Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
IV.
(December 2006)
Bill Sykes
looks back in retrospect at material which has been published
in previous editions of "View from America",
in an attempt to determine whether the subject matter
written then is still applicable in today’s world.
These observations have been extracted from Bill Sykes
Newsletter "View from America".
September 2004 Edition.
Article #4D.
Subject: Violation of prisoners exposed on video-tapes.
This is a story of the alleged physical and mental abuse of Iraqi
prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by American military personnel.
A number of low ranking soldiers, male and female, have been shown in photographs
and videotapes, (which surfaced some months ago), conducting explicit humiliating
and degrading simulated sexual abuse of naked Iraqi prisoners.
The International Red Cross reported many months ago,
prior to the events being acknowledged by the American
Administration, that the physical abuse of Iraqi prisoners
in the Abu Ghraib prison and other locations had taken
place and that 70 to 90% of the prisoners were not terrorists
but were ordinary criminal elements of the Iraqi society.
Where
did it all start? In my humble opinion the future mistreatment
and abuse of prisoners started when President Bush and
senior members of his Administration, such as Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, plus high ranking Pentagon
officials and military officers, decided to revoke the
rights of prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq to be covered
under the Geneva Convention as they were considered to
be enemy combatants and not military prisoners of war.
The Afghan prisoners, (and later some prisoners from
Iraq), were transported to a camp at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, which by reason that this prison is not situated
upon American soil deprived the prisoners of all human
rights, such as being charged with a stipulated crime,
legal representation and a legal trial.
In order to try to rehabilitate America’s image,
President Bush reminded the citizens of America of the
torture of Iraqi citizens by Saddam Hussein’s
brutal regime. (Incidentally the torture of Iraqi citizens
took place at guess where - why Abu Ghraib prison of
course - how unfortunate it is that America did not destroy
the prison when they had the chance).
These
incidents of cruelty to prisoners has caused immeasurable
damage to America’s
past history of treating prisoners of war with dignity and respect in accordance
with the Geneva Convention, and it is time to clean house and bring to justice
the perpetrators of these crimes of inhumanity and punish not only the lowly
ranks who apparently conducted the incidents, but let the chips fall where they
may no matter who was involved, directly or indirectly, in order to show to the
world that we the citizens of America do not condone the mis-treatment of prisoners
whomsoever they may be.
After nearly three years of imprisonment a few military
tribunals are currently being convened to try certain
prisoners being held at the Guantanamo Bay camp.
Comment:
Violence
breeds violence - this is not the first incident, (and
will not be the last), where sub-human behavior during
and after battle has occurred. The human race has always
had an inbred latent violence in its makeup just waiting
for a reason or excuse to come to the fore where humanoids
will resort to physical violence, as unfortunately violence
is part of the humanoid nature.
The treatment of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners is reprehensible
and could lead to American soldiers who are taken prisoner
being treated the same way or even worse. If we cannot
hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people
with dignity and respect, how can any American soldier
taken prisoner expect to be treated under the same principals.
I’m sure that this disgraceful treatment of prisoners by a few
American military personnel is not representative of the American Forces as a
whole.
You may think that this is old news but I beg to differ
- the tip of the iceberg has just emerged and the whole
story has yet to be published. The current situation
is that 23 military personnel and 4 civilian contractors,
(so say associated with Military Intelligence), are in
the process of being charged with 44 instances of prisoner
abuse, which depending upon which source you listen to
may have been instigated, approved, and condoned by higher
ranking officers who are pleading that they were not
aware of what went on in the prisons.
Surely the people
in command cannot claim that they were unaware of the
prisoner maltreatment as it appeared to be common knowledge
- even the Red Cross were aware of some of the incidents
long before the American Administration acknowledged
their version of the facts.
I’m sure that this is not the end of the story
and unfortunately there may be worse to come when further
details of torture committed by certain military personnel
and certain defense department civilian contractors comes
to light, as I fear that a number of the prisoners may
have succumbed to the physical torture, (which it has
been suggested was aimed at extracting information from
them as to the whereabouts of WMDs and the location of
high ranking Iraqi leaders), and were beaten to death
in the process.
I have no evidence whatsoever of the actions described,
or for that matter if they ever took place, as only a
thorough investigation will prove whether the assumptions
are correct or on the other hand totally incorrect.
It
has been reported that Presidential candidate John Kerry
has called for the resignation of Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld. Presumably the call by John Kerry for
Rumsfeld’s resignation is based upon the failure
of military leadership and the lack of oversight at the
various prisons, such as those housing enemy combatants
at Abu Ghraib and at least two other locations, These
prisons are said to have been controlled by senior military
officers who come under the jurisdiction of the Pentagon
and subsequently under the jurisdiction of the Secretary
of Defense.
In May of 2004 when the American TV program "Sixty Minutes Two" was
about to broadcast a program revealing the Abu Ghraib
prison scandal, it was reported that they received an
appeal from the Defense Department and the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, (General Richard Myers), to
delay the release of the program on the basis that it
would place American military personnel currently on
the ground in Iraq in imminent danger.
"60 Minutes Two", honored the request and delayed the presentation
of the program until other sources started to circulate
photographs and publish articles relative to the scandal
Note: To view the complete September 2004 edition of “View
from America” please click HERE.
Disclaimer
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and International media
sources, (including the Internet), and as such is quoted
as accurately as possible. I try to obtain confirmation
on each subject from several outlets, so the text is
a mixture of composite news items and personal comments
and therefore the reader must make his/her own judgment
as to the reliability and degree of accuracy of the subjects
discussed.
We
welcome feedback about any of the contents of these articles.
Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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