Torture in Iraq - Essay Example

Torture in Iraq Torture is the infliction of bodily pain or mental suffering either as punishment, to compel a person to confess to a crime or provide information or to intimidate, coerce, discriminate against or repress a The key actors for torture in Iraq were the Marine Corps whose role during the 2003 invasion of Iraq to depose Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was suspected of hiding mass destruction weapons. The members of Marine Expeditionary Force based at camp Lejeune, North Carolina were a forefront of a invasion force that drove from neighboring country, Kuwait to Iraqi capital of Baghdad defeating Iraqi forces in only eighteen days. About 50 marines were killed between late march and mid April when US and British forces controlled all major cities and oil fields of Iraq. Iraqi insurgency that developed after the end of major combat operations on May 1 2003 led to more marine deaths than occurred during the initial invasion period. US army`s 3rd infantry division played a key role in capturing the capital while 101st Airborne Division captured oil fields and other urban areas. Iraqi infantry and armored forces were unable to mount effective resistance to US army tanks and other armored vehicles.US forces suffered a total of 135 deaths from March all through April 30. On May 1, George W Bush declared an end to major combat operations. In ensuing years an insurgency in Iraq killed more troops than during the invasion of Iraq and the capture of Baghdad.US Army faced urban Guerilla warfare that featured roadside bombings, ambushes with rocket-propelled grenades and mortar attacks. Iraq Survey Group made its initial 3 months of its investigation into Iraq`s Weapons of Mass Destruction [WMD] Programs. The actors viewed that; Saddam Hussein could decide to use Chemical and Biological Warfare [CBW] preemptively against US Forces, friends and allies in the region in an attempt to disrupt US war preparations and undermine political will of the coalition. Saddam might use Chemical Based Weapons after initial advance into Iraqi territory, but early use of Weapon of Mass Destruction could foreclose diplomatic options for stalling the US advance. He probably would use Chemical Based Weapons when he perceived he irretrievably had lost control of military and security situation but they are unlikely to know when Saddam reaches that point. They judge that Saddam would be more likely to use chemical weapons than biological weapons on the battle fields. Saddam has historically maintained rigid control over employing of mass destruction weapons, however, he probably has provided contingency instructions to his commander to use chemical based weapons in specific circumstances. Actors also view that Iraqi Intelligence Service[IIS] probably been directed to conduct clandestine attacks against US and Allied interests in the Middle East in the event the US takes action against Iraq.US would probably be the primary means by which Iraq would attempt to conduct any chemical based weapon attacks on US homeland. Saddam, if sufficiently desperate might that only an organization like al-Qaeda, with worldwide reach and extensive terrorist infrastructure and already engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the US could perpetrate the type of terrorist attack he would hope to conduct. In addition to discovery of extensive concealment efforts, US has been faced by systematic sensitization of documentary and computer evidence in a wide range of offices, laboratories and companies suspected of weapons of mass destruction work. Abu Gharib is the former prison and house of horrors for Saddam Hussein`s regime built by US army to incarcerate enemy combats. It started operating on 4th of August 2004. It was run by General Jan Karpiniki who took control of US military prison in Iraq. General Geoffrey Miller commissioner of the detention facility in Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba visits the attorney general one month after the opening of Abu Gharib. General Miller recommended changes that required military police (untrained in interrogation) to assist intelligence personnel in extracting information. On July 10 2003, Iraq Survey Group team exploited Revolutionary Command Council Headquarters in Baghdad. The basement of main building had an archive of documents situated on well-organized shelves which were made of metal. The basement was not damaged by fire despite the total destruction of higher floors from alliance sky strikes. When the exploration team arrived, they encountered small piles of ash where individual documents and binders of documents were intentionally destroyed. Iraq survey group obtained testimony from both detainees and cooperative sources of suspicion of the new missiles intended to have chemical weapons – filled warhead. However, mo detainee admitted any actual knowledge of plans for unconventional warheads for any current or planned ballistic missile. UN inspectors collected data operating with severe constraints that Iraq security and deception actions imposed. Bush administrative officials denied the president ever considered a narrower definition. Bush issued a directive ordering that people detained in war on terrorism be detained ‘’humanly’’. Following US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001 major abuses began to occur. Prisoners held by US forces in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba and Iraq were treated in a manner that violated the conventions of definition of torture. In Afghanistan as many as 23 detainees died due to abuse during interrogations. US military policeman and private contractor employed by CIA were charged in the beating deaths of three Afghanistan men, US citizen John Walker Lindh, captured on battle field in Afghanistan was stripped, gagged, strapped to aboard naked and displayed to the press. US officials interrogated him while he was suffering pain from a bullet left lodged in his leg for three weeks before they would remove it. Walker, initially charged with death penalty was permitted to plead guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to twenty years in prison on condition that he make a statement that he suffered ‘’no deliberate mistreatment’’ while in custody. US military used physical and psychological methods ’’tantamount to torture’’ against terrorist suspects. The reports specified humiliating acts, solitary confinements, extreme temperatures, use of force positions. Some doctors and medical workers participated in planning for interrogation by furnishing patients confidential medical records to interrogators in what the report called ‘’a flagrant violation of medical ethics. The report concluded the construction of such a system whose started purpose is the creation of intelligence, it was not to be considered unless an intentional arrangement of cruel, unusual and degrading and a form of torture. US government rejected Red Cross report and department of defense said the detention facility at Guantanamo was ‘’humane’’ .In 2006 United Nations Commission of Human Rights concluded the camp closed because of use of torture. US government rejected this saying it was not based on the actual visit to Guantanamo. In Iraq, US military personnel and private military contractors employed rape, techniques of sexual humiliation and degradation, unmuzzled dogs to bite and severely injure prisoners, sodomy with foreign objects and beating prisoners to death. Report by US Army Major General George R. Fay listed twenty four serious incidences of physical and sexual abuse used to secure information from prisoners as well as for intimidation, coercion, discrimination and amusement. Much torture occurred at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and was documented in photographs that showed use of sexually humiliating and degrading techniques, for example, forcing naked men to assume poses of oral sex and anal intercourse, forcing prisoners to be naked for periods of time was also a routine. Bush administration admitted engaging in rendition, i.e, sending or rendering prisoners to other countries for interrogations thus violating well established principles of international law. British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray has charged that the US sent terrorists’ suspects to Uzbekistan to be interrogated by torture. The Bush administration denied that it was complicit in torture. References Aldama, F Austin, TX. Toward a Cognitive Theory of Narrative Acts, 2011. University of Texas Press. Read More