Robert Fisk: The story of Baha Mousa
'He was a decent guy. They didn't need to do that'
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Independent Minds
I first heard about Baha Mousa from his family. He was working as a hotel receptionist in Basra when British troops surrounded the building and arrested seven men. They were taken to a British barracks, hooded and beaten. Two days later, as his weeping father recalled for me, Mousa was dead. His family was given $3,000 in compensation and rejected a further $5,000. What they wanted was justice. His father had been appointed a police officer by the British authorities themselves. He was wearing two pistols on his hips. He was "our man", and we killed his son.
The outrageous death of his 26-year-old son, arrested in front of his own father, remains one of the most shameful episodes of our occupation of southern Iraq. As they beat the seven men, the British soldiers gave them the names of footballers. I guess it is always easy to demean those who you are going to brutalise. One of his comrades, who worked in the same hotel, and who spoke to me in great pain from his hospital bed, described how Baha had pleaded for his murderers to stop kicking him. "He was a decent guy. They didn't need to do that to him," he said.
When I first heard this story, it reminded me – alas – of all the accounts that I had heard in Northern Ireland, of British Catholics taken from their homes and beaten up in British army barracks, called "terrorist" by those who should have controlled their tormentors. I had heard it all before. Always, but always, those who had been beaten and kicked were always the bad guys. In Basra, the British like to say that they knew how to treat the locals, that they had learnt from Northern Ireland. Oh, how they had learnt!
I remember sitting in front of Baha Mousa's children – his wife had already died of cancer – and, listening to his father's account, I doubted if justice would be done. It was not. The bad guys got away with it. As they usually did in Northern Ireland. It's not about hearts and minds. It's about justice. And this we do not administer.
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Comments
These maggots will get away with it, they always do unless the media and the public make enough fuss that is,
Look at the travesty of that 14 year old Iraqi girl, gang raped by US forces after making her watch those soldiers execute her family, then when they had finished brutalising her in the most unimagineable way, they put a bullet through her head and then claimed they had been attacked by resistance fighters.
Now look at the sentencing as a result of this... slap on the wrist, slap on the wrist, plea bargain, slap on the wrist, these people committed the most heinous of crimes, whether in regards to the young lady or those in captivity by our own people and they will get away with it...
Sooner or later these monsters are going to be let free in our communities, what then when they do a Thomas Hamilton?
These people need to be tried and banged up, for the good of those that have lost their lives, for the good of justice and for the good of the people of Britain who will sooner or later endure these nightmares when things don't go right.
And not being distracted by the unwelcome events in Iran. Because speaking out for the oppression carried out by totalitarian regimes falls on deaf ears whereas the 'crimes' of liberal democratic states always finds a receptive audience among those who have the freedom to protest!
Somalia was fighting USA/British,butter option by let Somali fight each other away from (USA/UK),
USA/UK can use the unemployment as support for fighters,keep the eyes away from (corrupted politicians,rescission ,violence).
Israel colect all cards by saying:
USA/UK did the same as we did tp palestians; but they killed 1000,000.
there is an old say:
The Wolfs feed the dogs to avoid revolution of dog against wolfs..!
The problem start when Wolfs have no were to go to keep the dog satisfied...!
Leader on no land;or leader on no people... he will end up on nothing...!
even if Palestinian chooses Hamas in a democratic way as USA/West want...!
Palestinians (as all the world) misunderstand the meaning of democracy,USA/West policy defined the democratic people as :the people who what we (USA/WEST) want them to do......
or FACE the consequences as it happened to Iraq....TOTAL DESTRUCTION..
sick democracy...
And what do you think is happening in places like Tehran where on Friday nights the faithful are exhorted to chant "death to the USA, death to Israel!"?
If any group is being indoctrinated with myths it is the inhabitants of the ME and when the more enlightened dare to speak out - well, we have seen the consequences!
It is a shocking story and if it happened as we are led to believe then those guilty deserve the full force of penal retribution. Make no mistake about that! However, I for one won't rush to judgement without hearing the full facts which I am sure are not to be found in Fisk's four paragraph account.
How quickly Fisk turns away from a live on-going oppression (in Iran) to rake over the ashes of former alleged crimes committed by UK troops. While I strongly emphasise that one cannot use the crimes of one's enemiesto excuse one's own there is a strong whiff of hypocrisy in Fisk's approach - along the lines, "we know how brutal the enemy are but theyt are not up for discussion."
So the fact that the enemy may be slaughtering hundreds of innocent Iraqis throughout the year by using suicide bombing passes by with little or no comment. A strange moral perspective!
Quite how does that work, then? You're obviously a learned student of Irish history.
Or maybe not.
1-civilian killing.
2-children rape.
