British soldiers sexually abused us, claim Iraqis
Graphic torture allegations emerge as lawyer warns of hundreds of legal cases
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Disturbing graphic allegations of sexual and physical abuse of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers are among 33 new torture cases being investigated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The fresh claims include allegations that female and male soldiers sexually abused and humiliated detainees in camps in southern Iraq, prompting comparisons with the torture practices employed by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
In one case, British soldiers are accused of piling Iraqi prisoners on top of each other and subjecting them to electric shocks, an echo of the abuse at the notorious US detention centre that came to light in 2004.
Lawyers and human rights groups warned yesterday that the British Army may face hundreds of claims of sexual and physical abuse after it was revealed the MoD was investigating the 33 cases.
Phil Shiner, the lawyer representing all the former detainees, is asking for a judicial review of the cases and a wider public inquiry. "I have it on good authority that there are hundreds of cases that are going uninvestigated. My guess is that many of them will remain buried."
The former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: "This is yet another element of the long, toxic legacy of Iraq. Only the fullest investigation will suffice."
The armed forces minister Bill Rammell said that "formal investigations" must be carried out "without judgements being made prematurely". The vast majority of British troops "conducted themselves to the highest standards of behaviour", he said, and that only a tiny number had fallen short of this standard. "Allegations of this nature are taken very seriously; however, allegations must not be taken as fact and formal investigations must be allowed to take their course without judgements being made prematurely," he said.
Pressure on the MoD is expected to intensify tomorrow at the Baha Mousa inquiry, which is hearing evidence into the death of an Iraqi father beaten to death by British troops in 2003. Former corporal Donald Payne, the only soldier convicted for the death, will give evidence. The inquiry has already been told Payne was a scapegoat and that others had been involved.
The 33 new cases include allegations of controversial techniques widely used by the Americans, including mock executions, dog attacks and exposure to pornography.
Hussain Hashim Khinyab, 35, a father-of-three, was arrested in April 2006. He claims he was badly tortured at the British camp at Shaibah and later sexually abused by female personnel. He alleges he saw male and female soldiers engaging in sexual intercourse in front of the prisoners in order to deliberately humiliate them.
The abuse continued in the camp hospital after he was allegedly given an overdose of medicine. Mr Khinyab said: "A nurse called 'K' used to expose herself and make love to other soldiers in front of us.
"Once she administered to me 15 tablets when I complained about my stomach. She asked me to swallow them all at once."
He said his health deteriorated rapidly and he was detained overnight. "While in the clinic, 'K' stripped completely naked and tried to have sex with me. I was so shocked and disgusted,
"I pleaded with her not to do that, she even tried to use what I thought was anaesthetic to make me sleep. I started shouting. Then she dressed quickly and pleaded with me not to tell the duty doctor who came to see what was the matter."
"I was told the dose that was given to me was the reason for my condition and the nurse would be transferred somewhere else as a punishment. I was told that half of my heart had stopped working and they had resuscitated it using electric shocks.
"I still suffer from my stomach ulcer which is preventing me from even fasting in the month of Ramadan."
Mr Khinyab was later transferred to Basra airport detention centre where he claims the abuse continued.
"It started with tearing of our copies of the Koran in front of us. Beating, kicking and punching accompanied us all the way."
Mazin Younis, the Iraqi human rights campaigner who compiled the allegations, said many alleged victims waited years before coming forward because they were afraid of what would happen if they complained.
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Comments
if the instruction to them is to do that.
ethics is the exception nowadays,as when IDF in Palestine did same on Gaza 2008/2009.
I am saying this is witch hunting. Burn the witch hunters.
120,000 UK soldiers have served in Iraq. They served to try and ensure a free democratic Iraq.
On Monday this newspaper reported the passing of an electoral law with open lists in a vibrant and profoundly democratic parliamentary process. The report was a cursory two paragraphs that failed to even report the crucial open list development focusing only on Kirkuk and the "potential" for disaster and death. Yet this was what the 120,000 were fighting for, and yet you deny them any recognition of it. There was no comment section for readers under this piece and no editorial comment
When a dozen or two UK soldiers have allegations made against them you run a two page special with loads of comments.
