Good News
British Soldiers Storm Iraqi Jail, Citing Torture
BAGHDAD, Dec. 25 — Hundreds of British and Iraqi soldiers assaulted a police station in the southern city of Basra on Monday, killing seven gunmen, rescuing 127 prisoners from what the British said was almost certain execution and ultimately reducing the facility to rubble.
The military action was one of the most significant undertaken by British troops since the 2003 invasion, British officials said, adding that it was an essential step in any plan to re-establish security in Basra.
When the combined British and Iraqi force of 1,400 troops gained control of the station, it found the prisoners being held in conditions that a British military spokesman, Maj. Charlie Burbridge, described as “appalling.� More than 100 men were crowded into a single cell, 30 feet by 40 feet, he said, with two open toilets, two sinks and just a few blankets spread over the concrete floor.
A significant number showed signs of torture. Some had crushed hands and feet, Major Burbridge said, while others had cigarette and electrical burns and a significant number had gunshot wounds to their legs and knees.
The fetid dungeon was another example of abuses by the Iraqi security forces. The discovery highlighted the continuing struggle to combat the infiltration of the police and army by militias and criminal elements — even in a Shiite city like Basra, where there has been no sectarian violence.
We also hope that this marks the beginning of the end of a certain pernicious media euphemism.
Update: Or this more pernicious one, frequently heard on NPR, among other places.
In defense of that euphemism, I think the point was that they couldn’t take the time to interview the Iraqi gunmen. So while they were probably police, it’s something they can’t verrify. Although, yeah, they could have made mention that, yes, infact, the people in those uniforms were most likely issued them.
Now that the Iraqi torturers have stood up, can the American torturers stand down?
I wonder if it’s the same police station who’s officers arrested two British soldiers attempting to plant a car bomb while dressed as Mahdi Army members back in September.
In defense of that euphemism, I think the point was that they couldn’t take the time to interview the Iraqi gunmen.
Updated the post. ‘Disguised as’ was also common.
I wonder if it’s the same police station who’s officers arrested two British soldiers attempting to plant a car bomb while dressed as Mahdi Army members back in September.
Has there been anything new about that? It seemed like a gigantic story.
Only some analysis from the ultraleft end of the tubes (to be honest, I just heard about it five minutes ago on Indyblogs).
Assuming you take the story at face value (a large assumption, but one I’m willing to at least partially make simply because it rings truer than anything I’ve heard out of Washington or London), it makes the most perverse sort of sense: Cheney mumbles about the “Salvador Option”, Negroponte is made Ambassador, terror attack on Shia holy site, Shia death squads appear, Sunni insurgents combat death squads, Iraqi police arrest to British soldiers with explosives right before a religious festival in the one calm-ish area of the country, ethnic cleansing begins…
That said, I think the combination of Sadrist PR flack jumping on the story, Iraqi police being those making the arrest, and the “pure, horrifying precision” aspect makes it one of those “LALALALALAIAMNOTLISTENING” kind of stories for most of the press. Regardless of whether there is anything there to find or not, I think the refusal to look is disturbing, but expected.
Nor, of course, does it mean the Iraqi cops in question weren’t torturing people in that jail, simply that there may be additional reasons why the British burned the place to the ground.
According to Britain’s channel 4, the Minister of the Interior openly recruited thousands of Shia militia into the Iraqi police – and these have formed a special death squad force that has been been killing Sunnis by the hundreds. Ordinary (honest) police are terrified of the Ministry and won’t investigate the murders.
http://www.channel4.com/news/dispatches/article.jsp?id=301
I’m confused. Does this mean the Freemasons Basra Charity Square Dance has been aborted/bombed/or in need of tea and British intervention?
Sorry but pernicious media euphemisms never die, they just fade away.
I’m confused. Does this mean the Freemasons Basra Charity Square Dance has been aborted/bombed/or in need of tea and British intervention?
Obviously so!
Please remember this when you are reading about how the “New way forward” in Iraq is to put more emphasis and focus in effectively training the iraqi police recruits, giving them the best in combat and leadership skills. Exactly how good an idea is that?
mikey
This raid may be in part just Iraqi internal politics. The Brits say Maliki approved the raid, the head fred in Basra is screaming “illegal raid” and talking about kicking coalition forces out (per BBC reporter on NPR; he couldn’t confirm details on the ground, too dangerous to go ask questions). Let the games begin; yeah, more troops, that’s the deal.
[…] The longer we stay the worse the situation will be when we do leave. But currently there is genocide. The people we’re training are torturing people. But maybe the secret plan to magically get enough troops to go to Iraq and a secret plan for what to do with them beats that crazy. Sane Democrats realize that isn’t a good option, and won’t go so far in their own policy announcements. They’ll whine bitterly about Bush’s policy changes – see Joe Biden’s proclamations over last weekend – but they won’t call for the rapid pullout their liberal base demands. Thus, a cacophony of left wing angst is nearly a sure bet after Bush’s pending policy announcement. […]