) – Soldiers in Abu Ghraib district clean up a local soccer field for the children in their sector July 29. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, conducted the humanitarian effort. “It’s really sad when you see kids walk around barefoot playing soccer in a trash-filled lot,” said Spc. Jake Butler of 2/130th Infantry. Armed with two trailers, shovels, rakes, and trash bags, the Solders of 2/130th Infantry began the task of clearing years of neglect from the small lot. Many...

U.S. expanding other jails in Iraq to hold transferred inmates The U.S. military is planning to hand over the notorious Abu Ghraib prison to Iraqi control early next year after expanding three jails to house thousands of prisoners, Stars and Stripes has learned. “At sometime in the future, yes, that is the plan,” Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq’s detainee operations stated in an e-mail interview from Baghdad. “We are building a new Camp Cropper — and when it is completed in the Feb ’06 timeframe — our plan is to transfer operations from Abu Ghraib and close...