The bias is self evident, profound, and in my opinion, shameful
For those who will now claim that oil is stolen or other such drivel, here is a great article in the IHT that details how US business is notable only by its absence in Iraq, whereas the countries who did nothing or even opposed Iraq's emancipation have significant and growing business in Iraq. Here is the link. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/busin
A handful of soldiers have been accused. Let them be tried and, IF found guilty, punished. Like a handful of UK soldiers already have been.
Then, lets hunt the witch hunters, try them, then burn them, but only if found guilty of course.
A dozen or two (at the moment) - just the tip of the iceberg...
quite, you say that you know of their guilt already, they are guilty until proven innocent for you
Did you read the IHT link btw? how do you explain the total lack of any mercantile gain for the US and lots for everyone else? Why was it that you said that the USA removed Saddam Hussein? And why was it that insurgents saw the USA as an occupying colonial power rather than what we can see it has been, Guardian of the emerging free, democratic state of Iraq?
You see corpreal, unlike that of the vast majority of brave UK soldiers, your guilt is already proven by the existence of the various comments you have posted here in CiF. It is on record. Pure incitement with pure lies.
While I agree with you about innocent until prvoen guilty regarding individuals, and, indeed, find some of these allegations unlikely, that doesn't mean that they didn't happen. Instead of witch-hunting corporeal_v001, you might want to wait for the results of some of these enquiries...
we can SEE the SOFA agreement. Of all status of forces agreements around the world that the US has and is party to this is probably the least favorable to them of all. There is no "control". All you ever came up with was the assertion that the USA was driven to sign SOFA against its will wanting the "control" you allege instead. yet we can see that they did sign the SOFA that we can also see. How were they "forced" goatbucket? Is this to be your choice of last refuge for the dark motive of the USA that never actually existed? Once it was oil theft, then oil "control", then permanent bases, then puppet govts. All these cretinous lies are now exposed as the hateful lies they always were. Now you whine on about the SOFA that would have been if only it weren't for something you cant quite be specific about.
All rather pathetic really.
As for the NYT article, do you dispute the trade figures they gave? The ones that show that the US does less trade with the free Iraqis than just about anyone? Or maybe you don't like the bit where they report the truth about Iraqi opinion, in particular that it is almost an article of faith that the US came to steal their oil? How many insurgents acted in the name of stropping this imaginary theft?
And finally, how sickeningly typical of you to spin the argument around. I castigate coprpreal for finding them all guilty before proven and you then say to me, in reply,
[Instead of witch-hunting corporeal_v001, you might want to wait for the results of some of these enquiries...]
which of course is exactly what I was criticising corpreal for NOT doing. Conscious lies, or studied stupidity. Which is it goatbucket? And yes, with hunters should be hunted. I shall go on doing so. There are many respectable arguments to make on both sides of the argument, of any argument. I hunt those who choose not to make such arguments (they arew not so easy, they are in the real world where there is no total right and no total wrong) and instead incite misunderstanding and conflict with their simplistic self serving and self excusing shallow lies. People like you goatboy.
It's very sad that you can't even have someone (i.e. me) _agree with you about innocence until guilt is proven_ without responding with such aggression. And all corporeal wrote was "A dozen or two (at the moment) - just the tip of the iceberg...". He didn't even find them guilty, freeddumbmonger. It appears that _all_ he did was comment that there would probably be many more claims. I think you have mistakenly typed or, when you should have summed up your position as "Conscious lies, _and_ studied stupidity."
Anyway, onto your more fantastic absurdities:
SOFA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E
Important quotes include:
"We have reached an impasse because when we opened these negotiations we did not realize that the US demands would so deeply affect Iraqi sovereignty and this is something we can never accept"
It took _ten months_ for the Americans to sign up to something that the Iraqis would accept. Even then there were enough Iraqis (people who you occasionally claim to respect, although we see no evidence of it here) to protest vehemently against it. Of course, the dark motive for the U.S. presence remains true; the desire for the U.S. to exert control was very much noted by the Iraqis themselves, including their own Prime Minister.