3-misleading tax department.
4-weapon smuggling.
5-breaking rules for last agreement with Iraq.
simply Mafia,caw boy,gangs.
this what USA/WEST/Israel new world order wants.
high5pirit wrote:
"B.W,is facing court claims for:
1-civilian killing.
2-children rape.
3-misleading tax department.
4-weapon smuggling.
5-breaking rules for last agreement with Iraq.
simply Mafia,caw boy,gangs.
this what USA/WEST/Israel new world order wants."
And what do you think the insurgency stands for? I don't recall the coalition planting bombs in crowded market places or beheading captives etc.
Sure incidents like Abu Ghraib are a complete and utter disgrace but to ignore the even worse behaviour of the insurgents is completely inexcusable.
Henri
Quite rightly that account has been 'revised' but certain revisions need to be handled with care. In fact they can almost be puerile in the way that they seek to offload all moral responsibility fro some of the tragedies that resulted upon the colonisers without seeking to contextualise and understand the context in which they occurred. Imperialism was about self-interest but frequently brought benefits to the colonised and accelerated their progress to modern and developed societies. Whatever the case, it is hard to see how the imperial age would have been 'skipped' given that any state in the period of empire-building had to rely on its own resources to protect its interests without institutions like the UN to resolve conflicts.
Some previous colonies have been thrived since independence whereas others have failed lamentably. A revisionist might well argue that the colonialists can take none of the credit for post-colonial successes and all of the blame for the failures. That is an entirely unworthy stance to take.
The African states couldn't wait for the end of imperial presence. Is the plight of the indigenous people better served by their current crop of political leaders? Is human dignity (the right to be the master of one's own destiny) to be brought at any price? Is the condition of the African better in Zimbabwe than it was in Rhodesia?
This is not romanticism. These are the sorts of questions that any revisionist account must deal with.
before USA/UK/all the F.B in Iraq,there was nothing of what you are saying,it come with USA to bring mass destruction.
your close fellows were blaming UK form killing 500,000 of Iraqi.
learn to read and think; not like vacuum cleaner that take only the rubbish..!
Unbelievable.......in 2009....In the west...that will teach the Iraqi justice as well as the East..!?
The missed point was that the woman was covering her hair by veil ;was a victim of racist Right wing,who was initially addressed as sick...
this is only the top of the ice berg...!
THAT is why PA is paid from USA/West.
Do not believe west /USA that they wanted real democracy in Palatine.
When recalling the case of this innocent Brazilian man who was shot dead at point-blank range in London in 2007, few remember that the disregard for public safety, the disproportionate use of force and the disinformation that flowed in the immediate aftermath of the incident were all influenced by the policies formed in the psychotic minds of that same machine - in the minds of the defenders of Israel. "Operation Kratos" adopted by the British Metropolitan Police was imported from Israel (and Sri Lanka, whose security forces are also students of the Israelis).
HI friends : read this and remember that one day the fact about the True Bible will come crystal clear despite of Israel hiding/twisting the scrolls of the dead sea;few added facts i like to say :- :(Google will not say for obvious reason).
1-not every thing in the bible is in the scrolls,many more original facts of the scrolls are hidden in Israel/Rome; Chief Rabbi urged Israel to arrest Pope in his last visit to Israel til he releases the documents (true bible).
2-The true bible (rest of the scrolls that fisk did not see ;are the most important that proves that Jesus was not on the cross or saying that he is the God or even the son of God).
3-that was known to the Jewish leader Yigael Yadin who got the all the scrolls when he hit it with radio active "C" to see its timing at Jesus despicable.
4-Scrolls were taken from Khalil shahin to London to sell it to a christian,but the Israeli bought it in London though Israel agent; without knowing the true agent was Jewish. taken to Israel to use it against the pope to blackmail him.....! that is why all popes apologized to Jews.and will abuse them.
:why pope did not go to Al-AQSA mosque...?
Pope did not like Jews to upset , as turkey will be upset from Canada..as Fisk says..!
right wing /religious leaders in Israel ask Israel to arrest the pope til they get the document from him..!
If Pope allow Israel to build the temple in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.will betray Jesus who said never build the temple again...!
IF YOU CAN NOT BELIEVE READ THE BOOK (JUSTICE UNDER siege) by ANN Jolly....!
The book is self explanatory...!
Living in Lebanon, sucking up to Hezbollah, he tries to portray himself as an impartial observer.
He is not, of course. He has this little viper of bigotry in his soul which keeps wanting to come out.
Was he mistreated by a Jewish doctor when a child? Did a Jew steal his girlfriend out from under him?
The guy always brings every topic back to the jews. Something in his past has made him this way, but we shall never know what it is.
Arne