Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(September 2004)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
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
Defence 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 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 incidence,
(and will not be the last), where sub-human behaviour
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 defence 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
Defence 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 Defence.
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 Defence 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", honoured the request and delayed the presentation
of the program until other sources started to circulate photographs and publish
articles relative to the scandal.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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