I did read the article in question. It's interesting that you manage to take the circumstances that exist now and try to translate them back into history; that you make the extraordinary claim that because U.S. companies are failing to do business in Iraq now, the motivation for the invasion was nothing to do with the U.S. gaining control in Iraq. Stunning. Have you ever convinced anyone of anything (other than your own lack of ability)?
How many insurgents acted in the name of ejecting foreign forces, primarily the Americans? Quite a lot, sadly.
"And yes, with hunters should be hunted."
So speaks Nimrod!
The only one inciting conflict here is you. As to why, who truly knows what horrors lurk within that you might call your mind? Not I, fortunately.
Kenya, 1950's Use of concentration camps against innocent civilians, widespread extrajudicial killings and torture.
http://chvnx.com/post/142755188/britain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_Up
Systematic rape in Kenya by brit soldiers.
http://www.womenagainstrape.net/war%20w
The murder of 14 unarmed civians in Northern Ireland on bloody sunday, plus the extrajudical killings of Nationalists and innocent Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland, totaling (with support of british backed paramility death squads) almost 1500 people (more than the IRA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrajudic
http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_e
Murder of children in Northern Ireland:
http://www.relativesforjustice.com/anne
Terrorist activities in Basra, including "black op" bombings to incite civil war.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.p
The torture and murder of civilians and resistance fighters in Basra, including mutaliating corpses.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/p
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/feb20
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w
A proportion of the soldiers are the same type of people we see making fools of themselves in the city centre on Friday and Saturday, after a heavy nights of drinking.
Its the armys responsibility to ensure correct and decent conduct of foot soldiers. So that "pack animal" behaviour doesnt spill over onto the occupied. Americans are famous for this, even in foreign countries which they havent occupied - we dont want to join them.
Must be really fustrating for the remaining honourable soldiers, as their standing in the eyes of the world, is brought down by these immoral idiots, who abuse those under their charge.
The guy being interviewed was shifty and evasive.
Having said that it is to be hoped that the MoD will realise that only a fulland transparent inquiry will do, otherwise this one will fester ...
Its called post trumatic stress. I wonder how open and forthcoming you would be to talk if you had been raped by a crowd of male soilders.
We certainly hope so mate. It will probably expose that the British torturers like their American counterparts were trained by Shin Bet.
As a young squaddie in Aden in the 1960s I saw older soldiers brutally treating people in Aden who objected to British colonisation. I only saw beatings, but some of them were totally unwarranted and I have never forgotten them. In the UK press, of course, there was fullsome praise of "our lads" in Aden who were doing a difficult job. It was hypocrisy and humbug then, and it still is today.
what?
nothing you would care to spell out?
why is that then?
I think the British troops at the time of the Mutiny were a bit pissed off because not only did the mutineers not want British rule they murdered unarmed women and children IN THE MOST APPALING WAY.
So gratifiying to see the Independent Friends of The Taliban are out in full force already. Before any evidence of guilt is produced. Will you make a contribution to the Army Benevolent Fund if it turns out to be more Iraqi lies for monetary gain?
... Thought not.
The anti-British residents of the UK really are digging a hole which will be impossible to get out of. Their heroic efforts to discredit the British is based on an inferiority complex. Their laughable, inane rantings are nothing more than jealous hyperbole. Get over it, it's history, what's done is done.
Some people would argue that Britain, U.S an Europe are being invaded. When we look at all the crime that has been committed .... is it any different from Iraq or Afghanistan? 9/11, 7/7, Madrid, French rioting, assassination of Dutch authors, Beslan, Mass rape of Swedish women, Southern Thailand, Ughars of China, Bombay hotel massacre, Somali pirates and many foiled attempts of mass murder.
The one sided bias by many anti-westerners living in the west will be their downfall. Good luck.
There is a human reaction in war which says that you have hurt my mate and I am going to hurt you. Army discipline can negate this reaction but cannot eliminate the emotional elements.
That said I do not believe the testimony of Khinyab in any shape or form. I can understand him being at the receiving end of a good beating. What I find impossible to believe is a female soldier offering him sex or a couple performing for his sexual gratification. The man was caught in dubious circumstances and is a liar pure and simple.
Why do you automatically hes lying? Because hes an Arab? And the perpretator is British? That attitude i'm afriad belongs in the 19th century.