The War is the War Crime: Abused Iraqis, Abused Americans

And so a new narrative was fleshed out by the administration and its sycophants: Iraqis are not so good after all; many of them are terrorists, dead-enders, and crazed murderers who need to be brought to heel or wiped out. Moreover, not all those Americans who signed up to defend their country are good, either: those who report atrocities, fight against illegal extension of their service, and reject a war based on lies are deemed cowards, criminals, and traitors.

As the struggle in Iraq intensifies, its bitter and revealing ironies rise like angry waves, pummeling the eroding promontory of the war's many myths - foremost among them its very viability. Iraqis resisting occupation, soldiers exposing the brutalities that are fueling anti-occupation sentiment, and other Americans reluctantly being pressed into service to strengthen that occupation, are, in uneven, overlapping and contradictory ways, all victims of this war.

Consider the case of the case of Sergeant Frank Ford, a counterintelligence agent in the National Guard's 223rd Military Intelligence division with 30 years of military service. He was witness to five incidents of torture and abuse of Iraqis in Samarra before he decided he could no longer stand by and do nothing. US Army counterintelligence agent David Debatto, who spoke with Ford, related his story thusly:

"He described multiple incidents of what he called 'war crimes' and 'torture' of Iraqi detainees in age from about 15 to 35. According to Ford, his teammates, three counterintelligence agents like himself ­ one of them a woman ­ systematically and repeatedly abused several Iraqi male detainees over a two to three week time period. Ford describes incidents of asphyxiation, mock executions, arms being pulled out of sockets, and lit cigarettes forced into detainee's ears while they were blindfolded and bound."

Ford, his anger apparent, also noted, "I guess one of the things that pisses me off most is the arroganceSome of the medics, too. Saying things like 'So what, he's just another haji,' like they were scum or some kind of animal, really just pisses me off."

So what happened when Ford brought the brutalities to the attention of his superior officer in June 2003? His immediate superior was himself involved in the abuse, and the one above him, when told of the allegations of war crimes by Ford, simply said chillingly, "Nope, that never happened. You're delusional, you imagined the whole thing. And you've got 30 seconds to withdraw your complaint. If you do it, it will be as if this conversation never took place." What happened next topped even this surreal Orwellian encounter: "[Ford was ordered] to report immediately to Captain Angela Madera, an Army psychiatrist, at the base mental-health facility for a 'combat stress evaluation.'" When Madera evaluated Ford as having no mental health issues, the superior officer, according to another witness, was "just livid," and berated and intimidated Madera into altering the report.

Ultimately, Ford was strapped down to a gurney and literally shipped out of Iraq illegally on the basis of non-existent mental problems - all because he had the courage to speak out against abuses he personally witnessed. His case is not unique: a military doctor charged with examining Ford in Germany (and who cleared him of any illness) noted "that he had treated 'three of four' other US soldiers from Iraq that were also sent to Landstuhl for psychological evaluationsafter they reported incidents" Another soldier who reported abuse, Julian Goodrum was "allegedly locked in a psychiatric ward as punishment for filing a complaint over the death of a soldier under his command;" he had also appeared before Congress to air grievances about the poor quality of medical care Reserve soldiers received. In another known case, Sergeant Samuel Provance of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade lost his security clearance and was shipped off to Germany after reporting abuses at Abu Ghraib. (1)

That Iraqis and other Arabs are being illegally abused, tortured, and killed on a systematic basis ­ and that the top levels of command are assiduously covering it up - is not in any doubt. A leaked letter from July 2004 sent by a senior Justice Department official to the Army's leading criminal investigator reveals that FBI agents witnessed acts of torture and abuse committed against detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 2002, and reported them to the Pentagon ­ which proceeded to do nothing. "Harrington [the FBI counterterrorism expert who wrote the letter] said FBI officials complained about the pattern of abusive techniques to top Defense Department attorneys in January 2003, and it appeared that nothing was done."

One of the incidents witnessed by an FBI agent was as follows: "Sergeant Lacey [a female] whispered in the ear of a handcuffed and shackled detainee, caressed him and applied lotion to his arms" This occurred during Ramadan ­ when sexual activity is forbidden for Muslims. But this was not about sex: "Later, the detainee appeared to grimace in pain, and the FBI agent asked a Marine who was present why. The Marine said [Lacey] had grabbed the detainee's thumbs and bent them backward and also indicated that she also grabbed his genitals."

The Marine also "implied that her treatment of that detainee was less harsh than her treatment of others by indicating that he had seen her treatment of other detainees result in detainees curling into a fetal position on the floor and crying in pain." (2) It does not take much imagination to understand what was happening: Arab prisoners at Guantamo were having their testicles crushed by female military personnel.

Another classified report written around the same time recently (partially) released indicates similar horrors were imported into Iraq: "one of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's closest advisers learned of allegations that a clandestine military task force in Iraq was beating detainees, ordering Defense Intelligence Agency debriefers out of the room during questioning, confiscating evidence of the abuse and intimidating the debriefers when they complained." The director of the DIA is the highest official in the administration known to complain of abuse, though the Bush administration "fought vigorously to keep the new documents from public view." The two-page memo explains that a group named "Task Force 121" (now Task Force 6-26) hid "ghost detainees" in secret facilities and beat them up, including, as DIA agents noted, "punch[ing] a prisoner in the face to the point the individual needed medical attention," and leaving burn and bruise marks all over detainees.

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http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/iraq/1213-4+war_is_the_war_crime.htm